Lazy Daze

A few months ago I posted on my grandfather's passing in Michigan. His family decided instead of having a funeral in the winter, they would have a memorial service for him in the summer. He lived in a small country town that was covered in deep snow during the winter, so a memorial service made more since in warmer weather when it was easier for everyone to travel. My Mom planned a trip for our whole family to fly up there & while we were there, we decided to make a vacation out of it. She rented a cottage in a quaint town right on the Kalamazoo river called Saugatuck.

It's a cute little town that has great bars, restaurants, shops, art galleries, etc. right on the water. The town is happening this time of the year because most of the houses are 2nd homes or vacation rentals. The house we rented was called Lazy Daze & that pretty much summed up our trip!

And this is the motto we lived by while we were there:

I had a really cute picture of the cottage & the town but somehow they got deleted :( Don't worry though, I have plenty more to share! The house was perfect because we got to spend a lot of time together instead of everyone staying in separate hotel rooms. Plus, my nephew Max is still home bound so we couldn't take him out very often. We snuck him out here & there, but for the most part we stayed around the house & cooked all of our meals. That was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip - the food!

The trip started out with my Grandfather's Memorial Service on Saturday. He had a good turn out & we got to meet a lot of extended family that I had never met before. After the service, the church had a luncheon & we had a nice time visiting with everyone.

Later that night we had some of our family over to the house & we cooked out. This part of the family is all from Texas, but since we all live spread out, we don't get together as often.

The next day, some of my Grandfather's family invited us over for a cook out at their house. We had a good time visiting & we enjoyed spending the night out by the lake!

Of course little Max couldn't do too much outside, so he stayed inside & Sadie liked to play with him.

We had hoped the weather would be cooler while we were there, but unfortunately, they were having a heat wave with record breaking temperatures. Of course. That didn't stop us from spending a lot of time outside. Our house was conveniently located next to the local high school, which had a state of the art football field with turf. Kason wanted to play there the entire time!

We also spent a lot of time on the back porch - playing, eating, visiting......

Doc took Kason & Sadie to the park:

The ladies went into town & shopped one afternoon. One of the best places in town is:

We went there a few times for ice cream & chocolate. It is amazing! I would highly recommend it if you are ever in that neck of the woods :)

Even though we ate a lot of food, we did get a lot of exercise in. The town is very hilly so we got our work our every time we walked. Plus, several of us took turns going for walks/runs at the football stadium & along the boardwalk. But the best exercise we did was conquering Mount Baldhead! My Dad & I went early one morning & here is what we accomplished:

The first picture shows what it looks like from the bottom & the second picture is from the top looking back down. I am in pretty good shape, but this was definitely challenging. I got short of breath the higher I went & my calf muscles were really tight the next day. But it was worth it when we got to the top:

The next day Bryan & Daniel tackled it & we finally got Natalie to do it on our last day there!

Of course we didn't spend all of our time outside, the kiddos played a lot inside as well:

Sadie also tried a few new things while we were there. Since she is sitting up so good, we tried seating her in a high chair for the first time at a restaurant:

And she got to take her first "Big Girl" bath without her infant tub. She had extra fun because she had someone to play with:

Don't you love Kason's farmers tan? Or in his case that would be football/baseball/golfing tan!

Bryan & I also had the pleasure of surprising one of my friends, Suzi & her husband Ryan. She is one of my best friends from growing up & they happen to live less than an hour away from where we were staying. While we were there, we got a text that she had a baby - lucky #3! We couldn't help but drive over & surprise them so we could meet sweet Cadence.

We also had a fun day at the beach & a patriotic day for July 4th, but it appears I have gone picture overload on this post, so come back for more later!