Patrick's dream car (okay, maybe it's Sean's dream car)

 Can we buy it??

Sean has been reading a lot about the Tesla lately and when I was shopping for the warm outfit he is pictured in (some poor planning on my part, had to go buy us warm clothes for Chicago) I noticed a Tesla showroom there. Sean has never been so excited to go to a mall. Anyway, this is the all electric car and Sean wants it just to drive to and from the golf course once he is out of army. Folks, what you're looking at here is the ability to remodel any kitchen into the one of my dreams. We'll see how things work out next summer...

The trip home (via Chicago)

 Patrick smelling the roses in a fabulous garden outside the patio we had lunch on at The Green Well, gastro pub. A great lunch stop in Grand Rapids that we found thanks to yelp and google maps. We did not have this success on our final leg home when we got lost trying to find a Panera in Des Moines and then a Starbucks outside KC. ARGH. That was a long day.

 A fabulous roasted veggie burrito. I need to find a version of this stuff that kids will eat, my never ending quest to get more vegetables in their diet.

 Pad Thai something which I finished for Sean because it was so good, not because I was still hungry.

 Met up with Melissa, Jon and sweet Lauren for dinner on Friday night at Wildfire in Oak Brook.

 Melissa, one of my best friends from  high school whom I haven't seen in far too long. Having babies really cramps the travel schedule. We won't go this long between visits ever again!

 This bison burger with an egg on it is from the next night at a great little restaurant in downtown LaGrange I think. So many fabulous downtown areas on this trip, up north and in Chicago. We spent a little time in Hinsdale which is nearby also, lots of great shops and restaurants, not to mention amazing homes in that town. Again, if not for winter and oh yes, ridiculous housing costs, it would be worth a consideration. I pulled up some houses online this week and the interiors were painful to look at, so not my style. Very very fussy and ornate and wow, the money spent on elaborate curtains and drapes... the exteriors were inspiring though.

 This was the light above us at dinner, just a funky little place.

 Saturday morning we went to Shedd's Aquarium and thanks to Jon's insider knowledge we managed to avoid most the crowds. Emily is still talking about her new friend, Lauren.

 Their favorite part of the aquarium.... the play submarine. No matter what we did after this, they just kept asking to come back so we finally did.

 Not sure what Emily is thinking here but Lauren is studying her pretty intently.

 Patrick still thinks these are sharks.

 Petting the sting rays, acting so brave...

 Lauren ready to grab one!

 Pensive snack break.

 This startled us, surprise, big hand!

 Finding Nemo.

Emily was being sweet when Sean would carry her. If he slowed down she would give him a kiss to speed up. She is getting a little heavy...

The rest of the Boyne trip

 After Mackinac Island the kids wanted more entertainment so we stopped in Petoskey for some mini-golf. Left the guys with the 3 younger ones and Nana and I took Megan shopping. Someone needs to support the economy there and based on the comments from the people working in the shops, it was up to me. This one lady seemed like she was open to bartering... everything at least 20% off, maybe more, just ask! Um, okay... Anyway, the kids looked kind of dangerous with these putters so I am glad I picked shopping.

 Patrick was also angry that he did not get a hole in one each time and extra angry when Anna did get one! We need to find a good way to channel this competitiveness.

 It was pirate themed mini-golf so they each got an eye patch- I am guessing from these photos that showed up in my photo-stream from Sean's camera. I am guessing that Patrick took Emily's eye patch because no way would Anna give up hers.

 Kids fighting and crabby after I picked them up after shopping so then I took the littles back to the condo and everyone else went and had some corn pizza. Better than it looks, they brought home leftovers.

 The last morning Patrick finally got to climb some sand hill outside the condo. I was fine with that, wear him out....

 But then Megan took Emily up it right after they had both had baths/showers and washed their hair. Then they slide down on their butts, argh.

 Katie convinced Megan and Sean to go on some two hour zip line adventure thing up on Boyne Mountain. Megan is becoming quite the zip line addict.

 Sean has video of Megan hanging upside down doing one of these zip lines too but I don't know how to put it on here.

 The rest of us went down to the Boat House at Deer Lake for some beach time. Lots of shallow sandy water to play in and a restaurant with good food and real bathrooms. Not as pretty as Lake Charlevoix but I think it was a good choice.

 Patrick conned Pops into doing all the pedaling.

 Patrick insisted on this photo and when I took it before he was in position he demanded that I erase it. So vain.

Grandma Marjie also conned into doing all the work.

 Ran across this while lost trying to find Torch Lake on our final evening.

 Finally made it to the Dockside for dinner. I had hoped to eat on the patio and enjoy the nice view but the wait was too long. As you can see from the one photo I managed to take, the kids were out of patience and also don't like sun in their eyes.

 Torch Lake which I have been anxious to get back and see as it is such an amazing blue lake. Umm, blue during the day, not so much at sunset. Such a disappointment, may have to rent a house up there sometime and really enjoy it. It is often ranked as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world and it's also the place Kidd Rock is talking about in his song, All Summer Long. Trivia courtesy of Wikipedia. Kidd Rock has a place up there, and not as many properties were for sale as in other parts of northern Michigan, in fact one was so bold as to be named, "Knot for Sale". I'm sure a lot of people up there never dreamed of selling either but times have changed.

 Last dinner of the vacation.

 Anna missed out on the group shot so I took her out by herself later. Look at those slow eaters out on the deck... so annoying.

 Erin gearing up for the long ride back to New York.

 This is the boat Emily wanted us to buy. Yeah, it wasn't a boat store.

2/3rds of the kids and some sun glare. All in all, a great trip with fabulous weather. Even the chilly days were a nice break from the usual summer heat. Not sure what we will do next year, too much uncertainty with people changing jobs and getting out of army. Half of us may be living in Nashville by then, who knows? Sean keeps extending his army time though, a couple more months for the GI Bill and then maybe another month to get his last bonus. Lots of decisions still to be made. Vacation gave us a nice break from thinking about it though!

Brief interruption

Before I get back to vacation posts, I just want to announce that no one is ever, ever allowed to buy any of my children another toy again. We are full. And there is nothing like packing up old toys to get the kids suddenly interested in playing with them. I am half done and for the first time in recent memory, the kids are playing in the basement with toys again. So now I will move on to sorting books... yikes.

Mackinac Island Trip

We went with Nana and Pops over to Mackinac Island on the third day. Everyone else from Michigan has been there too often so they didn't join us. We drove over the bridge to catch the ferry in St. Ignace which was a great tip and saved us waiting in a long line to get back.

 Emily not so sure about her first ferry ride.

 The Grand Hotel where Grandpa Keek and Grandma Ann spent their honeymoon. I didn't even make the walk to see it up close because Emily was losing her cool by then so this is all I saw.

 Some amazing homes up there and Patrick kept asking if we could live there. It would be fun if not for the crowds. Also, I can't imagine their internet speed is what Sean needs to work.

 We rented bikes to ride around the island of course. Emily had a total and complete meltdown immediately after this photo and we had to get her a little covered trailer thing instead. I got a good workout. Patrick was on a little bike attached to Sean's, whatever that was called, and I don't know how much Patrick's pedaling helped. A mostly flat route though and without cars to deal with, so much fun. I would have gone around again but everyone else was done.

 Stopped along the bike ride to play with rocks of course. No broken toes thankfully.

 People like to build cairns which are towers of rocks. You can see the Mackinac Bridge in the background here, just a beautiful day.

 Megan making her cairn.

 Stopping for lunch halfway around the island.

 Nana showing them the map. I think this is my only photo of Anna that day but she did go with us and was a real trooper on the bike ride.

 Emily enjoying her ring pop which she and Patrick begged for and I had to wait in a long line for. So ridiculous. People kept trying to cut in front of me and I was like, I just need to throw a dollar at someone to get a freaking ring pop, chill out. Patrick later dropped his ring pop and it shattered and it was not a pretty scene. Curse the ring pop.

 More of Megan building cairns. She was really into it.

 Emily washing her hands after the ring pop. She was such a mess.

 Best lunch on the island, Chuckwagon burgers. Tiny dive place but we got ours to go because our group was so big. I'm still full.

 On the ferry leaving. Patrick was pretty brave up on top until we started going and sliding all over when it turned around.

And then the wind started, it was too much for me and Patrick so we left Nana and Pops alone.

Patrick rarely sleeps during the day or in the car so this proved that the day wore him out. We were barely on the bridge when we noticed this.