Family Vacation. We had a fabulous vacation to Harbor Springs with the Grimm family.
Everyone stayed in a "cottage" near the tunnel of trees, with four bedrooms. It was surprisingly kid-friendly. We played cards, cribbage, and numerous games (luckily everyone is still speaking with one another). The boys enjoyed throwing rocks into Lake Michigan. Unfortunately, the beaches didn't really have sand - they were rocky. We looked for Petoskey stones but were not successful. Maya loved to take care of Alex at the cottage. He had a full time babysitter. On August 14, we noticed Alex had finally started crawling with his hands and knees - no more army crawl.

We spent one day in Mackinac Island. Jack loved going over the suspension bridge, especially the noise that it made. He also loved the ferry ride. Jacob screamed because he did not want to go on the ferry to the Island and then he screamed at the end of the day not to leave the boat. It was a complete turnaround. Jack enjoyed sitting on the main level of the boat. He did not want to go up to the top with Matt, Kris, Maya, Daddy and Alex. He also wanted to take another boat ride at the end of the day. The view of the Mackinac Bridge was spectacular.

At Mackinac Island, we ate at the Village Inn, and then rented bikes. Mike and Pat took Jack and Maya on Tagalongs. Anne took the boys in a Burley and everyone else rode the vintage bikes around the island. We also took a side trip to the Grand Hotel, which is heavily guarded. We hope to come back and stay at the Grand Hotel some day. After the trip around the Island, we had ice cream, and shopped for some Christmas ornaments. We also sampled some fudge - Jack asked the fudge lady if she was joking (at the size of the sample). He loves his sweets. Alex slept for most of the bike ride until we took him out for a couple of pictures in front of the Mackinac Bridge. That night, Jack and Jacob tried to have a slumber party. It was cut short by Jack biting Jacob's pants? We are still trying to figure out what happened.

On the last day, the girls went shopping in Harbor Springs. We then traveled the beautiful Tunnel of Trees. It would be a wonderful drive to take in the fall. We had lunch at the Leggs Inn in Cross Village, a famous Polish restaurant on Lake Michigan. The views were spectacular. However, those of us who had the Polish food where left a little hungry. After lunch, we split because we were headed to see our friends in Traverse City and Mike needed internet access to file a few things for work. We had a great time. It was nice to finally see the cousins play together, even if it ended in a few fights.