Summer Vacation Part 3

These are some favorite pics from the week that Phil's whole family was up at the lake house. Sasha and Jack really loved being around their cousins.

This was a one-time picture op. We don't usually travel this way....

Sasha and Mary at the kids table. Meals were hectic but delicious. There are some great cooks in this family!

Jack's first jet ski ride.

Sasha playing frisbee in Lake Michigan.

The whole Smucker gang.

Just us.

Mama's boy.

All the littles.

Summer Vacation Part 2

One of the nice things about going to Lake Michigan every summer for vacation (Phil has been there every summer since he was born) is that there are all these great traditions and warm fuzzy memories that we associate with it. For the first time this year Sasha was really looking forward to doing some of the fun things we did last summer like running down the big sand dune, walking out to the lighthouse on the pier, having s'mores on the beach, and fishing off the dock. We did all that and more this year. We were by ourselves for the first week and then Phil's whole family joined us for the second week.

Sasha is quite the little runner and, boy, is she getting fast! She loves to race everywhere and jump off of anything high. She was not a big fan of getting into the water at first but got braver by the end of the week.

Jack kept us on our toes. He would make a beeline for the stairs so someone always had to watch him. He ended up sleeping in one of the bathrooms after few terrible nights in our room. He finally just started sleeping through the night when we got home from vacation at 11 months. I thought the day would never come! Now if only I could sleep like I used to....

Sasha had fun rough-housing with her Grandpa Jon.

Sasha's favorite activity this year was fishing off the end of the dock where the perch and bluegill were abundant and not very smart. Some of those poor fish kept getting caught repeatedly. Jack enjoyed crawling around at the water's edge and got his first boat ride and jet ski ride in.

Summer Vacation, Part 1

We decided to fly in and out of Chicago this year on our way up to northern Michigan. We purposely booked a direct flight which got us in to the city at a nice time of day--plenty of time to go get some deep dish pizza, or so we thought. Luck would have it though that our flight was cancelled and the rescheduled one that went to Dallas first was delayed so we ended up at our reserved hotel at 11:00 pm only to find that there was not a room for us. The hotel had been overbooked. So we took a taxi with 2 tired, crying kids to a different hotel (complimentary at least). The vacation improved after that thankfully. Sasha and Jack loved the children's museum at Navy Pier the next day.

We got our deep dish pizza at Gino's East finally. Sasha waited very patiently for 45 minutes while it baked. I took Jack for a stroll down Michigan Avenue. We enjoyed navigating the train to go see our college friends Lisa, Breck, and their kids Eliza and Leo that afternoon. The next day we did some shopping on the Magnificent Mile and ended up at the Rainforest Cafe (below) for lunch. Sasha thought she had died and gone to heaven. She relished every little contrived special effect in that place and recounted it to anyone that would listen the rest of the trip. The seizure-inducing flashing souvenir drink cup serves as a reminder of that glorious meal.

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