The Wernet family keeps it cool (but not really)

We made it home from another fun 8-day summer trip. I'm not 100% sure if we survived or thrived, but we're all home in one piece and we didn't have to tow the van for once, so we know it was pretty successful! Now I'm on to vacation laundry (less of it, but way dirtier) and all the tasks that seem to have muscle memory attached. For example, emptying water out of the open bag of baby carrots and left over cheese sticks from the melted ice in the cooler carries some serious déjà vécu.

This year we spent most of the week at Aunt Pam's on Gull Lake then headed up north to my Dad's. The word of the week was HOT. IT WAS VERY HOT. Like, sunny and 90s every day. There was no air conditioning. It rained about five minutes total all week. But we could still stay cool Pure Michigan style--wet. We only went inside to sleep and (for me, anyway) prepare food.

Kevin and I later wondered how we could be so tired when we "didn't do anything." No day trips, no parks, no events except the 4th of July parade. Then again, we never really stopped doing--swimming, kayaking, paddle boarding, tubing, playing with neighbors, taking walks/bike rides, building campfires, playing in the sand (DJ and Eddie), avoiding the sand altogether (Mary Cate), playing in the tree fort, monitoring sparklers and poppers. It was an action-packed week even without any structure whatsoever. The last night, we didn't eat dinner until 9:00. The kids were sleeping until 10:00 in the morning. Such is vacation, I suppose.

I asked everyone what their favorite part of the trip was and here's what they had to say:

• Annie - Water
• Nellie - The parade
• DJ - Blowing bubblegum bubbles
• Eddie - Climbing ladders [on bunk beds and the tree fort]
• Mary Cate - She didn't exactly say, but I'd guess something where she wasn't touching water or sand. She seemed pretty excited about taking a boat ride to get ice cream!
• Kevin - Fixing my dad's dock and lawnmower
• Me - Little things, like watching DJ carefully walking Mary down the stairs, taking a walk with Eddie at dusk while he rode his bike barefoot wearing nothing but a Spiderman t-shirt and boxers, and singing songs around the campfire while Annie played ukulele.

And here are some of my favorite pictures:

Hammocking

Trampolining

Paddle boarding

Parading

Chilling

Tenting

Tubing

The neighbors invited the girls to join them on their giant inflatable party unicorn.
They left with flamingo drink holders as a party favor...

Road tripping

Fishing