Okay, we've obviously taken lots of family vacations. But in our collective memory, we can't think of a single trip we've taken that wasn't with or to visit family. It is a beautiful thing to have family live in such fun places to visit. But between the pandemic world and a desire for some new scenery, we decided this spring to try something different. We headed north to my mom's condo in the Petoskey area--the first time the boys had ever been there and my first visit that wasn't in the dead of winter. We weren't even sure HOW to vacation without grandmas or grandpas or aunts and uncles around--would we survive each other for five days with no one else to play with?
We did fine. :) We stayed up and slept in late, and filled the days with hikes, shopping, playing in parks, wine tasting (the adults), rock collecting, celebrating Easter, and--OH MY GOODNESS--swimming in Crooked Lake and Lake Michigan. There are many, many nature preserves to explore, though we had just as much fun downtown buying souvenirs, eating treats, and generally being touristy. The weird part was the weather. We wore winter coats, hats, and mittens to hike on Friday, and the kids were swimming in the just-melted lake on Sunday because it was so warm and sunny. Though it doesn't take much (literally, a little open water) for Wernet kids to swim! I teased the girls about packing swimsuits, but after almost 14 years, I know how this works.
I'm not proud of it, but this time of year is always a challenge for me. I don't consider myself a jealous person generally, but pretty much always in late March. Kevin always has to work during spring break and big trips just aren't feasible, but by now it's been winter for so very long. I intentionally worked on gratitude for the weeks leading up to spring break, and truly, I feel so grateful that we had this vacation! I was born and raised in Petoskey until we moved to Lansing after my fourth birthday, and somehow even after this long, it feels like home. How fortunate we are to have a lakeside home to visit (thanks, Mom)! And Lake Michigan is one of my favorite places to be--why would I long to be somewhere different? It also helped that after a year at home and some extra work we picked up, we'd saved enough to be able to say "yes" a lot on this trip. Yes to the toy store! Yes to the clothes store! Yes to ice cream! Yes to coffee shops! Maybe a Florida trip is in our future someday, but we certainly had fun heading the other direction. After this many years, maybe our spring break motto should be, "if you don't find snow, you didn't go far enough."
 |
| On our way! We wanted to leave after school, so it was a LATE night. |
 |
| First morning! Seven people made for a crowded condo but we were comfortable. That's Mary's couch cushion bed on the floor. |
 |
| Matching jammies! |
 |
| Our view |
 |
| Ready to hunt for eggs... |
 |
| ...then they went swimming. Crazy kids! Eddie and Kevin went, too. |
 |
| Nellie took a selfie during Easter brunch, apparently! |
 |
| Eddie the Beaver |
 |
| Catching a sunset on our last night |
 |
| Our first visit to Lake Michigan in a long time! |
