We're BACK!

We are back from our wonderful vacation :sigh: and back to work/school.  Thankfully we (I) took millions of pictures to remember our trip.  We had so much fun!  And as usual, because of my inability to relax (other than taking a nap EVERY DAY), we were busy busy busy!  As such, I'm going to publish several postings from Michigan since I can't seem to narrow down my favorite pictures very well :)

Our first stop upon arrival was down to Nana and Papa's beach on Lake Michigan where we were surprised to see such huge waves.  Will really enjoyed them crashing into us!

And since the weather was in the lower 80's (gorgeous), we spent tons of time outside having picnics and hiking.

Will loved spending time outside in the 'soft grass'.  We didn't miss our St. Augustine lawn at ALL.  Will was outside every minute of the day!  He was very helpful shucking corn with Nana that they buy from a local farmer.  He did get carried away one day though and attacked her with a few kisses.

Of course there was lots of beach time to be had...we spent a lot of time at Lake Leelanau (right down the hill from where Billy and I got married - almost NINE years ago).  This is an inland lake and is much calmer and a bit warmer than Michigan.  Will had tons of fun in the water with Nana and Jude as well as making sand castles/crocodiles with Daddy.

Finally it was off to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Park (recently voted The Most Beautiful Place in America: http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/best_places_USA/sleeping-bear-dunes-michigan-voted-good-morning-americas/story?id=14319616).  

We slowly climbed up the dunes... 

But quickly raced down!  It was so much fun! 

This year Will made it up the main face much quicker so we decided to head up the next hill (keep in mind, the main trail is almost 4 miles total!)

And of course, we buried Will in the sand...he really got a kick out of this!  Look at his cute little smile!

 

And we practiced writing our name in the sand...I'm tempted to make a flip book of this :)  So cute!

     

Once at the top of the main face, we had a beautiful view of Little and Big Glen Lakes (apparently this inspired Nana and Papa to have a 'moment' haha!  They are so cute...Caught ya!)

...we had so much fun!  Thankfully Will was ready for a THREE hour nap following this escapade, because I was too!

More posts to come!!!