The first week of July, Chase and Richard surprised us by planning a vacation for our families to get together in Michigan! We stayed in an Airbnb not too far away from the beach and spent the day playing in the water, riding boogie boards, and digging in the sand. At night, we would walk down to the beach and watch the sunsets, which were incredible every single night.
We made a last minute decision to rent a boat one of the days. We also rented a tube to pull behind the boat and took turns riding it. McKenna was really nervous to ride on the tube and the first time she tried it, she told Chase to go as slow as he could and seemed pretty terrified the whole time. Luckily she decided to try it again and ended up having a blast! I rode with Kaylee and it was the most fun until we went over a big bump and my prescription sunglasses flew off :( Unfortunately, it was a really windy day and Brooklyn and Holly were pretty miserable and I wasn't loving being in the tiny boat either. So Chase took us back to the harbor and everyone else went back out. Unfortunately for us, the wind died down and they said it was SO much smoother of a ride and the water was gorgeous! They even stopped the boat and all jumped off and swam in the clear water where they could see really far down.
We were there over the 4th of July and we heard a rumor that people lit off big fireworks on the beach so we went down at night and got a great seat. It was honestly one of the best firework shows we've ever seen and I'd never been so close to fireworks before. We couldn't believe how many fireworks people bought and besides the show we saw right in front of us, we also saw multiple shows all the way down the beach. It was amazing!
The house we stayed in was also pretty amazing and had it's own little pool, fire pit, two full kitchens, a hot tub, and even a game room with a pool table and arcades!
On the last day, we headed down to the Indiana Dunes to go hiking. We managed to do the shortest (but hardest) hike which was three very steep sand dunes. I was not feeling great and barely survived the hike and the kids were pretty wiped out so when we finished the three dune challenge, we hung out in the nature center and had lunch while Richard and Chase went on a longer hike that they said was gorgeous.
We had never been to "Mormon night" at the Columbus Clippers so we decided to take the whole family this year. I don't think any of the girls were interested in the baseball but it's such a fun environment and there were a lot of people from our stake. We also got slurpees, hot dogs, and popcorn so that helped them survive the game as well. Even if it wasn't their favorite thing, I think everyone was glad we went.
Madsy went to EFY in Kirtland so Holly drove the kids to our house and then took her the next day while Emery stayed with us. McKenna and Brooklyn were sharing a room while they were here and McKenna threw a metal water bottle towards Brooklyn, which hit her in the face. I couldn't believe how fast her lip got swollen and bruised! It got even darker over the next few days and stayed sensitive for longer than I would have expected.
One thing Emery really wanted to do was go to the Air Force Museum. He was in heaven but the rest of us didn't think it was interesting, so that felt like a long afternoon! Ha ha.
We took Holly and Emery to eat at Playa Bowls and then walked around Quarry Trails for a little bit. We also made sure to get to the temple for baptisms.
We also went back to Activate since we had so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa there. It didn't disappoint and I think Holly and Emery liked it as much as we did.
One super fun thing we did was over the last few weeks, we all read a book called the Sherlock Society and then we had a book club party where we did some trivia from the book, we did a Sherlock themed escape room, we decorated and made food from the book. We were so glad Madys had her EFY in Ohio so we got some bonus time with the Andreason's!
