Oh vacation, aren’t you just wonderful? If I ever become rich, you have read it here, I will not upgrade my house or my cars. I will not buy more stuff. Instead, I will vacation more. I absolutely love to take trips with my little family. As I was driving home this afternoon, I thought about how blessed my two munchkins are: in 2015 they have been on 3 week long vacations to Georgia, California and Michigan and a few smaller trips in between. I too am blessed to not only have gone on these trips with them, but have also added a trip with just my hubby in there.
We are back from our week in South Haven, Michigan and it has taken us a few days to get back into the swing of things. To say our vacation was great is an understatement. South Haven is truly our happy place. It is the one place my hubby says he can truly relax and that makes me thrilled. I know I have said it before and I am going to say it again: my husband works so hard to provide this life for our family and him being able to relax for a week means a lot to me. Most of the trips we take somehow incorporate business for him, even if it is just a day or two, and this one does not. It is so great to have him all to ourselves for a week.
This week was our third time spending a week in South Haven. We started this the summer after C was born and we look forward to it every year. We found this little gem of a town when we were looking for a wedding venue one the water. We fell in love with the town and vowed that we would bring our family back here some day.
Here we were 7 years later and visiting this place we love with our two children and the week could not have been any better.
We arrived in South Haven on Saturday at dinnertime and checked into our little house. We stopped at the grocery store and had dinner at our house before going on a family walk down to the park. This day was a very good indication of how the rest of the vacation would go- slow paced, relaxed and a lot of time together as a family.
Each day we woke up and cooked breakfast. J and I enjoyed our coffee together on the couch or kitchen table while watching the kids play. We would all have breakfast, lounge around and maybe go on a bike ride, walk or run. M would go down for a morning nap and C would either get to go to the park with one of us or play in the front yard
After M would wake up we would make our way down to the beach, a long bike ride through town, go for a hike, hunt for and skip rocks, maybe another stop at the park and just go about our day in such a leisurely way. Most days we would stop back at the house to each lunch and go out again until it was time for the kids to take their afternoon naps. While the kids napped, I would often nap too while J would have some time to himself.
After nap time we would venture out again until it was time for dinner. We ate about half of our dinners out at restaurants and cooked the other half in our house- it was a nice balance. We ate at our favorites in South Haven: Black River Tavern, Brix Pizza, and Maria’s. One night we stopped at a new restaurant on the water for a drink and appetizer and we agreed that the food was not great but the atmosphere was fun.
We would end our evenings with a walk to look at the boats, back to the park, a bike ride for C, or even a game of hide-n-seek on the way home from dinner. Often times we would stop for ice cream at our favorite place, Kilwin’s. Once we put the kiddos down for bed J and I would sit outside and enjoy an adult beverage or two. We even had a fire one night.
It was such a great week. We were just a few blocks away from Kids Korner and I think C could have played there every day all day if we let her. The beach too has a fun little playground that she and M both enjoyed. Both of the kids love to look at boats, ride bikes, hike and and be outside so this was the perfect vacation for our whole family.
After a week away, we are back home and C has started preschool this week. We are slowly getting into our new fall routine and dreaming of our next family vacation. I feel extremely blessed to have been able to spend a week a way with this sweet family of mine!
Your turn- tell me!
Is there a place you love to vacation?
Do you prefer a relaxing vacation or somewhere with a lot going on?
Glad you found a place to get away and allow everyone to relax.
I am SO MAD that I couldn’t teach my class on Friday. SOOO MADDD. But so glad you had a great week. Next time you’re up here, we will connect. I PROMISE! Yay, Michigan!
I think we need a meet up soon regardless 😉
Looks like a fabulous vacation. We used to vacation at a family the same place every summer and it now holds so much special meaning to me.
I agree, if I have more money then I too want to spend it on vacations over material possessions. Memories and experiences are worth so much more than things are. Glad to hear that they four of you had a great week away!
This sounds lovely! And I’m totally with you. If I ever get super rich, I’d just travel the world!
I’m not rich and i travel as much as possible! I may not have the biggest savings account, but my kids are having all sorts of interesting experiences. Good luck with preschool!
I’ve never been to Michigan! It looks lovely though and I bet the temps were much better that the crazy 95 degrees we had in DC today. Ready for fall!
That sounds like a great vacation. We have never taken a family vacation just the four of us! My hubby is from Michigan originally and I know he is dying to take a vacation there!
Sounds like a wonderful vacation. I always think I want to get away and relax but that only lasts about a day. Then, I want things to do and a lot going on.
Happy TGIF Hollie!
Wow! This place sounds like a great place to vacation. We will have to check it out. ANywhere with water and a big umbrella or tent for me to sit under is a great place for us to vacation. We also like the variety of having some meals to eat out and other meals cooking in.