We Were On Vacation

Ever notice how it takes weeks to prepare for a vacation, a few precious days to enjoy it, and then several more weeks to recover from it?  Does that happen to you?  It happens to us every time.  Getting ready to go is always so much work.  This time, I swear I have never been so crazy and anxious about a trip as I was about this one.  There was just so much to get ready for it, and Spiff was mostly unable to help with the prep, and it's so hard to accomplish anything with the kids running around.  Stress.  In the middle of all of that, I swore to myself that we would never go anywhere else ever again.

But then we go, and it is always worth it.  It is wonderful and relaxing and fun and we wish we could stay on vacation forever.

That's how this most recent vacation was for us.  Pure awesome.

We went to Camp, which for the uninitiated is the cabin in the upper peninsula of Michigan that belongs to Spiff family.  It's on a lake, and it's beautiful.

Here's an old picture.  Isn't it lovely?!

It was just off of this shore that we saw a Bald Eagle swoop down right in front of us and catch a fish out of the water.  Amazing sight!

We met some friends up at the lake and spent the week camping with them.  This included the kids falling in love with "special" sticks and exploring the woods, throwing things into the water, boating around the lake in the canoe, kayak and row boat (the boats were Hobbes's favorite), swimming in the lake (those were Gunner's favorite), games, catching dragon flies, fishing, and a day trip to Lake Superior.  It was fabulous to see our friends.  I can't describe how nice it was.  I love them.  Gunner was so happy to be there with them that he exclaimed multiple times that Camp is the Best Place on Earth.

The one big downside of the trip this year was that we went early in the season, which meant BUGS!!!  There were so. many. mosquitoes!  It was so bad that we couldn't spend a whole lot of time outside.  We sprayed everyone down with bug spray, but that only works to a small degree against the vast quantity of blood suckers flying around.  The first day, Gunner had about 40 bites on his hairline.  Ugh.

It made us very grateful for the screened-in porches.  We spent a lot of time in these.

And for good measure, here are few of pictures of the cabins:

Main Cabin (this is the kitchen which is fully equipped with propane range/oven, fridge and lights.)

This is the guest cabin.

Inside the Guest Cabin.  I love this room!

 Another view of the guest cabin.  Isn't it pretty?!

So that was our 2013 Summer Vacation.  We all can't wait to go back next year.  Now we're looking at another new year of Spiff's residency.  His PGY2 year kicks off this coming weekend as he starts his month in the ICU, which code for "Really Busy" and "He'll be like an Intern again" and "We won't see him all month."  I'm so glad we got away when we had the chance.  And please wish us luck on this coming new year.