After visiting with all the families over the weekend we packed up all of our stuff to head up North to the cabin. We tried to leave pretty early to get there around lunch time, but a stop at the grocery store and early morning meant we didn't get out as early as we would have liked. We had set the dvd player up in the van the day before so once we did get on the road for our 3 hour drive the boys watched a movie until Owen passed out. The entire time we were driving, any time Jacob saw a lake either out the window or on the navigation system, he asked "Is that Hubbard Lake?!" It was adorable, until we got to the coast and were driving right by a lake for a good hour and every few minutes he would ask. He was just so excited to get there! We got there a little after lunch time, so after we unloaded and got some lunch, we headed down to the beach to see the lake. Jacob could not wait and practically ran down to the beach with Lindsay. Meanwhile, Owen was obsessed with the rocks. All of the rocks. On the road that is rocky, on the road that has teeny tiny little rocks in it, with the rocks on the shoulder of the road. All in the half a block walk down to the beach. So it took us a bit longer to get down there. Josh eventually had to carry Owen down because he just could not resist the rocks! Once we got to the beach the boys tested out the (VERY cold) water. Jacob loved it and was knee deep before we knew it. He was all about picking up the rocks down there. Owen was more hesitant about the water, but again with the rocks! Those were enough to get him to walk around in it for a bit. Since Jacob could not resist the temptation of the water, we figured we'd better go ahead and get bathing suits on since he was going to end up swimming in his clothes if he didn't. Once we were in our bathing suits, and lifejackets for the boys, we actually got in the (did I mention freezing cold) lake. Jacob was all about it and went with Lindsay out to the raft pretty quickly. It took me a bit to get in and make my way any sort of close to the raft with Owen. And poor Josh, he was freezing just getting in up to his knees! Eventually he made it out to the raft with the rest of us. The boys loved jumping off the raft. Jacob was all about just going right off and it took Owen a few minutes to get into it. He started by sitting and falling in, then just standing and walking right off. Poor Owen was not loving his life jacket though. He looked like he had a back and neck brace on so he couldn't look around by turning his head. We thought it was hilarious though! After we got back to the cabin, we got both boys measured on the wall. That wall has everyone from our family on it, so I was excited to get to add our boys! We also headed down to the candy store that afternoon. It is a fun walk that I remember fondly doing on an almost daily basis when I was little. Jacob had a bit of a harder time with it, but since we had been in the car for 3 hours we made him walk. Although on the way home he had his ring pop and seemed much more motivated to walk then. We got the boys to bed early that night, but Jacob woke up in the middle of the night and somehow got out of bed without Josh or I hearing (we were in the same room) and ended up standing in the doorway crying because it is so dark at the cabin he couldn't find the bathroom. We laughed about it after we got him to the bathroom and back in bed. It was sad but pretty cute too. We spent the next day mostly at the lake. We took a bath down there and did some more jumping in off the raft and then the dock. Jacob absolutely loved the lake. After dinner that day we took a drive up to Mt Maria to look at the lake. It was slightly nerve wracking for me to have the boys up there since there isn't a whole lot of flat and one wrong step would have sent them rolling down the mountain. It was cloudy since a storm was rolling in so we didn't get to see the fabulous sunsets that you normally get up there, but it was still nice. Then we drove around looking for deer, we wanted to walk through the woods, but tour guide Lindsay said ticks have been really bad this year so we opted to just drive to see them. We ended up seeing a ton of them! Jacob got really good at spotting them towards the end. Back at the cabin we got Owen to bed and started getting ready for a bonfire. We let Jacob stay up late that night so he could enjoy one more bonfire and some more s'mores. He was so excited. He helped get sticks and get them in the firepit, then watched Josh work on splitting on logs. Fortunately, Nick had come up that evening, so Josh had some help since these logs were tough! It took both of them to get one split! Jacob was enthralled with the ax and log splitting. Once that was done we got the fire started. The nice warm, toasty fire. It was chilly that night since a cold front had come through so the fire was nice. I likened it to feeling about how Texas does on a summer day when it is 105*. We had good timing because we all had a few s'mores, Jacob got to roast some marshmallows, and we had a nice fire going when it started to thunder and lightning. We hung out for a while since we could see the storm over the trees and it wasn't quite to us yet. But once it started getting closer we could hear the rain falling on the lake first, then on the trees behind us before it finally started raining on us. This rain brought in even cooler weather, which was great for sleeping that night! (No air in the cabin so the cool air through the open windows is amazing.) We got up in the morning and hung out for a few hours, packing and letting the boys play before getting everything packed in the car to head back down to Aunt Gini's house.
Seeing Hubbard Lake FINALLY!
Walking to the lake
I love this picture of our family!
We stopped and met Aunt Gini and Grammy in Frankenmuth though, first for some outlet shopping, then for some Bronner's shopping, then for fudge and dinner. Jacob got to pick out a few bulbs at Bronner's to go on our Christmas trees and both boys loved checking out all the fun displays! In Frankenmuth, they got to walk around some and pick out some fudge before heading to see the Glockenspiel and eating dinner. Owen was so tired after he ate his dinner, he passed out. We got back to Aunt Gini's and got the boys to bed pretty quickly. Time at the lake is great for wearing kids out apparently.
We spent our final day hanging out and not doing a whole lot. Jacob went swimming for a bit and a bunch of people came over for dinner and to say goodbye. We attempted to get to bed somewhat early though since we were getting up at 4am to get the van packed, drive back to the airport, return the van, and get all of our stuff and us to the airport. We actually made pretty good time getting all of that done, and it was helpful that we ended up leaving the pack n play in Michigan since we don't need that one anymore. We had about an hour or so to hang out in the airport before we boarded so we all got some breakfast and let the boys run around a bit. The plane ride home was much smoother and both boys slept again, and bonus, no one vomited! It was such a great trip. We had so much fun and while we were so exhausted when we got home (Josh and I went to bed at 8:30 the night we got home and 8:15 the following night!), it was so worth it. The boys had a blast and had so many new and fun experiences! We can't wait to do it again!
