Baby Graham: 19 months - Michigan Beach Vacation

We decided to escape the sweltering triple-digits of Memphis and head north for our vacation this summer and had a wonderful time -- is there anywhere more beautiful than coastal Michigan in the summertime?

Saying Hello from Pentwater MI !

We turned the only rainy day of our trip into a lovely afternoon browsing shops and enjoying lunch in the small coastal town of Pentwater. (Evey is looking so grown up these days....)

Her first experience at the beach started with initial awe and fascination and a little bit of apprehension (there was wind and great waves that evening!), followed quickly (5 minutes maybe?) by full on thrill -- We had to hold her back from running head first into the waves! A little "splashing our feet in the water" turned into total drenching -- I was glad I thought to bring an extra set of clothes for her -- that icy Lake Michigan water mixed with cool evening wind would have made for a shivering blue baby !

Pere Marquette beach has a fantastic playground right on the sand -- we spent a lot of time climbing, sliding, climbing again -- Ev LOVED it! She's quite daring, so Tag and I had to take turns running back and forth to ensure she didn't jump from a ledge or topple from a hanging bridge (!)

There was a pier that took us all the way out to a light house with huge waves crashing over monstrous boulders that lined the narrow walkway -- it was a bit unnerving....we kept a firm grip on the stroller handles....But it was pretty cool and gave us a great view of the beach and the tugs moving barges into the harbor.

We took a quick overnight trip to the east side of the state to say hello to Tag's family. I regret not taking more photos -- it was great to see Evey interacting with everyone, especially her cousin Leah who showered her with affection. Ev ate it up. Right off the bat she mimicked Leah when calling for Wally their labradoodle and hollered out in her tiny voice "Waaaaaeeeee!"

More beach time -- digging in the sand with Poppa --

She didn't understand the sand getting stuck to her skin at first. She got over the wierd sandy feeling with some inspiration from Poppa and dove into their pit to help him dig it out... :o)

Sharing her ice cube with Mamma at the Parade :o)

We decided to drive north for a day trip to check out Sleeping Bear Dunes and see if we could find the July 4th parade near Glen Lake. Following our gut, we stayed on toward Glen Arbor and pulled into a side street that dead-ended at Lake Michigan. We parked, strolled up to entrance of the street where we saw folks gathering, and realized quickly that we had literally parked in grand central of all the activities (!) and early enough (about 20 minutes prior to launch) to get a good parking spot, stroll a bit along the quaint avenue, and find a good spot to enjoy the parade. Not bad for a 3 hour drive and no real planning except spontaneity! The parade was the most hilarious, fun parade Tag and I had ever been to -- where else can you go to a parade with a huge Snow Plow, Unicycles, a full Kazoo Brigade, a parody on The Royal Wedding, and a Sewage Transport logoed "Decker's Plumbing -- Another Truckload of Political Promises" ?!! Everyone was soooo friendly and we got the kids dancing to the music -- It was fantastic.

I made Tag do the Dune Climb with me -- he really didn't want to. He asked why everyone was carrying their shoes and I said "cuz it's hard to walk in sand with shoes on -- we don't need ours, just leave 'em by the vehicle." And about 20 yards up the climb I was nervous about having left our flip flops....the sand was scorching hot (!!!). Tag was pretty upset -- but we kept on to the very top, because of course we're both stubborn mules, and ended up with blisters under our toes from the hot sand - Yeowch !! Evey was undaunted and had a ball yelling encouragement to go faster, faster up the hill (huff puff ! that's hard work with a 25 lb toddler on your back !).