Great Lakes Vacation {Day 3 - Sunday, August 3rd}

Sunday we had breakfast at the house and then headed to the Upper Peninsula.  Our first stop was a beautiful state park with a natural spring called Kitch-iti-kipi.  A couple years ago I read the Birchbark House series to our children and was excited to tie that reading into our trip.  This beautiful natural underwater spring was first discovered by the Ojibwa, who were the native people the book series portrayed.  It truly was lovely, a perfect first stop for our vacation.

We stood in line a very short time to ride the man powered raft out to view the spring.

The water was so clear you could see to the bottom.  And the teal blue color was beautiful. 

Next in line to board.

It was so interesting to me that the raft was completely unstaffed.  You board, and when the door clicks shut the wheel is engaged.  Volunteers turn the wheel which guides the raft to the middle of the lake so you can see the spring bubbling underwater.

The middle of the raft is open floored so that you can see directly down into the spring.  It's so clear!

The views were stunning, too.

Once we came off the raft, we had a picnic lunch in the park.

Then, the kids walked through the small gift store and a couple bought souvenirs.

After our visit to the Big Spring we drove to a nearby beach on Lake Michigan.  I had found one that had a boardwalk where you could walk up to a lighthouse.  Before we did the boardwalk the kids changed into suits and we spent some beautiful hours on the beach.  The big van put in overtime this trip as a changing room.

The elation over the sand and the water.  Man, I love these kids and I adored this day with them so much.

Everyone brought mommy perfect seashells.

unpaid actor = the seagull

We spent hours just enjoying the day and each other.

Dug big holes.  Filled them in.  Attempted sand castles.  Played in the water.  Connected tunnels.

This beach was not at all busy and the weather was perfect.

Mia had a fun idea with this photo....

Some of the others joined in...

How far out can we go without life jackets before mom gets really nervous?  A fun game we liked to play...

After we had our fill of playing we changed and grabbed snacks from the bus, before taking our walk down the boardwalk and up to the lighthouse.

I had this nutty "homeschooling mom" idea of taking our watercolors and books and just being still and appreciating nature.  The kids and Mike humored me, and we did just that....

(To be clear, I wouldn't have plopped us down in the middle of the walkway if it had been busy, but it wasn't.)

The spray from the rocks splashed on us while we painted and we laughed and chattered and it was all truly perfect.

When the artists were all done we walked the boardwalk back to the bus.  We headed back to the rental house for supper and to start our week long Phase 10 tournament.

Such a delightful day!