Family Vacation

We just got back from four nights in a lakeside cottage in Ludington, Michigan. The cottage was so charming and the time alone with my boys (all three of them) so promising...

And yet, we got off to a rotten start. The drive up was a foggy mess and the whole way I hoped and hoped the weather would clear up. When we arrived Charlie ran excitedly into the cottage but stopped in his tracks and cried, "Oh no! There's no room! It's too small!" over and over. He just couldn't understand (especially after a year of so many moves) that this wasn't our new home.

The next morning we awoke to rain and thunder, which I usually love. But not on a beach vacation. While trying to keep things cheerful by making pancakes, I burnt my finger badly and had to call our doctor and then pile everyone into the car to find a drugstore. When we got home (with my bandaged finger) I turned on the shower and only trickle of water dribbled out...until the shower head flew off (along with a boiling hot stream of water) and hit me in the stomach. After getting ready, we knew we had to get Charlie out of the tiny cottage (he was starting to climb the walls) but the rain hadn't let up so instead of walking leisurely into town like I'd pictured, we had to pile into the car again. And once there, all the cute boutiques were still closed for the season and for some reason we thought it was a good idea to wander around an antique store with our cabin-fevered two year old. Charlie seemed to think this whole trip was some kind of punishment for him. He even begged "please let me go home! Not the new home, home to Oxford."

But here's where the trip started to get good--as we piled into the car once again, Billy and I started giggling about something stupid and we couldn't stop. Soon Charlie joined in and even Jimmy got a big grin. It set the mood for a "we're in this together" style vacation that ended up being great.

The weather cleared up by Friday and we braved a freezing beach so Charlie could play in the sand a little. We had more fun running down the dunes and getting ice cream in town. And at night, simply sitting by the fire and watching movies like Labyrinth and Ice Age was actually kind of cozy and fun.

On the way home we were all so tired. At one point both the boys were crying and Billy and I just started to pretend to cry, too. Charlie looked at us like we were crazy, but it worked for a few minutes.

So, it was a fun week. But I think next year we'll stay a little closer to home.