cadillac

sunday afternoon we returned home after a beautiful vacation in cadillac, mi. brad's sis and her fam generously allowed us to live in their cabin tuesday thru sunday. we had such an incredible time just marinating in one another's company; taking the time to appreciate and enjoy the awesome characteristics that makes up each of our precious family members. i loved getting to hang out with my bff, brad, and parenting together for days on end. that constant companionship is such a blessing to us, we felt more in love every day. with no other agenda other than fam time, we delighted in our family of five and felt overwhelmingly blessed for the opportunity to be together.

back to reality today, which is really not so bad at all. our reality is one covered in blessings and i consider our real life to be exceptionally full and happy. however, there were several moments and memories i am so grateful for experiencing.

bear only referred to the cabin as kevin. not the kevin, just kevin, like it was a person and not just a memorable abode. it took us awhile to figure out he was speaking of the cabin and not heaven. that was a bit unnerving to have bear continuously tell us we were going to heaven tomorrow. now that we are home, he does not like anyone to say kevin. because we are not there.

every day we took a family walk to lake mitchell to admire the waves and feel the freezing cold water. as the week progressed, we would collect rocks to throw in and adore the splashes and the noise.

the sleeping was divine for all but the babe.

one night the boys slept in brads new sleeping bag. maxer later recounted it was his fave memory of vacation.

ayla jo was restless and inconsolable and awake a lot. she also developed a rash, which i was mostly sure was heat rash due to the insanely upper 80 temps, but it still concerned me. so on thurs i took her to urgent care. this was a popular place among the locals. and at one point i almost texted brad to come and be a bodygaurd for his girls as the tiny waiting room was full of coughing and some real tough looking/talking men. when we were admitted to a room, baby blue was petrified and screamed and screamed and screamed. the dr took one look in her cute little ears and diagnosed an ear infection. sweet baby was put on some meds and we were off to rite aid to break some lawn ornaments and pick up some antibiotics.

we golfed as a fam twice this week at eldorado, a beautiful course in cadillac. once we found a turtle, the tropical temps and the reptiles made us feel we were vacationing in florida. brad played like a champ and the boys were such joys to watch learn the game and put to practice brads advice. my heart was absolutely overflowing at watching his patient attempts to teach his passion to his boys. darling. maxer was a master behind the wheel of the cart. we dined outside at the cadillac grill and literally were the one and onlies at the restaurant. delish and exquisite fare.

there were many moments spent playing outside at the park among lots of other families enjoying the unseasonably warm temps. the random and especially obnoxious kids kept finding me and brad and asking us to play, or chatting or whatnot and we were not so gracious in giving our attention to kids other than our own beloveds. at one point a girl named jenna, who brad refers to as jenna obesity just about broke brads back when she called for help on the monkey bars and crash landed atop my handsome husband. hilarious.

we frequented my fave food location, mcdonalds, more out of convenience than concerted effort. once because cupcakes urgent care visit took so long and another time because the pines was severely understaffed and we had waited 25 minutes without even meeting our waitress yet. at one of the visits, i was feeling a little like perhaps my incredible metabolism was giving in to my ever increasing age. it was a day that i had gone shopping and guessed my size a bit to small so ended up feeling exceptionally large. and then we went to mcdonalds, not known for their healthy choices... anyway, while dining, a stranger came up to me and commented on how beautiful my fam was. i agreed and thanked her for her observation. she then commented that she thought i was beautiful and nice and trim. awe. i literally started to cry because that was jesus encouraging me in those words!

on a gray and cool day we ventured to a fish hatchery in harrietta where we learned a lot about trout from a nice boy who was really excited about fish. it was a great experience, educational, and interesting. bear whined the whole time. my fave part was when my darling daughter peed on brad. so funny. he handed her over and kept wiping at his sweatshirt. i could feel she was wet and knew what happened but did not let on.

the temps were so balmy that we all wore shorts one day. bear, ever maxer's follower, decided he wanted to wear green shorts like max. as our veen provides limited space and bear's wardrobe was lacking shorts that color, i was unable to meet his demands. this resulted in crying and wailing and whining of paramount proportions. days later, while at mc sports, brad located a nice winter coat on sale for maxer next year and a princess sleeping bag for aylaroo. that left wes. no one leaves wes out of anything. then, just ahead on a discounted youth rack were some green shorts. huge. and nothing like max's, but green and shorts. the best 4.99 we spent that day.

we even got to bonfire and make smores a couple nights.

beautiful memories, beautiful fam, beautiful vacation. thank you wenkes for the use of your cabin!