Weekend in Bowen

July 8-10, 2016: 

Trips to my our hometowns are always fun in the summer.  Summer nights just bring back memories of childhood.  I love letting my kids explore the little town I grew up in.  There is just something about small-town living that can't compare... especially on a summer night!  I got to go back with the kids for the weekend to stay with my nieces and nephew while Jason & Trista enjoyed a weekend away.  We walked to Grandpa & Grandma's while we enjoyed ice cream cones, we had pedicures and decorated cookies, we enjoyed a trip to DQ and the WOW park in Carthage, we spent the afternoon at the pool, we made homemade pizza, and we ate popcorn and candy while staying up late to watch movies... The stuff summer is made of!

Hiking

July 6, 2016:

We love exploring places close to home.  Hammel Woods Forest Preserve is minutes from our house and a favorite place to hike!  Our kids hate sticking to a trail--they love going off road, climbing on things, and getting wet.  We love warm summer nights for hiking...

Summer Lovin'

July 5, 2016:

The kids (especially Sadie) love watching "challenges" on Kids YouTube.  Of course this means that they want to have their own challenges.  One that they kept begging for was the "eat it or wear it" challenge.  They put it on the summer bucket list, so I let them do it.  It was a fun start to a great summer day...

After their "challenge" we went over to my friend Michelle's house for lunch and swimming at their lake.  Their family recently moved into an awesome house on a little lake.  They have a little beach in their back yard and lots of fun water toys--paddle boat, paddle board, kayaks, tube...  we spent a whole afternoon of fun in the sun!

We were pregnant together with Carver and Elizabeth!

We finished this perfect summer day with homemade funnel cakes...

4th of July

This fourth of July was pretty low key.  After our Michigan Trip with the Knopps, we were ready for some R&R.  We spent the afternoon watching "Independence Day" with the kids.  We grilled out with the kids and ended our day with a trip to Frosty Tips for ice cream, sprinklers in the back yard, and watching fireworks from our patio. 

Michigan Trip with the Knopps

July 2-4, 2016:

We had an awesome little 4th of July get-away with the Knopp family.  They came for a long weekend and we took a trip up to Indiana/Michigan.  We left early Saturday morning and stopped at State Line Blueberries for some blueberry picking.  We all had fun and left with a lot of blueberries... and some local honey... and some blueberry lemonade! 

Next up, we headed to New Buffalo (one of our favorite Michigan beach towns!).  We found a park to have our picnic lunch and then we hit up the local farmer's market.

Next, we did a little exploring and walked down to the beach--we weren't planning to swim, just wanted our toes in the sand and some of those awesome Lake Michigan views...

Liam didn't get the "no swimming" memo...

After a little beach time, we did some hiking at Galien River County Park & Wetlands.  Its a newer park with some great trails, an awesome look-out tower, and some pretty awesome views.  We enjoyed hiking out over the wetlands on a bridge path.  We also loved the look out tower!

Our last stop for the day was a highly recommended burger place--Redamaks.  The burgers and cheese fries did NOT disappoint and to top it off, we had to try the cheesecake shake!  We finished off our day with some hotel swimming and patio time. 

Tired after a LONG day!

Day 2--We started with breakfast at our hotel and then on to Indiana Dunes for a day of beach fun!  We did not anticipate the holiday weekend crowd and waited for an hour to enter the park.  That was not fun but once we were in, our day was great!  The kids swam, played, built sand castles, made some Dude Perfect videos on the sand dunes... it was a perfect day!

We ended our day with a yummy dinner at Portillos.  The next day was 4th of July and we were able to meet he Windhams for breakfast before Knopps headed back home.