Leland 2017 Week 1

The kids and I were very lucky to have a 2 week vacation Up North this summer! Hung and I drove up with the kids and spent the first week with G, Papa, Uncle Cullen & KJ, Jon, Taylor, Olivia, Uncle Du and the Boltons (Jordan, Rebecca, Hannah and Ella). It was such a wonderful week with friends and family.

Highlights included:

• Cherry Picking at Gallaghers - Taylor slept through this event but Avery enjoyed picking with Hannah and Ella. And we all went out for lunch in Sutton's Bay afterwards. The cherries was great and lasted us the whole week! Hannah was also SO sweet to Taylor and really looked out for him every time we got together.

• Beach Time at Van's Beach and Sutton's Bay - The girls had fun being thrown around in the water by Jordan and playing on their boogie boards. Tay was pretty happy to just play in the sand and got more comfortable in the water as the vacation went on.

• Crystal Mountain - We spent the day with the Bolton's at this resort and really had a perfect day. We started on the alpine slide where you got to take the chairlift up to the top and then go down on a giant, winding slide in a 2 person sled. Tay was too little - you had to be 3. He was really upset watching everyone but him and me go up to the top. On the second round Rebecca stayed with Tay and I rode with Hannah. She got Tay a sucker so he was much happier! But afterwards we all went to the splash pad/pool area and then everyone was happy. Avery worked hard to get across the lily pads and finally made it across by the end of the afternoon. Ella was also a big fan of this! They had these giant water guns in the splash pad area and Tay really liked that part!!
  

• Smock Paper Scissors - Avery had a much longer attention span this year on the crafts she made than in previous years. Tay liked the play doh and then spent his time wandering around from station to station and playing with the toys he brought. Tay had to bring his entire bag of toys with him to ALL of our activities - This was a pretty big bag full of cars, trains, musical instruments and tools. And he would freak out if he couldn't bring it all along. So I just kept dragging it around with us :) After Smocks we had lunch at Hop Lot and then hit the beach again.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Leelanau Peninsula Lighthouse - All went well until I pulled Tay away from the Train table and he LOST HIS MIND. Major meltdown! Hung and I can always tell when Tay is going to get upset when we end an activity and I knew this one was coming. He kept trying to race back to the building just sobbing and screaming to get to that train table. After that we headed to an indoor bowling alley/arcade. It would have gone better if our lunch didn't take 90 minutes to arrive - Kids were Starving and Rebecca and I spent A LOT of $$ on arcade games to keep the kids occupied - Tay was also WAY too into playing with the toy guns and Avery and Ella were obsessed with winning a stuffed animal in the claw game and it just wasn't happening. Tay really liked Carolyn this day and they had this little dance/shimmy thing they did together that was really cute. Tay ended lunch by grabbing Carolyn's chest with ketchup covered hands - It was the perfect ending to our disastrous lunch!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Black Star Farm - We had dinner at this beautiful winery/farm. We were able to pet some goats, see some horses and had a yummy dinner!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Cocktail Party at our cottage - On Friday Papa and G hosted a party for all of our friends Up North. This was the last night with the Bolton's and the girls BEGGED us for a sleepover. We were the meanest moms in the world for saying no (see sad faces below) :) Hannah also was trying some interesting methods to get Taylor to say more words - and it seemed to actually help! I was glad that they had so much fun together and we will plan to visit again with them this Fall!! 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Cullen's Graduation Dinner - On Saturday we had a great beach day with Cullen, KJ and Olivia while the other boys played golf. There was some drama in the afternoon - Hung put Tay down for nap and he was NOT having it. He got so mad and slammed his head into the dresser on the other side of his pack n play - He got quite a goose egg :( That night we celebrated Cullen's college graduation at The Riverside before everyone left town. It was a great dinner minus Tay being super antsy. One of us was out walking with him basically the whole meal unless he was eating....

• 
  
• Ice Cream, Leland Park, lunch at the Hydroponic Farm and hanging out at the cottage and walking around Leland were also some popular activities in week 1 :) 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Scooter Olympics - Avery and Hung created the Scooter Olympics. Her first "competitor" was named Debbie Downer but she injured her leg in the final round so then Avery had other competitors like Lolo Jones. Hung would time her and she took it really seriously. It was so imaginative and cute! Tay would tag along and "help" too! Avey won the Gold Medal and was SO excited. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• We also ran into Bill Laske - U of M Defensive End from the 1960's. He now lives in Leland and you know it's him cause he always pays with a personal check. SUPER nice guy - Go blue! 
  

• Tay's Goose Egg :(