Our Michigan and Toronto Vacations

Playing golf at Grandpa's house

Wearing Logan's tutu

The 3 Musketeers


Riding the ferry with Liz to Toronto Island

Playing drums

Logan and Luke driving

At Niagara Falls

We went on the Maid of the Mist boat up to the falls

Andrew and Chase on the boat

Luke, Payton, Logan, Alex, Chase, Andrew (baby Emeline was already in bed!)

This summer we finally took a vacation with the boys. First we headed up to Michigan to stay with my dad for a few days. We had a nice visit filled with fishing, miniature golfing, and lots of ice cream. I'm so bummed that I didn't have my camera on the boat because my dad was taking the boat close to the lily pads and the boys were catching these little fish left and right. Chase had such a great time and was so proud of himself. Blake ended up catching a few big ones and that was super exciting too. I love that the kids are excited to go visit my dad and be in nature. It's so much fun to watch them!

We then drove from Michigan to Toronto where our good friends Kris and Liz live. The drive was surprisingly smooth other than a lot of rain. We stayed at Kris and Liz's house along with our other friends that have moved to Nashville, Jeff and Jackie. The house was full of 6 adults and 7 children (5 and under) but it was such a great time. Thank goodness Kris and Liz live in a beautiful home that was able to fit all of us easily.

We planned to do cooking at their house so that we wouldn't have to go out to eat with all of the kids. It worked out great, we had great delicious meals that we made together and we had fun while doing it. The guys were able to go out for a round of golf together and the girls went shopping together. We took a ferry one day to a place called Toronto Island. It was such a great place for the kids because there were rides for children 5 and under which was perfect. There was also a splash park and a beach on Lake Huron. We tried to play at the beach but a large storm snuck up on us and we had to literally run with all of our stuff through the sand. It was comedy. I would love to go back there again, it was a place to get away in the middle of a city with skyscrapers and traffic, it was pretty cool. Chase did get stung by a bee while waiting in line for a ride. He was a pretty good trooper. I was nervous he would have some sort of reaction to the sting but he was fine.

We also ventured to Niagara Falls. Other than the falls themselves, it reminded me a lot of Wisconsin Dells because of the t-shirt stores and store/restaurant lined streets. Both the American and Canadian falls were amazing and we learned a lot of history about the falls. We did go on the boat that takes you out on the water close to the falls. The kids loved it because we got soaked although at one point I was planning my escape plan for us because we were so close to the rushing water!

The ride home was long, almost 12 hours in the car due to a 2 hour wait just to cross the boarder back into the US. The boys did amazingly well, Blake and I were more anxious and ready to get out of the car than they were. We are so glad that we finally made the venture up to Canada and know that we will go back again to see great friends. It was so great to talk and catch up with our friends that we do not see nearly enough and it was even more fun to watch our kids play togther :)