finally...part two: vacation!

the second the bride and groom (see part one) exited the reception, i, in a mass fury, changed out of my bridesmaid dress and hopped in my honda for a 4ish hour trek up to the beloved lakehouse. no, not "the lakes" as certain people like to refer to any vacation spot on a lake in the midwest... :)

vacation this year was similar to every year...lots of relaxing, sun, ice cream, beautiful sunsets, browsing shops in pentwater, deep and borderline intense family discussion, lots of laughing, and crazy kids going strong from sun up to sun down (trust me, i'm very much savoring my vacations w/o the responsibility of kids).

although there were a couple changes this year to family vacation...no bass lake relay (our annual family sporting competition), but instead we added the family puking extravaganza. yes, the plague swept through claiming a day from over half of us. it affected everyone a bit differently, some with chills, fever and feeling achy. others were toilet bound (some kneeling, some sitting). it wasn't pretty. as soon as one person would start feeling better, the next would drop. fortunately though it was short-lived and everyone bounced back quickly. i got it about 48 hours after i arrived...while the hours of throwing up were not pleasant, it was kind of nice to have no appetite, therefore not gain vacation weight. :) but the infamous plague of 2010 will not quickly be forgotten.

clive was finally present and introduced to the family. i'm not sure he was very fond of us, but we're hoping that comes in time.

crazy kids! except for truman who is remarkably calm and sweet. but this is probably a result of being finn's younger brother...he has no other choice. :)

view from the deck

then halfway through the week, the last of my family had pulled out and in came my friends! christen, leah, lisa (not pictured), and i had such a good time! after i had gotten over my sickness, poor christen got it, but she definitely bounced back faster than anyone had and thankfully lisa and leah never got it. 

 
 lots of ice cream eating (above you'll see us partaking in blizzards from the best dairy queen known to woman), good talks, movies, laughing, beach and laying out time, walks on piers or around the lake, and boutique shopping. we also took our time going home and stopped at random towns along the lake michigan shoreline, eventually ending up in michigan city for some serious outlet mall shopping.

i just love these girls so much and seriously had some of the most fun days i had had in awhile. they were great vacation companions! and even troopers with our interesting hotel experience at the...

the lady at the front desk claimed we had "reserved a smoking room", which of course was false. and they, along with other area hotels, were all booked and it was either stay in the lung cancer room, sleep in our cars, or pay a ton of money for the last hotel suite left in the area. we opted to tough it out...at least it makes for a funny memory. :)

i'm sure i'm leaving some stuff out, but it has been a couple weeks ago by now...