The Lake Experience

My parents bought our family cottage when I was about 9 years old, and we've gone up there nearly every fourth of July since. Family would come up and park their campers or pitch tents, and we did everything from fish to play games, cook outside, swim, and whatever "floated our boats". At the cottage, you can do whatever you want- that's the rule!! So here we are on our holiday doing "whatever we want"!

Nat and Serena LOVE to fish! Daddy is so happy about that! They can bait their own hooks and take off their own fish! Nat is quite the boat navigator too!
Here we are at the local parade. We've come every year since I was a kid. There's Steve, Aunt Jeanne, my mom, Serena, Dad, and Nattie. The parade was great! That's a different lake in the background. This little town nearby buzzes with activity...and a tennis court for me!

Gramps loves to sit with the girls and swing...he's done it ever since they were babies. Here is Gramps and Serena having an afternoon break. We also have the eagle's nest again this year...full of baby eagles! We could hear them from the "beach".

Serena headed out to the meadow to pick daisies. Something she's done since she could walk! Gram always gets a big crock to put all the millions of daisies she'll receive over the weekend.

The evening was setting in, and daddy took the girls around the lake to fish. Serena pulled in a BIG bass! The girls caught all the fish while daddy drove the boat. He wished I could have seen Serena's face when she pulled that fish in by herself. Me too!

It's funny...when I was a kid, I didn't enjoy the cottage nearly as much as I do now. We went from camping in busy campgrounds full of kids, to a private lake and few cottages. This is now our family escape. It's where you go when you want the world to leave you alone! It's where you go to regroup, rethink, relax, and require nothing of yourself! It's the place we all run to when it's time to just be a family and have fun. We're 30 miles from 2 major cities, one of them being one of my favorite cities in the world..Traverse City! We're also close to Cadillac...so not far from bigger things to do when the quiet is too quiet!

Not everything went smoothly up there again this year, but there were no snakes and the toilet worked fine (see my very first post if you dare). However, there was no water! We drove up Thursday, drove home Thursday night, came back on Friday when the pump guy came and fixed the water problem. Slept in a tent that was made for toddlers, you know....typical "vacation" stuff. My idea of a vacation is to stay home! No packing. No driving. Hot showers. Lots of room. I think I need a vacation after a vacation. I think I'm getting too old to sleep in tents too! As my mom points out to me when struggles ensue...."you're just making a memory, honey."

Oh, the memories I've made this week........!!