Three Kids and a Dog: Summer Vacay 2023 in SW Michigan

Typically, we don't go anywhere for vacations during the summer (unless it's soccer related) because we have Michigan, and want to make the most of the time we have during the best months of the year. So this summer, we started off with Father's Day there and then a long 4th of July week, before we had a blissful weekend of just us in mid-July, and then a return for our true summer vacation just last week.

We left on a Thursday afternoon, had family up Friday through Sunday, and then enjoyed a few days by ourselves before having another 16 friends (10 kids/6 adults) together for our last weekend rounding out our vacation. In total, we spent 11 days/10 nights up there.

The first weekend, we hit up Waypost Brewery, rented a boat with family on Lake Macatawa in Holland, Mich., then retired to our beach on Sunday before most of the family headed home. We had a fire, toasted S'Mores, played more than a few rounds of cornhole and other games and just caught up.

Monday brought some getting the house back in order but also some time to try some new things in and around South Haven. Now that Austen is 16, and can drive, we finally could do the ATV trails in South Haven. We cruised over bridges, up some hills and through the woods on trails for an hour to get our fill. It was fun and a hidden gem in South Haven. The girls wanted to make some candles too at a local shop so Peyton made a candle with a lemongrass scent while Hailey opted to make a sand candle in an array of colors. We also took the kids into Grand Rapids to check out their downtown market (and hit the Costco to replenish), we dined at some new restaurants and visited some old ones (Brewsters in New Buffalo - the kids said that was their favorite. They used to go there all the time when Austen and Peyton were little. It would be our stop after the beach on our way home to the city when we would reminisce about someday having a beach house out that way). We went to the beach where they played for hours in the water on our "lily pad," made sandcastles and searched for beach glass. We played mini golf in Saugatuck where Austen's name still holds the record for the low score for the summer. (We'll see if it's still up there by Labor Day.) The boys kayaked in St. Joe while the girls and I enjoyed smoothies at Clifford's Coffee Canal.

Mini Golf Season Low Score Holder - Austen S.!

Our friends arrived then on Friday, and we headed to Virtue Cider Brewery to sample some ciders, walk the trails and play some games. Home for dinner and more games before heading out on Saturday to Lake Arvesta (one of our usual stops for a group of 16) to let the kids frolic in the man-made lake on their inflatables, play frisbee golf, whip down their giant waterslides, play a few games of volleyball with the adults and end our day with rounds of pickleball games. We headed home to a make your own pizza night capped off with S'Mores before getting up early the next morning (well, some of us) to rain and a viewing party for the U.S. Women's World Cup game against Sweden. They lost in PKs and we all went back to bed before finishing off our weekend with a lazy Sunday mid-morning breakfast.

That's it. Almost the end of summer as fall high school sports season started Monday so everyone needed to be back for tryouts. Can't believe school starts again in two weeks!