Our kids are so, SO lucky. From one Great Lake to another we bopped between the cottage on Lake Huron and Traverse City! With Covid came a lot of unexpected challenges but also a lot of of blessings tucked inside. With the cancellation of sports, camps, church etc. we had almost nothing on the calendar and this meant LOTS of time with Papa and Gma C. up north! We spent lots of time up north together as a family and Mom and Dad C. made it so special.
Papa created a "drive-in" for the kids. Night time movies in the convertible! And most nights, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. :)
Mom and Dad had the dock put in this summer and it made such a difference being able to spend time on the water. The kids were up and down all day long fishing, swimming, jet skiing, on repeat. And then end of the day baths for everyone in the bay!
These cuties wearing my Gpa's old waders, helping to get some old wiring out of the shoreline.
Lots of card playing and puzzles back up at the house...
And at night...Papa's stories about when he was a kid. Our kids would laugh SO hard and we all loved listening. Such joy! ( Don't tell Luke, but I LOVE how he still holds his bear Bennett at night.)
Lots of jetskiing this summer!! Last year this was all new to us and we didn't have the dock yet. This year, we all felt like giants on the bay and we cruised in and out all day long. SO.MUCH.FUN!!
Lots of R&R in between...
Our first time out to eat...Father's Day at Harrison's. We love you so much Ben and Dad!!
Happy Father's Day, Ben!!
And, Happy Father's Day Dad!
Harry Potter Clue! Papa Cooley was stumped in the first round! The winner was ELLE!!!
My heart.
Drew owning it like a boss!
View from the water as I am driving into the dock.
Elle's weekly piano lessons were still going so we just brought up her keyboard and she zoomed with her piano teacher!
Mom and Dad offered to keep the kids for the week when Ben had to return to work. OMG. We were all over this!! This was the first time we had to ourselves since the pandemic started.
The kiddos visited the horses Sugar and Summer out on our family farm!
They saw Aunt Laura and Uncle Dean...
Swimming at Haserot beach on the Peninsula.
Mom and Dad took the kiddos to Sleeping Bear Dunes for the day!
Our new neighbors gave us the go ahead to go swimming in their pool to our heart's content. I don't know if they really knew what they were offering but, we would swim in the bay and then up to the heated pool we would go! In the pool house, they stocked the fridge with drinks for the kids and covered their fridge with coloring pics from our kids. Seriously, best neighbors eva!
Back at home, we celebrated our 14 year anniversary. Woah.
Back up north...The crazy, fun continues!
Papa had a rock for each kiddo to decorate...Here is Luke's shrine. All in Luke!
Checking out the woods behind the house...
Papa and Luke were typically the first ones awake. They would go to Tom's to get donuts for everybody or talk down at the dock. Drew got up a few times too and then they would play Uno!
Due to Covid, they shut down the main street to cars in TC. The kids had fun riding their scooters and of course, ice cream. :)
We were SO lucky to spend so much time with Janae and Freddy too! Freddy is a film journalist for CNN International so we had all kinds of crazy fun with super, techy drone! This guy could go over across the bay and back and get film footage!!
The drone took lots of film of the kids jumping in the bay. I have to figure out how to share it on the blog and then I will post!
Back to the pool. We spent so much time up here, this all became our new normal for a bit! Annnnddd repeat.
But even in our new normal there is laundry!! Always, always laundry.
Papa and Luke spent ALL day putting together, organizing, and Papa teaching Luke about bait and tackle. Look at these proud smiles and checkout Luke's new tackle box!
I drove back up to spend the weekend and bring the kids back to Rochester for a bit. Like 4 days, before heading back up. :) We just love it!
See you in a few, TC.
