Michigan Vacation

I cannot say enough about how much I LOVED our first family vacation. Everything about it was perfect. We started vacation by travelling to Merillville, IN for the wedding of one of my college friends. It was nice to see everyone and it also helped to break up the drive. Conrad was awesome and slept in the car ride. He was great through the entire wedding and partied a little too hard till he crashed!

You can't tell in the picture but he is dancing in the high chair and thought the band was great! I wouldn't recommend staying in a one room hotel with a baby his age because he likes to move around and there was just no way for him to do that. It worked out just fine anyway. The next day we stopped at Portillo's to get hotdogs because everyone told us we just had to while we were in the area. It was good and gave us the fuel we needed for the next leg of the trip. 

Again, Conrad slept for most of the drive and was the perfect travel companion. Our final destination was Grand Haven, MI. I think I'm in love with this little town! The condo we rented is actually in Silver Lake and the area is just beautiful. The condo turned out to be just what we were looking for and worked out perfectly for the 3 of us. It gave Conrad space to move around and was clean so we felt more at home. There were a few restaurants right next door and just a short walk down the boardwalk so we were able to eat outside a lot and the weather was just right for doing this.

We spent a lot of our time in the pool at the hotel next door. The condo is just 2 second walk down the boardwalk from a nice hotel with both an indoor and outdoor pool which is open to the condo owners/guests. Conrad is becoming quite the little fish and loved being at the pool which I love too.  We visited the beach at the state park which was really nice. The sand was nice and powdery (but very hot, like burn your feet hot). This was definitely not Conrad's favorite part of the trip but Shawn and I liked it. The sound of the waves crashing was just a little too loud for the baby and he wasn't too sure about the sand either. It was a nice visit anyway and he didn't mind too much if he was being held and not touching the water!

We were able to take a walk out to the old lighthouse which is a landmark there was so neat to see.

We actually did a lot of walking because that is one of the best parts of vacation. Grand Haven had so many nice places for walking. Right outside the back of our condo was a nice boardwalk which went for a long way right along the water. It was perfect for taking a long stroller walk in the evening. There was also a beautiful wetlands area with long walking trails right across from our condo.

One day we took a trip out to the dunes and did some hiking. It was so neat to see how big some of the dunes can get and how they all form naturally. Conrad liked riding in the backpack. After a while he used his hat to cover his eyes and take a little nap. 

Many mornings we would start out the day at a cute little cafe called the "Morning Star Cafe". It had bright decor, fresh ingredients and unique breakfast choices you wouldn't find other places, plus delicious coffee to start the morning right! After breakfast one day, we took a short little drive to go blueberry picking at a farm. The farm was family owned, huge, and had plenty of plants ready to be picked.

One evening we went to downtown Grand Haven to walk around and then stayed up late to see the musical fountain show that they are famous for. The show was just okay but the best part was sitting out on the water and watching everyone walking by and the boats passing while the sun was setting. Conrad was a trooper and stayed up the whole time (11pm?).

We loved it all so much that we decided to stay for one extra day. We cannot wait to go back! This was by far my all-time favorite vacation and I could not have asked for two better people to spend it with. The weather was perfect, Grand Haven was perfect and as always the baby was perfect!