michigan | the beach

My little beach babe.

The many beach faces of Vivienne Sam.

Scootching in...

Taking it in.

Avery had some sort of long-term, on going sand project.

The boys had a blast running into the water.

Clean up.

Taking the kids to Lake Michigan was probably the one thing I was most looking forward to on the trip. Kathryn and Eli accompanied us and I have to give this lady credit. Instead of going to the beach a mile from my mom's house, we decided to go south a little to a better beach. Well, in order to get to this better beach, we had to descend a staircase of no fewer than 50 steps. No problem you may think, but add 3 kids, one of whom had to be carried, 8 bags of beach gear and Kathryn was 34 weeks pregnant. She handled the trek down and then back up the stairs like a champ.

It was so hot and there was a water warning for the lake, meaning the lake was not clean enough to swim in. We went in anyway (fully scrubbed after) but I was very hesitant about dunking or going in too far. Vivi enjoyed the water, but not nearly as much as I had envisioned. My mom had told Avery the day before that the fish would nibble his feet and he wouldn't go in until I assured him that a) there weren't any fish and b) if there were fish, they would be gentle. Eventually, he and Eli were running into the water over and over, having the best time. 

Truthfully, the beach trip did not really live up to my high expectations. The sun was brutal. There was sand everywhere. Vivi wanted to be held, but we did it. We survived the beach. Somehow it was much more fun when I was young.