Vacation!

It was long overdue {by about 10 years} and we are truly happy we took our first family vacation to South Haven, MI, just the seven of us {just, funny}.  Ethan wanted more than anything to be on a beach in celebration of turning six.  We scaled back on his birthday, made adjustments, rented a home during off season, stayed for only a couple precious {rainy and cold}days, and made the best of everything.  We had an amazing time and made some beautiful memories.  All of our boys were truly fantastic.  There was no time to relax in the traditional sense, and of course some things were harder away from home, but we figured it all out together.  Beckham learned to scale the pack n' play so instead bedtime turned into cuddle-fest.  These were moments we had with Ethan that I longed to have with all my boys.  I feel like God made those moments happen for us on our trip, to slow things down, and just remember how beautiful it is when we are being our family, together.  We were all sad to leave but so content to have made these memories.

Some of the things we loved about South Haven...
* The people, so sweet, so many came up to us and told us how blessed we are, how adorable our boys are, just truly wanting to be kind.  No one yelling crazy stuff. Nice.
*on our first walk through town the insane downpour held off until we literally just stepped under the awning to where Matt {smartly} parked the car...see even the rain is nice in Michigan!
* Golden Brown Bakery, for E's delicious cake and the 2 dozen cookies for $5.00, plus the owner came out to tell us about his teenage triplets ;)
* Clementine's was super accommodating and commented on how well-behaved the boys were, very kid friendly.
* Captain Nemo's for lunch, the staff was awesome.  Aside from everyone staring at us through the window when we were trying to eat ;) it was fun.  Again, great people working there.
* Oh My Darlings (next to Clementine's get it?) where E purchased {thanks to his birthday money from Grandma Helen} a rocket powered by newspaper, a bike airplane, the infamous extend a fork, swedish fish and 4 little bulldozers for his brothers.
* South Haven's Lighthouse, E thought it was super cool!
* Our Own Private Beach seriously it was chilly, but so gorgeous and most of the time we were there, just our family!
* Last but not least, Harbor Club South Haven where we stayed.  Beautiful home, couldn't touch it during the peak season, a huge treat, major planning for us, but the absolute perfect layout with a finished basement!  {hint, you can still rate our entry to be HGTV'd and have our basement finished here.}

And as the true Chicago suburbanites we are, when all else fails we strongly believe when on vacation you have to channel a little Clark Griswold.  One of my all time favorite quotes "fun, we're going to have so much damn fun it's going to take plastic surgery to wipe the smile from our faces."  Now that's the vacation spirit!

Here is a little more from the Griswolds...err...the Krols :)