Everything but the kitchen sink!

That is how I felt as I was packing for our vacation!

BUT it was oh so worth it!

This year for our family vacation we found this amazing cabin resort in Three Oaks Michigan called

 Lakeside Cabins Resort

It was amazing!  I would suggest it to anyone. Young or old, and a bigger shout out to those that have a family with younger kids. It is a gated resort with tons of cabins to chose from, two huge heated swimming pools, two lakes, fishing, a playground, hiking trails, basketball and volleyball courts, a huge grass play area, shuffleboard, and a lodge with a huge game room inside.  Plus it is minutes from Lake Michigan!  We couldn't believe how inexpesive it was.  It was about the same price as a hotel stay a night.  We stayed four days/three nights...and wished we had booked it for longer! 

My next few posts will show all the activities that we did, but this post is to show you our cabin...

The kids were SO EXCITED about the cabin.  It was so cute!  The first half hour all they did was run around looking at everything and screaming with delight.  I guess we need to get out more often=)

Here is the kitchen.  To the right is a breakfast nook.  Down the hall is the bathroom, bedroom and stairs that lead up to the loft.  I'm standing to take the picture where the couch is in the picture below.

The living room had good space.  The kids (and daddy) loved the chair.  We even had a flat screen t.v with cable.  Now, that is my kind of camping!

Here was our bedroom.  We also had a small screened in porch out the doors.  It was so peaceful.  Loved having my quiet time out there.  There is just something about studying God's Word out in nature.  Ahhh.

Here is the loft.  We chose a cabin that only had one bedroom and one loft, but there are many options to pick from.  We liked this cabin with it's loft because the kids couldn't see the living room at night.  That way we could stay up later and the kids weren't laying in their beds staring at us.  This was their favorite part of the cabin by far! It was their space!

We also had a HUGE screened in back porch that overlooked the woods.  We ate every meal out here and it was so nice not to be attacked by bugs.  We had decided early on not to go out to eat, but just to take food and eat at the cabin.  More time to spend at the resort...and much cheaper.

We also had steps that lead down to our own fire pit in the back yard.

We had such an amazing time!  Many, many memories were made=)

Go on a family vacation!  Cross off #3!

Check in next blog for more things we crossed off our summer bucket list on vacation!

Our Summer Bucket List

 We decided to have a little fun with our activities this summer and came up with a family bucket list.  One night at dinner we went around the table talking about all the things we wanted to do and made our list.  We have it displayed proudly in our kitchen and love crossing things off the list. Okay, so I do...it's my Type A personality coming out!  Except we do it a little different with swimming.  We seriously go swimming all.the.time so instead of crossing it off, we are making tally marks to show how many times this summer we go=)

 So Miss Kyla decided to add something to the list herself. She has decided to potty train herself this summer.  Yep, mommy didn't have a choice. This girl is all about determination and NO diapers.  So one day she decided to wear big girl panties and hasn't gone back since.  I had been pushing it off, even though I saw the signs she was ready, because the boys were a nightmare to potty train.  I mean, lots of crying, tantrums, meltdowns...and the boys were upset too=)  Anyway, whether mommy was ready or not, this girl was!  So proud of my BIG girl!

I will not keep you in suspense as we begin crossing off our activities from our list.  Last week Greg was on a trip so I packed the kids up and went to visit my sister, brother-in-law and my sweet niece, Kaitlyn.  Road trip!  It was so much fun!  The kids did amazing and it was so refreshing to spend some quality time with the Zehr's.  Bucket List cross off #1.

 We got up at the butt-crack of dawn Wednesday morning and headed to Illinois.  We got there shortly after they had breakfast.  We had an easy going day of playing and then went to check out their church and the playground near their house.

Bucket list cross off #2...putt-putt golf!  Aaron took Thursday off to spend with us.  The kids had so much fun. No one was there, so we let them run around and play at the holes randomly while the adults had a playful competition.  Aaron won.  For those of you that know me and my competitive side...it did not sit well.  Kyla was quite serious about her very first golfing experience.  Even her little tongue is hanging out while she concentrates.  Sigh.  Love her!

That night we made a camp fire and had s'mores.  The boys enjoyed helping keep the fire going while canvassing the yard for anything they could throw in.  Love my boys=)

Kaitlyn even enjoyed s'mores...well, the crackers at least.

Then as if Uncle Aaron couldn't get any cooler...he set up his HUGE camping tent...in the basement for the boys to sleep in.  It filled the entire room!  Needless to say they were a little excited=)

We left Friday after lunch.  I realized after we left that I took no pictures of Megan and I together...so here is one of us together in May when we met in Chicago for the weekend.  Oh how I love my six-years-apart-twin sister. 

Stay tuned for more of our Bucket List...

SEVEN is a slice of HEAVEN

 My BIG boy turned SEVEN years old at the beginning of May.  I can't believe I have a second grader.
  Where do the years go? 

I still remember vividly screaming in pain during labor when the nurse looked at me and shyly stated, "Well, you're at 1 cm"...seriously, you have got to be kidding me!

Or the first time he laughed (at three months) when the dog jumped up on Aunt Denise and made her fall over.  Ahhh, he got my humor!

Or the fact that he hasn't gone a night since he was 18 months old without his blanket and monkey.

I don't really remember much about year two or three since I didn't sleep during any of it thanks to #2, but he was stinkin' cute...I do remember that much!

I remember the hours upon hours he spent playing with his knew found love...trains!

I still remember dropping him off at the elementary school for his preschool field trip to kindergarten and trying to drive home through the tears.

Years of looking at his beautiful bright red hair!

Or all the moments he was filled with so much joy and happiness he couldn't help but jump up and down and giggle in delight.

The night we laid in his bed and talked about Jesus coming into his heart.  These years might go quickly, but at least I know I have eternity to spend with him!

SEVEN incredible years with a very incredible little man!  I am blessed!

His birthday party this year consisted of race cars.  I love the simple themes.  We made it a weekend celebration with all the festivities of school and friend parties.  For three days he had a constant smile on his face.

I'm so thankful that he has such a fun group of friends.  He loves the ladies, I might add.  His rule on birthday parties is that he can only invite two girls (otherwise that's probably all he would have=).