The Accidental Boilermaker

 Sunday we drove to the Warren dunes. The weather for Monday showed a chance of storms, so we made sure to arrive early on Sunday and make the best of the good weather. We set up camp first and Evelyn and Jameson got to try out their new camp chairs.  The next stop was the beach. The water was warm and there were almost no waves. After swimming for a little while we went to climb the dune.  A trio of siblings asked if I could take a picture of them and then we got them to take a picture of us.  Running down the dune, Evelyn unfortunately scrapped the bottom of her foot on a tree stump. It was a challenge to keep the cuts as free from sand as possible but she did a good job not letting the injury slow her down. Nate tried bringing the ukulele camping instead of his guitar and it turned out to be a fun change. Plus it’s much smaller so it fits much better! After dinner, we went back to the beach to watch the sunset. 

 Trying to squeeze in some last minute fun before school starts. Tuesday we went swimming in the late afternoon. The water was warm enough and the pool wasn’t crowded. Wednesday we played mini golf and rode the go karts. I got 4 hole in ones! Thursday we met Evelyn’s best friend Nidhi at the splash pad. Nidhi’s family is moving to Carmel so it was one last chance for the girls to be together. Carmel isn’t that far away so hopefully they can still stay in touch.  Friday we went to the zoo. We let Evelyn and Jameson ride the carousel all by themselves.  On Saturday, Bella had a end of summer party complete with water bouncy house. 

 Our last night, it rained and was pretty windy. But thankfully the rained stopped by morning.  We ate breakfast, packed up the car, and took one last stroll along the beach. And the car started no problems once it was time to leave. It was fun to return to Barnes County especially with Amanda and the boys.  Next summer though Nate and I thinking about exploring some new Michigan campgrounds.

Our last day all together we went for a nice hike at the campground in the morning. Nate taught everyone how to build back up the fire using the embers leftover from the previous night’s fire.    We ate lunch and then all headed to the beach. No one stayed quite as long and soon it was time to help Amanda and the boys pack up and say goodbye. It was a lot of fun camping together. Lots of wonderful memories I hope were made.  Our family took a little rest time and then decided to go back to the beach for another round of swimming. After dinner we went back one more time to look for petoskey stones and to waste a little time before building a fire and making s’mores. Before it got too dark, Nate wanted to back the car into our spot a little more and then just like at Turkey Run, the battery was dead. Thankfully a campsite right across from us had jumper cables and the car started right up. All we can think is the Mazda does not like it when we leave the doors open, even if ...

 Friday morning everyone woke up pretty early but they were respectful and quiet. After breakfast, we drove to a nature preserve for a hike.  There was a very nice nature center and a naturalist who taught us a little about orchids. Part of the preserve is a marshy land that serves to filter ground water as it flows out into the Traverse Bay. You can access these areas because they have laid a boardwalk for a trail.  After lunch it was time to head to the beach!  The water was a nice temperature and we went out to the sand bar a few times. As the afternoon wore on, the waves got bigger.  Our last trip to the sand bar, Evelyn and Jameson had fun diving and jumping into the waves. We made hobo pies for dinner and more s’mores for dessert. Then it was back to the beach for another sunset. 

 We went back to Barnes County campground this year but we invited Amanda and the boys to join us. We met in Big Rapids for lunch and then caravanned up to the campground. We set up camp, got settled, and made walking tacos for dinner and s’mores for dessert.   Then we went down to the beach to watch the sunset and begin our quest for petoskey stones. 

 The Pufferbelly race was today. We were all thankful we were able to participate since Evelyn tested positive for Covid Monday night. We cancelled a lot of plans and did the best 5 day isolation/quarantine we could and so far no one else has felt sick. Pufferbelly is a funny name but it’s the name of a greenway in town and all the money goes to trail development in Fort Wayne. I got Nate to run too because Jameson is fast, faster than Evelyn. This is a decent sized race and I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of letting him run by himself.  It was a rainy morning, but once the 5k started the rain had stopped. Nate and Jameson ran it 30:37; 9:53 min/miles. Evelyn and I ran a 34:50; 11:14 min/miles. She didn’t want to run that fast which is totally fine. But she did have a big sprint left in her to the finish. Most important, everyone had fun.