Camping Fun!

Our vacation was wonderful. We went to Buttersville Campground in Ludington, Michigan. This was our first camping trip as a family. It was the first time Joe and Maizie have ever been camping in a tent. I grew up camping and have always loved it. Our vacation was wonderful. Beautiful weather. Nice campground. Fun times with good friends and we were all feeling pretty good! The campground was on Lake Michigan, about four hours from our home. Maizie was nervous for the long drive since she often gets carsick. She was also somewhat upset to be leaving her comfortable routine at home. I was praying the stress would not send her into a cyclical vomiting syndrome episode. Our friends and neighbors Janeen, Brian and the kids arrived before us. Brian's parents grabbed great spots for our tents the Sunday before we arrived. We ran into quite a few "bumps" the morning we left that postponed our arrival by about two hours. Within minutes of arriving Maizie met a friend her age named Anna. They had so much fun playing together. Unfortunately, Anna had to leave the day after we arrived and so their fun was short lived. Addresses were exchanged and Maizie had a hard time accepting that Anna (seen in photo above with Maizie) had to go home. I am glad Maizie had such a positive experience making a new friend. Our favorite times were spent on the beach. We flew kites, soaked in the sun and played in the sand. It was very relaxing. The beach made this by far my best camping trip. I love being by the water and so does Maizie and Joe. Our friend Brian is seen above with his little girl Navaeh. Savonna and Navaeh had a great time rolling around in the sand.
Brian bought Savonna her first kite. Kite flying seems to keep kids occupied for quite a while. There were some great shops in a nearby town. Joe was able to purchase some huge kites that we hope to fly soon. I think Joe is becoming quite addicted to kite flying. Maizie was big into bugs on the trip. No surprise there. Thankfully I brought her bug hut since she caught a few caterpillars and beetles of varying design. Parting with the bugs was another difficult goodbye for Maizie. She stayed in the car while I put them back into the woods. When I came back she was tearing up.

Brian's parents told us about the Amber Elk Ranch nearby. It was awesome. The elk are so beautiful. I had no idea that the elk's antlers grow about an inch a day. They feel like crushed velvet. The largest and most beautiful antlers can sell for about $7,000. The kids had a great time feeding the elk while I asked the guide a million questions. Visiting the elk was definitely an experience we will count towards homeschooling. Making smores is a great camping tradition. Maizie has never liked smores until she had them at Anna's camper. Suddenly, they were the best ever. So....we were very excited to make smores that night for Maizie. Apparently we don't have the 'special smore skills' that Anna's family had. Ours were always too brown or burnt or just nasty according to Maizie. We never did make her a smore she would eat. Argh. You can see in the picture below that she is less than thrilled with Joe's smore making abilities. Every morning Maizie did require her regular mid morning nap. There was one morning where we were concerned she was going to go into a CVS bout. Luckily, she seemed to rest it away. If there is such a thing. The first morning she had to lay down she became pretty upset when she realized we would not be able to go home in order to nap. Once I set up her bed so she could sit up and watch a movie she felt a better. There is something about her migraines that make her want to sleep sitting upright. Luckily, I had lots of blankets to make a pile for her to lay on.Brian's parents do a lot of meal preparation which was very nice. One night Janeen and Brian made fajitas. I thought the peppers cooking over the fire looked so pretty, not to mention yummy.We went to Historic White Pine Village . The first thing we saw was a pond that was hopping with frogs. Everywhere we looked there were frogs. I managed to catch one for Maizie. She refused to hold it. I thought it was quite beautiful with it's bright yellow belly. Maizie's favorite building was the old time store. She does like to shop. Just like her Mom and Dad! The village had an old fashioned ice cream shop where you serve yourself. Needless to say we had to make ourselves some good ol' ice cream cones. I have tons more photos but wanted to share with you a few of my favorites. Now that we are back I am catching up on laundry and feel way behind with everything. I did have a difficult time being around the smoke and now have another sinus infection. Ugh.

All in all, we had a fantastic time and look forward to camping again soon. There were some difficulties with changing our routine for Maizie but we took our time and she seemed to adjust. I would say that she went through very intense homesickness. She especially missed the dogs. Next time we may bring our canine friends along. I missed you all and can't wait to get caught up on your blogs.