Vacation!!!

Lucas, Jeff, Ally, Ben, Rachel and Brooke...getting ready to
putt-putt golf.

Lori and Kim playing ping pong in the garage

Doug, Lucas, Ben, Brooke and Rachel in the pool

Ally, Rachel and Brooke on the way to MI

Ally and I listening to my iPod on the way to vacation

Ava eating her birthday cake!

Chloe, Rachel and Brooke

Ally, Kim, mark and Doug hanging out poolside

Rachel relaxing in the pool

Mark and Jeff - wow they are so grown up:-)

Miss Ally

Mark having fun in the kite store

Little Miss Chloe

Rachel and Lucas hanging out together

The whole gang (except Doug) on the Dune Ride

Ben and Brooke on the Dune Ride

Although this job is a freelance, 6-month position each of us have been given one week for vacation. Right, I know, it's like a vacation from vacation. Anyway, I took my vacation from July 21 - July 28. I took the train for the very first time. I left from Union City in Chicago and arrived in Kalamazoo, Michigan where my family picked me up. We then headed to our rental home just south of Grand Haven, MI.



The house we stayed in had enough beds for everyone in my family...that's for 17 people! We also had a pool out back and a playground for the little squirts. The house worked out well for our family. We were also really close to the beach. Before this vacation I had no idea the beaches by Lake Michigan felt so much like the ocean. It really looked so much the same...miles and miles of beach. The main differences were that the water was really cold and there weren't any waves, but other then that, it really did feel like the beaches by the ocean.



Throughout the week we did a lot of swimming, shopping and there was also a little game park nearby that we frequented. They had batting cages, putt-putt golf and go-karts. Because my family is so competitve we rode the go-karts so many times and tried to spin one another out. It was fun. I think I also played putt-putt four times throughout the week. Other then that we hung out and relaxed at the house. There was a ping-pong table out in the garage which was also a lot of fun for us. One night we had a little competiton and apparently we were getting into it a little much because the neighbors called the cops on us. The neighbors were residents of the community that had their house up for sale (apparently because they were tired of living next to a vacation home), but they told the cops that we were playing beer pong. Wow, that's funny considering that if the cops would have showed up a half an hour sooner, they would have seen my two pregnant sisters playing one another in ping-pong. Regardless, the competition was fun and we finished up just before the cops showed up.



On the second to last day of vacation we drove about an hour to go a dune ride. Essentially the dune ride was in a giant jeep that fit about 20 people. I didn't know that Michigan had such huge sand dunes, but man were they big...and right next to the water. The ride was a lot like a roller coaster and it was a pretty cool experience. Our guide was really comical as well, which made the ride even more entertaining.



Overall the vacation was really relaxing and it was great to spend some time with the family. After vacation, Mark drove me to the airport in Columbus which was about a 5 hour drive. We stopped in Bowling Green for lunch for old-times sake and drove around BG to see what had changed in the last couple of years. It was nice to see where I began school. Then we headed straight to the airport and I flew to Kansas City, MO so that I could eventually meet up with Matt and Jamie on their way from Missouri to Colorado.