Day 4 camping, day 2 in Leelanau. Today was great. We lazed around this morning. Took showers. My first since Saturday. Ewww. Nice showers here. No makeup this week. Love that so long as there is no mirrors. Paul made s’more pancakes with Hersey chunks and graham crackers. Oh, and we had a large mixing bowl that I didn’t remember packing until they were done eating when I asked where the dog water bowl was. Barf. Puke. Literlly, Hershey in it. We are also out of dish soap so the extent of the disinfecting was what was left in the washing wand. Glad I’m glutin free. We rode our bikes up to the lodge to look into some water activities. The boys played a little shuffle board. Elizabeth and I played a little tennis. We also ... read more

Day two, Millcreek Campground, I slept pretty well though I got hot in the middle of the night. Apparently, I was the only one. We have air but the night was cool. Hot flashes maybe. I quietly made coffee, grabbed a blueberry muffin and took the dogs out. I made a fire and enjoyed the quiet morning. Everyone roused and Paul through some bacon in the paella pan and some eggs in the bacon grease. Our plan was to take a ferry to Mackinac with our bikes and ride the 8 mile loop (Detroiter do 8 miles). We were contemplating taking thee dogs but it just didn’t work in their favor transport wise. The dogs stayed behind which was far less stressful for them. We took a shuttle to the ferry which was only a few ... read more

We are home! There are amazing things that come out of these trips. The learning moments discovered by fights/arguments, being in close quarters for a long time, learning about spending money, checking into hotels, solving problems, changing plans on a dime, being disappointed, seeing how others live in the same country, trying different kinds of foods and so much more. We are never sure if our kids get the impact of these trips and bonding as a family but Ben wrote a paper for school that I found in his stuff (he never showed us) which validated everything we hope for. See pictures below. Another amazing thing is how each stop we make feels like a whole different trip each time. Once we get and the car and drive, it feels like that last stop was ... read more

April 5, 2018 Weather: 645 AM 35 degrees, 12 noon 45 degrees and sunny, 55 and sunny States: Washington DC City: Washington DC Miles: Hours Driving: Hotel: Fairfield Inn Downtown Restaurants: Cosi (lunch) and Cuba Libre for dinner We had an early start this morning. We had to be at the White House by 715 AM. We caught an Uber at 645 and arrived early to the White House Tour line. I’m glad we got there a little early because the lone got long and you have to wait outside to start, then walk inside and out to go through security and we were the head of our tour line. It was coooold outside this morning. 35 degrees but sunny. We were cold waiting outside. We met a very nice couple (young grandparents) who brought their ... read more

April 3, 2018Weather: 50s and cloudy half the day, Upper 60s and sunny rest of the day. States: VirginiaCity: Williamsburg to Jamestown to Yorktown... read more