Days 4 and 5 – Hospitality…Dame Style

Our summer vacation wrapped up with a visit to see our wonderful friends, the Dame family. It lasted over 24 hours (they’re doing, not just ours!).

For those who don’t know them, the Dames can be quite spontaneous. We were afraid they would forget we were coming. But our doubts were settled when we accidentally parked in front of the neighbor’s lawn, the neighbor calls the police if they see someone parked in front of their lawn. We received fair warning from Frankie before anyone called any police! And then we were welcomed heartily:

1. The girls (there are seven not including Mrs. Dame) greeted us with personalized artwork on the garage door

2. They really rolled out the red carpet

(We don’t have pictures from Saturday night because I had a terrible headache and missed out on much of the fun. After some good grilling, Dan enjoyed mingling with some church folks and playing some kickball. There was a birthday cake and in my sleepy, painful, half-completely-out-of-it, headachey state, I was incredibly concerned that I wouldn’t get a piece. I was happy to find out that everyone else forgot about it and we didn’t eat it until Sunday.)

3. The girls snatched Lydia right up and loved all over her non-stop. They loved it. She loved it. We loved it.

4. We were fed lots of good food.

5. Lydia ate lots of watermelon and completed the trip by dripping cherry or watermelon juice onto every outfit she wore. (We got ALL the stains out with just a little dish soap and boiling water)

6. We enjoyed a lot of time in the golf cart. Lydia pretended to drive whenever anyone let her into the front seat. We golf-carted to church (at a campground this particular weekend) and the adults and babies golf-carted all around the lake while Mr. and Mrs. Dame treated us to ice cream cones.

7. Church took place right next to a playground. This was a great matter of distraction during the service but HOURS of fun afterward.

8. We spent the afternoon (after church) making new friends.

9. Morgan took charge of Lydia all Sunday afternoon and Lydia loved it. Morgan is now one of Lydia’s favorite people ever.

10. In an effort to make sure we felt neither over or under-dressed for church, Mr. Dame dressed to match Dan.

11. From red carpet to top-of-the-deck farewell, the Dame’s thoroughly hospitalitized us until we absolutely had to leave (far later than we had planned) on Sunday night.

And Sunday night wrapped up a very successful, very full, very fun family vacation.

Day 3: Fun Times with the Taylors

After cherry picking (I’ll come back to that. I skipped it on purpose) we drove out of Traverse City to Dan’s parents’ home. They, of course, were thrilled to spend the day with Lydia (and us too). To kick it off, everyone headed outside to blow bubbles, one of Lydia’s favorite activities.

Before Bubbles had quite loosen it’s appeal, Grandma and Grandpa Taylor surpised Lydia with a Big Wheel they had been hiding for the past two years. Sadly, Lydia was too short to reach the peddles. She didn’t even come close. But, never fear, Grandpa Taylor hatched a plan to save the day. A little rope later and she was ready to roll, through the grass and over to the school parking lot. The Big Wheel was a hit!

I promptly headed home and took a nap.  Later, Grandpa Taylor grilled up some of Dan’s favorite burgers for dinner, and Lydia had a blast playing with Roy.

Even though the day was much more relaxed that our previous activities, Lydia was still tired out.

Day 4: A Little More Taylors and Traveling

The next morning Grandma put in some kids music and Lydia insisted Grandpa and Grandma dance and sing along. She had so much fun and we had so much fun watching!

Saturday afternoon we made a couple more visits to our grandparents, then took another long car ride over to West Branch where we were hospitalitized by the Dame family…

Day 1: Driving

Despite leaving work early, we still ran into traffic on the way North. And somehow a 3 ½ hour trip became almost a 5 hour trip. But we made it, with only 3 potty breaks, 2 free Speedway drinks, and half a Lamplighter audio story played off of Dan’s iPhone.

Day 2: Cherry Festival

Even though we both grew up in Traverse City, or maybe because we did, Dan and I never really were into the whole “tourist thing” at the National Cherry Festival. Now that we live down state and haven’t been around for the Cherry Fest in a few years, we had no shame in being all-out tourists.  We walked down to the open space from my parents house and sampled every free sample available: jams and salsas (cherry, of course!), flavored nut butters, granola, fudge, yogurt, and even some chicken jerky.

For lunch, my parents treated us to the highly overpriced Cherry Fest food and we both got some chicken pad Thai along with a big cup of Grand Rapids sweet cherries. It’s true, the cherries at the National Cherry Festival are usually not actually from Traverse City. They were still yummy.

On the way home we passed some people raising money for a bird sanctuary.

One of the things I HAD to do on this trip was go to the beach. But after a long walk and hot day at the Cherry Festival, I was more interested in taking a nap. So we stopped at one of my favorite mini-beaches where the Boardman River runs into the Bay. It was just enough to dip our feet in the cold water and give Lydia a taste of beach. We’ll have to get a real beach trip in sometime soon.

It was a long, hot walk home. My dad brilliantly suggested a pit stop at McDonalds to cool off and Lydia got a free sticker.

In the evening we headed over to my grandparents house for a Fourth of July dinner and some lawn games. Lydia played with Uncle Tim and Dan had a competitive ladder golf tournament with my Uncle Dan.

Then, to wrap up a very full day, we made a stop at my sister’s home.  Since this was our first visit, Steph and Nate gave us a full tour and then we spent some time just catching up. Lydia found toys Steph and Nate never even knew they had, and we all stayed up later than we should have!

Day 3: Playground

Before leaving Traverse City in the morning, my Mom and Dad made us a big breakfast and then they took Lydia to the school playground nearby.

Then, because we hasn’t already packed our days to the brim, we decided to go cherry picking. But that’s another story…