Stats for August 15, 2018

Origin:  St Ignace Harbor

Destination:  Mackinac Island Marina

Distance:  6.1 miles

Speed:  7.9 mph

Time on the Move:  46 minutes

 

Mackinac Island and Cousin Camp, here we come!!  Ever since my brother, Brad, and his wife, Nancy, started having sweet babies in Minnesota, and Mike and I started having kiddos in Michigan, it was one of my parents’ goals to get us together regularly so the grandbabies would all know each other.  We call our 2 or 3 visits a year “Cousin Camp” and it is definitely a highlight of being a Hays or Herbon kid.  Cousin Camp usually involves lots of swimming, adventuring, beach time, boat rides, ice cream, play time, and movie nights–pretty much everything that is awesome about being a kid (or being an adult, really).  This year’s Cousin Camp had to be carefully planned out to fit into the INNTW timeline and also work for everyone else involved.  Mackinac Island seemed to be a logical choice and it turned out to be the perfect spot for our kids to play and explore together.

INNTW arrived on the island just a short bit before Grandma Hays showed up.  The kids were so excited to see Grandma.  One of the first things Tobin told her was that Hayley is 7 now, and he is 4 1/2, and it’s true, they both have had birthdays or half-birthdays since they’ve seen her.   That kid cracks me up.  Colin enjoyed challenging her in chess on his new magnetic chess board (essential if you’re playing chess on a boat!).

After visiting and catching up with Grandma, we left her to relax and unwind peacefully, and we took off on a bike ride around the island.  The kids did great (with Toby in the bike trailer) except for a quick minute when Tobin nearly got run down and squashed flat by a speeding biker, but luckily, he avoided that fate by milliseconds.

We picked up Grandma and had ice cream for dinner, followed by tag and playing in the park.  You just can’t beat a day like that.  Unless….you have a Grandma babysitter on board and you get to go out for dinner and drinks w/the hubby!  Thanks, Grandma!!

 

The next morning the kids were BOUNCING OFF THE WALLS wondering when their cousins were going to show up.  Luckily, we didn’t have to wait long because they came over on one of the first ferry rides of the day and Cousin Camp had officially started!!  We relaxed on the boat and the kids made a huge mess getting out every single toy played with all their toys for a while.  We decided to ride around the island and check out all the sights.  It is just such a beautiful ride, it is hard to take it all in.

 

 

After our 8.2 mile ride, we weren’t sure whether to go out to eat or head back to the putting greens we saw right next to the water.  Somehow food always wins out.  We even snuck in some fudge taste testing while we waited for our table.

We also snuck in some souvenir shopping…

The girls don’t LOOK thrilled here, but they I’m pretty sure they were just taking it all in.  We had a great meal at the Pink Pony and got to hear some great live music.  We also got to smell Bounce or Downy the whole time because we were right next to the laundry room….but there could be worse things I suppose.

After dinner we let the kids run wild on the putting greens and catch a million frogs.  I’m sure the people having dinner here were thrilled with us.

 

What a fun first day of Cousin Camp!!  The Hayses went back on the ferry and we went to bed exhausted but ready for another full day of fun tomorrow!

On day #2 we started off with a sweltering trip up to the Fort.  It was a looooong hot walk uphill.  And did I mention it was hot?  My family was taking pictures of me because I was sweating so much.  It was hot.  But they had cannons and rifles, so it was a trade off, ya know?

There is so much history at the fort–we got to learn about the weapons they used, watched a few reenactments, searched to see if any of our ancestors were ever stationed at the Fort, and saw lots of cool, old artifacts. After lots of exploring we were ready to move on.  Lunch was in order, so we grilled at the marina while the kids played on the hill and founds lots of frogs (of course!)

 

Mike’s Uncle Jerry and Aunt Julie Kraft arrived on the island to get ready for a wedding, and they stopped by to visit and check out INNTW.  Thank you for the visit, Uncle Jerry and Aunt Julie!!  Afterwards we were hot, so we went biking in search of a place to swim and cool off.

We found a perfect spot where we could see the Mackinaw Bridge and watch the ferries cruise past.  The kids loved swimming, examining the rocks, and building their own miniature Fort Mackinac.  As we were swimming I saw this guy walking down the boardwalk, and even from afar, I was sure that it was my old friend Justin Jeannot from high school.  He lives in Colorado now, but I knew his family was in town for a wedding, so we took a chance and all started calling his name.  He tried hard to ignore us, but eventually turned around to see who in the world kept calling his name.  It was great to see him and meet his wife, Jenny, and son, Jameson (while in our swim suits, no less!!).  What a small world!!

After a refreshing swim we needed some refreshing ice cream (pretty much for dinner–again!!).  On our way we ran into Justin’s brother, Brandon, and his wife, Cody, and their 2 children.  It was great to see friends from so long ago!!

At this point, Svea had already decided what pajamas of Hayley’s she was wearing that night, so the decision was final that the Hayses were staying overnight on INNTW!!  The kids got jammies & comfy’s on and got tucked in with popcorn, apples, and a movie.  Having your cousins visit is SO MUCH FUN!!

 

The adults had our own fun on the sundeck, and Justin and Jenny even came over to catch up a bit more.  This was just the warm up for the Hayses and Herbons who closed down the Horn Bar after a night of wicked dancing and 80’s music and scarfed down a pizza around 2:30am.  Hey–fun is what Cousin Camp is all about!!  And we had Grandma in town to stay with the kiddies!!

The next morning came early.  We had a morning of chores and fun in preparation for leaving Mackinac Island and heading for the Hayses’ campground.

We snuck in another bike ride and some souvenir shopping before it was time to go.

 

Stats for August 18, 2018

Origin:  Mackinac Island Marina

Destination:  Mackinaw

Distance:  7.7 miles

Speed:  9.7 mph (we had to speed up and maneuver a bit to avoid wicked wakes from all those ferries!)

Time on the Move:  48 minutes

Soon enough, it was time to head out.  Grandma Hays, Brad, and Nancy all took shuttles back to Mackinaw City.  The Herbons, Jack, and Svea rode on INNTW to a spot right next to the Hayses’ campsite at Mackinaw Mill Campground.  It was awesome because we were SO CLOSE to their campsite that the kids got to play in the water and explore the Hays camper.  We had a nice afternoon of visiting, complete with pizza for dinner and s’mores over the bonfire for dessert!

We were close enough to shore that it was easy to keep an eye on INNTW…and that Mighty Mac!

Mike has been ordering BUNCHES of stuff from Amazon and sending it to my mom to bring with her when she came here.  It was not so much fun getting it to the dinghy and into the boat, but it was lots of fun opening everything!!

 

Back to the bon fire fun!!

It was a fun night, but of course we stayed too long.  Which meant we were dealing with all kinds of meltdowns by the time we dinghied back to the boat and got the kids tucked in.  We had a rough night with boat chop slapping against the hull.  It wasn’t windy and it wasn’t wavy, but it was LOUD which made it a little unnerving.  I was awake from 1-5ish listening to the waves and peeking out the window to make sure we weren’t moving.  This was our view when we woke up.  Looks innocent enough, but we lost an oar and a bumper off our dinghy over night and one of the two ties used to secure it came loose.  We now have greater respect for actual “anchorages” and not just “anchoring” anywhere.

 

For our last adventure of Cousin Camp, we went out to breakfast.  The kids had fun sitting at their own table, and the adults had fun actually being able to talk since the kids were at their own table.  We started planning the next Cousin Camp and retelling the stories from this one.  I love this tradition!!

 

Thanks for reading this super long post.  After 4 days with so many people we love there was a lot to share!!  On to the next adventure…