{vacay-Morsel style}

 
We arrived back home Sunday afternoon, after a week and 3 days of glorious vacation time.
 
2 weeks ago we left home at 1. In the morning. People were not fully awake, people were cranky, people I was in great need of caffeine. It was an adventure.
 
We drove for hours and hours, stopping once or twice so Daddy could sleep. Around 3pm we arrived in Tawas, Michigan. Mama did an amazing job at finding a rental house for us, and we decided that it was perfect for a weekend. It was really close to Lake Huron and the beaches, and it was incredibly nice. The color of the back door is absolutely my new favorite color, and...it had a hot tub. It had a hot tub in the back yard. Geez Louise. I love hot tubs now.
 
Thursday night was spent getting settled. It's hilarious when we "move in" to a new house, even though it's only for a few days. Our little kids suddenly become attached to and exclaim over and over "Let's just move here! It's perfect!" When in reality, they're just excited about having their own beds/rooms for the first time in their lives. {The little boys had one room all to themselves, the twins and Blessing had a room all to themselves, the older boys had the living room to sleep in, mom and dad had a room, and I had a couch next to the kitchen. Which turned out to be great, because the kitchen just so happened to be further away from everyone else's 'rooms' and I was able to stay up late and have peace and quiet. :)} Oh, and while having TV's in every.single.room might have been nice for vacation, oh my word. I don't think I could stand it forever. Talk about family separation.
 
Friday morning/afternoon we ventured 2 blocks away from our place to visit the adorable downtown area. It was seriously one of the cutest little towns I've ever seen. One of my favorite things about it was that people rode bikes nearly everywhere. Even the 'back roads' had bike trails next to them. And some of the bikes were...I got jealous and considered stealing a turquoise, vintagy looking bike.
 
 
 
This girl. She melts my heart.

 
It rained a lot on our vacation, which I could have done without, but oh well. It made for interesting memories. :)

 
"The new attractive way to broil and serve hamburgers."
 
Antique shopping: finding things you have never heard of and having no clue what they even are.

 
Lake time = my kinda time.

 
Of course the little town had a candy shop!! It was adorable...to look at. It smelled terrible. :o But hey. Candy is candy and cotton candy is the best, so it ended up being okay.

 
These boys make my heart happy.

 
Blessing seems to think that just because she's the smaller, cuter, and sweeter than the rest of us she doesn't have to walk the whole way and fights us to carry her.
 
She usually wins.

 
This boy turned 8 this past weekend. Say WHAT? No way my little Jakey baby is turning into a young man. Oh gracious.
 
I love you buddy. You are definitely a blessing to our family.
 
 
Giant store full of big hats + the Morse family = duh. Picture time.

 
"Mimi, we're like Woody!!"

 
"Size 18 shoes? Seriously? I though giants had gone extinct...."
 

 
Back at the house we're just a little less formal...

 
She was having some pretty serious conversations with the girl in the mirror. :)

 
Saturday morning we went t the beach. It was windy and cold, so Daddy decided to see who could go the farthest in the water without chickening out due to the cold.
 
"1...2...3...GO!" And go we did. We all ran down the beach into the icy waters and I tripped and fell and was completely soaked before everyone else had even reached water deeper than their knees. I ended up going the farthest though. :)

 
After about 30 minutes of playing on one side of the beach, and almost invading the part of the beach preserved for some kind of Clover or Plover bird, we went to the other side and explored.






 
There was an island pretty far out, and of course we had to go check it out. The water didn't get any deeper then my knees, which helped since Creed and Blessing wanted to out with us.

 
Alright y'all, I want a sail boat. I want a blue one and I want to sail around the world. {Dear future husband.......}




 
Creed'O tried his hardest to convince me that he was a sea monster coming and would eat girls with red hair.

 
And this is what a "self portrait" looks like when you're trying to a.) keep your camera from falling in the water, so you keep the not-so-long strap around your neck, and b.) the 2 year old doesn't want to stand still.


 
The 'hike' back to our van...

 
I have a thing for light houses. One of the things on my bucket list is to climb to the top of a light house and look out over the ocean. Unfortunately we weren't at the ocean, and...they weren't letting people climb to the top.



 
I love gravel roads too.

 
 Saturday night we ventured far into the unknown {Well, not really, it was just a long drive.} to see Hannah's play.
 
 
 After 2 weeks of not seeing Hannah, we were super excited!! Especially Blessing.

 
So, no photography was allowed during the performance, but I did get this one. We took up an entire front row and we were definitely the loudest family in there. ;)
 
 
One of the photographers for the play was able to get several pictures, and I decided to steal them off of Facebook.
 
Hannah played the part of Elsa Scraeder in "The Sound of Music". And she did amazing. :)




 
 
These are some of the many friends she made while at the performing arts camp.
 
~~~~~~~
 
 
After picking her up the following day, we stopped to she a lumberjack monument...or something of that sort.

 
And of course I had to get a close up of the dude's face. :)

 
This world is beautiful.

 
 
Later that evening we went to the cutest little theatre and saw "Monster's University". {Good movie. Quite hilarious. Highly recommended.} Then we walked on the pier and enjoyed a sunset.
 
I still have yet to walk on a pier over the ocean, but one over Lake Huron is good. For now.

 
We concluded the night with ice cream. Blessing got a "baby cone" and she absolutely loved it. Now every time we stopped somewhere {ie: Sonic} she asks: "Can I get my baby ice cream?" {Cutest thing.}


One squinty eyed family picture later...We said goodbye to Michigan.
 



 
On our way down south, we stopped at 2 of daddy's childhood houses. It was so neat to see them and to hear Daddy recall memories from a point in his life that none of us know about!


~~~~~~~~~~~
Tuesday, after finding a hotel that wouldn't kick us out due to the amount of children, we went to the Creation Museum in Cincinnati! It was wonderful. So very encouraging. And it went above and beyond my expectations... There were so many people there, even on a Tuesday!
 
I took a lot of pictures, but most of them turned out blurry. I haven't quite mastered the whole indoor, low lighting photography yet. Enjoy the few I thought were okayish enough to post. :)
 

 
Goodness gracious. I have handsome brothers.

 
We've been studying Creation at church lately and so it was super awesome to be able to see and learn more about all the things we've been discussing.

 
Favorite part: The Ark.
 
The museum had amazing displays. And I, being the kind of person who likes to see things, really appreciated every little detail.


 
"Everyone under the age of 10 climb on!"
 
What little kids doesn't want a picture of themselves on a dinosaur? Oh yeah, Creed doesn't. :)

 
The petting zoo was definitely a favorite for our littles!

 
Blessing talked about the lambs and kangaroo the rest of the week!


 
And this big fellow adored me. He was like some kind of horse-zebra thing. Gorgeous animal, but a little big and scary for the 2 youngest Morsels.
 
~~~~~~~~~
 
Next stop: Smithville, TN. and the 42nd annual Fiddler's Jamboree! Hannah and I have gone for the past few years to help our aunts and uncles with their kids so they can go and enjoy it without having to worry about little ones... But this year our entire family joined in! Despite the fact that it was raining {the whole time} it was great. I love the Jamboree!
 
We competed in the singing competition, but alas, our voices are too refined for this very, VERY "southern accent drenched" competition. :) They try to keep the "mountain, Appalachian feel" alive, and so every single person who performs, {except us} has a heavy southern accent. {Most of them fake it, but some of them really do talk with a...southern drawl. I don't know what to call it! Just think of the most southern accent you've heard, and multiply it times 10. ;)} Oh well. It was fun to learn songs and sing them with my family. :)

 
 
Favorite: the fiddle off. Every year, at the end of it all, there is a fiddle off between the senior and junior fiddler champions. Lot's of hand clapping and feet stomppin' went on.


 
The rest of our weekend was spent being with family...singing songs. Telling stories.


 Oh my word. I love my family.
 
This is everyone on Daddy's side of the family except one more Aunt and Uncle and baby cousin. {Who we missed very much!}
 
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There you have it. A Morsel vacation. It was so much fun and so many memories were made. I am so incredibly blessed to have such an amazing family.
 
And I'm glad to be home again.

Comments

Breathe Deep said…
Looks like a FUN vacation! Makes me want to pack up our family up and go somewhere :)
Thanks for your comment on my blog!
Jennifer
Anonymous said…
I love the lake time! You need to post :)

cilla

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