Tag: tablet

7/1/2019 – Monday

I’m sitting in the family room with no power. Luckily there is enough juice left on this laptop to get some words down. I just pitched for the work softball team in Southfield. We got smoked by my old company. I’m feeling a little pissed because J pulled the curtain rod holster out of the wall. It happened because he constantly stands on the curtain and yanks it. Even though I’ve told him that doing so would break the whole setup, he continued doing it and broke the whole goddamn setup. Now me or mom is going to have to fix it before we close on the house next week. That is an extremely shitty fix it job waiting to happen.

Time to put that out of my mind and reflect on the wonderful weekend that was. We got on the road a little after nine on Friday morning and headed across the state to Montague where we met wife’s cousins family for lunch. It was a quaint slice of Americana right across from Lake Michigan with deli sandwiches and ice cream. They had a beautiful backyard courtyard where everyone dined. There was a sand box, games, fountains, and a koi pond. The boys ran free which gave the adults time to catch up. After that we stocked up at the local market then headed to our weekend home on Lake Michigan in Whitehall.

We stayed in the top right section of a big house on Lake Michigan in the town of Whitehall, right by White Lake and Duck Lake. About an hour after we got there, the Rizzo’s arrived from St. Louis. They have a boy named Luke in the same grade as J and a girl named Marmy the same age as Harrison.

We started with a climb down to the water level from the bluff above. There was no beach because the water level is higher than it has ever been. The owner of the place, Buddy Pops, told us there used to be a good 40 yards of beach. Or maybe it was 40 ft. Not sure, but it meant that come Saturday we’d need to find another place to hang out since our plan to lounge on our private Lake Michigan beach was dashed. Friday night we ate at a place called “Buzz’s Roost” on White Lake. It was only a half mile from the house. They had a great outdoor seating area looking out at the lake and a guy/girl duo playing folky tunes. We gave the boys the iPad’s in an effort to ignore our parenting responsibilities for the two hours we were there. Then we came home to catch the sunset over Lake Michigan from our balcony. Looking down the beach you could see everyone had come out of their homes to watch the sun make its curtain call. Looking out across the seemingly endless expanse of water at the sun slowly dropping below the horizon is all the entertainment I needed. My mind was at ease. And it was great to be hanging with Stickler and Bracy. We used to hang out a lot in Chicago when we both lived there. We let the kids keep the iPad marathon going until 10:30 ish when we finally put them down to bed. Then the adults sat on the balcony until around midnight. The stars were brilliant and I saw a shooting star.

The next morning there was a little more beach on the big lake so we explored the coastline until we ran out of real estate. After that we went to Duck Lake State Park because we heard there was some beach there. Duck Lake is pretty small so the water was warmer. The beach wasn’t much but there were only a couple other people there so it felt like we had the place to ourselves. The kids got along great with Luke and Marmy. Well J and Luke got along great and H and Marmy seemed to coexist well. We had packed a lunch so we ended up spending the whole day at that beach listening to tunes and peeing in the water. I got a good workout throwing Luke and Marmy into the sky then down into the water.

We were supposed to cook brats at the house for dinner, but nobody felt like it so we ended up just going back to Buzz’s. It was hotter Saturday and we all got a little toastier than we would’ve if we were being more diligent about sunscreen application. After dinner we went back to the house and claimed the communal firepit. We made smores and watched another sunset. The boys stayed up way too late again.

Sunday morning after breakfast we went and played in the Lake Michigan surf for a bit before it was time to go pack up. You know it’s been a good trip when you feel a bit sad knowing the end is near. J was getting especially sad knowing that goodbye’s were coming. He really loved him some Luke. He said he wanted to marry him. They gave each other a nice hug goodbye and there were tears from both boys. I love seeing J build relationships and care for other people so much. He’s more like Mom in that regard. It’s a beautiful thing.

Now it’s getting late and I’m tired, but Sunday was also pretty sweet. We got lunch with my cousins family and my Aunt and Uncle. They live just a little up the road in Ludington. Their last name is Hart which is my mom’s maiden name. We met in the town of Hart at the Big Hart Brewery. Hart’s don’t eat free, but it was pretty tasty. J and H both pooped there so that was good timing before we started out 3 hour and change drive home. Before we drove home we made a detour to the Silver Lake sand dunes. Mom and I took turns climbing the dunes with J since H was asleep and really needed sleep. Something like 3 miles worth of big sand hills, it was beautiful. They have a bunch of off road vehicles you can ride in or drive around. Next time we come back we are definitely doing some fun sand dune activities. Great tease. Great trip.