Pure Michigan 2015

Well, you can see some past Michigan trips here and here, but this one really took the cake. And here's why: we had our own log cabin with our own private fishing dock, and that really made for the whole trip.

We fed some ducks and then started casting.

But before the day began, Pax made sure mom's face would be completely protected from the sun... for the next three weeks.

Not long after, this happened...

And then Mae hit to casting and a little later on... jackpot!

Last was our buddy Pax. He was enjoying a little fishing fun when he felt a tug...

Boom! Three for three.

This pictures sums up the fishing nicely.

We also made sure to hit up some berry picking, as late August in Michigan is the perfect time and place for that.  As is the tradition, we bunked with Ana and Sid and their mom and dad, and had ourselves a blueberry pick for the ages.

At one point, we decided to start measuring each other. Sid is three but gaining on Mabel quickly.

And this is Dee. She owned the blueberry farm and was one of the sweetest ol' gals you'll meet.

On top of blueberry picking, the beach was a hot spot for us on Saturday morning. The ideal day from a weather perspective - 82 and sunny - and with really warm lake water to boot, the beach treated everyone well.

On our last morning we decided we had never been raspberry or blackberry picking and so we made sure to stop and got in a nice pick right before the rain.

This last pic is our "Goodbye Michigan" pic, but we'll see you next year, without a doubt.

Pure Michigan 2014

This year we tried to make our Michigan trip a little earlier to avoid some of the bad weather we've experienced the last 2-3 years.  So we packed up the car on Labor Day weekend and headed to our spot with our best friends Ana and Sid and their mom and dad, Steph and Colin.

It was more of the same this year - apple picking turned into apple and peach picking; due to the season only a couple apples were available...

Pax picked his first apple ever. And for the first time in his life he could walk around picking things up off the ground and eating them and it was actually okay.

Took a little break up at Crane's for some donuts, apple cider and tomfoolery.

Then on the way home we were having a couple meltdowns when Dad laid the hammer - "Listen! This family may be a democracy but once in a blue moon your mother and I would like to do something that WE would like to do. Now we've never been blueberry picking, so the crew in the back seat is going to get it a grip on themselves and we are going blueberry picking!!" (There might have been a goddammit thrown in there for good measure.)

So we landed at a blueberry spot and it happened to be free picking weekend because it was the last weekend of the season for blueberries. It's a short season - July 3 through Labor Day, but we hit the mother load because only two other people were on the whole farm so we picked and picked to our hearts delight.

First stop - get your buckets!

Then it was out to the farm.

And then it got me thinking, "Boy, we've been doing this Michigan trip every year for quite some time." so I thought I'd throw in a couple pics from 2010 when I was two and Mae was a wee wittle kid who was just learning to stand up.

Ah, memories. Well, back to 2014 - next day we took advantage of the beautiful weather and hit the beach for most of the day, then the rest of the weekend consisted of breweries, parks on the water and ICE CREAM! Michigan 2014, you will be missed, but we'll see ya next year.