A long weekend in Michigan

A couple weekends ago, Nicholas, Cooper and I, along with my in-laws, drove north a few hours to a small town on the coast of Lake Michigan. It was a restful little getaway.

On Friday, after lunch, we loaded up the car and started the drive, listening to podcasts and chatting. I knit on my pink socks. Cooper napped, and then woke up happy. We unpacked and settled in a bit, once we arrived to the adorable rental house. Then we changed and got ready for dinner.

We got dinner at a local restaurant, and Cooper did great. Since we were an hour ahead of our "normal," everything felt extra late, and when we got back to the house, Cooper was so tired and went right to sleep in his pack 'n play.

Saturday morning, we made breakfast at the house: bacon and eggs and coffee. And then headed to the Lake for a walk before the rain started. The water was a moody blue, and there was a light breeze. Cooper loved the sand and walked for quite a distance, actually. We walked the same route that we did when we visited this Michigan town back in September.

We walked alongside towering dunes, covered in long grasses, Cooper played with my MIL's umbrella a bit, and he almost fell asleep in my FIL's arms. It started drizzling right as we got back to the cars. The rest of the day was rainy (as we expected) and restful. we ate lunch at the house, Cooper took a nap (hallelujah!) and we played euchre, then went out to get coffee from local coffee shop.

Dinner was in a small restaurant, right near the water. And then we went back to the house for some more relaxing and rounds of euchre.

A quick stop for coffee in the morning on the way out of town, and then we were home by lunchtime.

Other little bits:

• Wearing raincoats everywhere
• Cooper making all of us laugh so much with his "side eyes" (a little bit he knows is always a hit) and all the little things he does
• acknowledging that I will probably always be the worst euchre player in the family (it's okay)
• Just the tiniest bits of green, hinting at the season to come
• wearing chacos (barely warm enough, but still, it was a nice change)
• snacking on homemade treats and pork rinds
• drinking coffee made by someone other than me (all weekend) <3
• my MIL and SIL got us all matching comfy sweatshirt and shorts combos (a different color for each of us)
• fresh air and a change of scenery was so nice

It was such a lovely little weekend trip! We love visiting our northern neighboring state, and I always love seeing Lake Michigan, whether it's our Indiana dunes or further north. And seeing new things, like one of our beloved Great Lakes in springtime, through Cooper's eyes will always be one of my greatest joys.