July 2019--Summer rental at "Birch Point"

 Since I have more time these days, I have been thinking about going back and publishing posts about some of our adventures that I never logged. 

This is one of those times: We had a little family adventure in July 2019 at a home we rented on Little Elkhart Lake. It was a great spot on a quiet lake, and it was a nice place for all of us to converge. Jake and Jess came from MN and Mom and Dad just had to travel from the house. We only spent a few nights there, and the weather was dreamy. We really couldn't have asked for a better time together. 

It winds up rather salient, since now--in March 2021, with nearly a year of pandemic living under our belts--this was the last time that we were all together. It was also the last time that Cory or Ruby saw mom & dad, as we were all lucky enough to see Jake and Jess and baby Sophie last October, and Scout and I had an opportunity to go to Jess' baby shower in September of 2019. I made mom and dad a little photo book of our time together at Birch Point. "Birch Point" was the name of this house in the VRBO profile. 

Road Trippin' in the 4Runner

I believe this is sushi at a place in Omaha that Scout really liked

Jumping on hotel beds

Out in front of the little peninsula of Birch Point

There was a little island in Little Elkhart Lake, and it belongs to a camp that owns property on one side of the lake

Someone brought her mermaid tail to Wisconsin!

She really seemed to enjoy flipping around in the warm lake water and looking like a real mermaid

Dad made his way all the way down to the shoreline, despite the uneven terrain

The couple--here Jess was gifted with some stuff for the baby

Grandma brought lots of fun stuff to play with

Jake and Jess and Jason--Jason was nice enough to take the family photo for me

This photo was taken from up above, but here is Uncle Jake helping out the fisher

We were so lucky that this home had every sort of fun toy you could want! We played on paddle boards, kayaks and the paddle boat. Scout got to try out fishing from the dock and even caught a few little guys. There was a fire pit and hammocks, and the sweet little house had just about anything you could ask for. It was a dreamy little lake house. 

I cut off some heads with this selfie--but we all took a walk at Road America

In all fairness, it was very warm that night...

So, Ruby was pretty exhausted and needed to be carried back to the car

Here's Ruby putting together a puzzle with Papa

There were so many lillies on the lake

Now we're at Lake Michigan, and it was strangely foggy that morning

Here the girls are at the Kohler Design Center

Who doesn't like a fancy secret door in their bathroom?

The four of us girls at Gosse's

We were so incredibly lucky to enjoy this time together, especially since it wasn't possible for us to make it back to Wisconsin as a family since this vacation.