The Beach

Wow, I am so behind, where do I begin? Last week we were on vacation. My mom's side of the family met at the Indiana Dunes (right on Lake Michigan) for a family reunion. This is the first time we had seen everyone since my grandmother passed away. Here are some highlights:

*We stopped at the Lego store on the way up, to break up the trip and for a birthday treat for Andrew

*We had a nice little house all to ourselves with 3 bedrooms. The boys each had a room and Molly slept in our room. The house was the perfect beach house. Decorated very 70s but we really didn't have to worry about he kids ruining anything. It had a nice sun room and a huge deck off the back. It was on the beach side which was a huge added bonus.

*Saturday night was our first night there. We went to Doey and Susy's place for dinner. My mom had shirts made for everyone which was awesome. We had dinner and then headed down to the beach. The boys were in heaven...making sand angels. Quite a change for Matthew from last year. He was not a fan of the sand for the first couple of days but this year was awesome.

*Sunday morning we went to an outdoor mass. It was a great concept but the fact that there was no music made it virtually impossible for the McLaughlin's to go under the radar:) Drew had to leave mass with Matthew because he was AWFUL. Everyone was exhausted from staying up super late and not sleeping well our first night of vacation. I decided to let Drew go back to the house and nap with Molly while the boys and I visited some family.

*Sunday night we had dinner at my parent's beach house, "Richie's Retreat". I think "Richie" did his fair share of 70s style partying...if you know what I mean. We had some good laughs and played a few rounds of 25 words or less.

*Monday Drew played golf so I took the boys to my dad's sister Missy's house since my mom's family didn't get started until a few hours after the McLaughlins. Then we met the family at the beach for a little bit before lunch and naps.

*Tuesday we went on a LONG family walk where Matthew fell asleep in Drew's arms and Molly fell asleep in my arms. Talk about the waves putting you to sleep...it was 8am:) Andrew was a trooper because he HAD to walk. Then we did a little outlet shopping. I had some beach time with Andrew and Molly then we had Mexican night at Andy's house.

*Wednesday Drew played golf again. I took the boys to hang with my mom while Molly and I shopped for Andrew's birthday party at our place that night. We made LEGO birthday cakes once Drew got home from golf and I made a few more trips to the store but it was a really fun party. Pete's family joined us for their first night there. Some great memories of Andrew and Kiersten on the beach that night. Everyone was very generous giving Andrew great LEGO gifts. Since it was our dinner night, we ordered pizza...delicious and easy

*Thursday Molly continued her "vacation routine" of getting up at 4 and then again at 6 or 7. I was able to sneak away for an hour and do some shopping on my own...oh how nice it was! Then we met Pete's family at the beach with a very crabby Matthew but it was fun. THEN Drew planned a surprise party for me that night for my 30th since a lot of the family wouldn't be able to be with me on my big day in September...WHAT A SWEET HUSBAND!!

*Friday...our last day...TEAR. We had donuts at Missy's house then hit a few more stores at the mall. I went down to the beach while the kids napped and it was so windy that the sand was painful when it hit my body. I'm so glad we didn't plan on taking the kids there because they would have been miserable. Our last dinner was at Pete and Jill's beach house and a great storm rolled in. It was a wonderful way to end a great vacation.

*It poured all Friday night into Saturday so it was the perfect way to leave the beach. ALL 3 kids were sound asleep once we were on the road for 30 minutes at 10am!!! Talk about worn out! The ride home went well and then it was back to reality.

Day one Pictures:

http://www2.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=4515873007/a=28308882_28308882/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Beach Pictures:
http://www2.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=4528729007/a=28308882_28308882/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Days 2,3,4
http://www2.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=4536245007/a=28308882_28308882/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Birthdays and Last Day:
http://www2.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=4567327007/a=28308882_28308882/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/