Fun with Gillian, Dylan and Oliver

One of the only things I don't like about spending the 4th of July holiday up north is that I don't get to celebrate with my college roommate and her family.  Their big family celebration is centered around the 4th, and for many years I was welcomed into their family traditions; I miss them every year.  So imagine how thrilled I was to learn that Gillian, Dylan and Oliver were going to be visiting Michigan long enough to join us for some time in Northport!!  SO awesome!  They arrived on Sunday afternoon and stayed until Tuesday morning, so we had some time to introduce Dylan and Oliver to the most beautiful part of Michigan (not that we're biased).  It had been at least a decade since Gillian had visited Michigan's "pinky finger" so it was a refresher course for her.  What a pleasure to see our boys play together!

Of course, we spent lots of time on the beach!
 

Natalie often took her morning nap on a blanket in the shade so the rest of us could stay on the beach. What a trooper!

On Monday afternoon, Gillian, Natalie and I left the big boys and the little boys to their afternoon naps and we headed in to Leland.  We stopped in Fishtown at The Cove for one of their famous "chubby Marys," which is a bloody mary garnished with a smoked chub.


Not the most attractive garnish, that's for sure!

Oliver and Nathan having a snack.  These were the only two pictures I could get where they were both looking at the camera!

Baby girl on the loose!

This is what a boy who has been playing on the beach all day long looks like at the end of the day! :)

Their last morning in town, we all went to breakfast at Barb's bakery, and then went for an impromptu tour of the local fire station.  The kids even got their own firehats!  Of course, they had no interest in posing for a cute picture by the fire engines.

That afternoon Papa helped Nathan try out his big boy bike with training wheels!  Nathan thought it was fun, but didn't have much interest in riding it after that first time.  Hopefully next time we're at the cottage we'll get some more practice in.