Since doubling the number of children in our household in a little over a year, we have gone into a sort of modified seclusion. We decided it was time for a vacation, but being unsure how everyone would travel we decided to stay somewhat local.
We loaded everyone in the car and headed north to Kelleys Island. The kids all really enjoyed driving the car onto the ferry and cruising to the island. We caught the last ferry to the island and it was right at sunset giving us a fantastic view of Lake Erie.
Kelleys Island is known for the glacial grooves formed when a glacier traveled down from Canada and cut through the rock on the island. The glacial grooves were a short hike from our yurt.
Even though it was raining lightly the first morning, we decided to brave the mist and take everyone hiking to a beach of fossils. Hiking with all the little ones at times felt a little like herding sheep, or maybe more like carrying 3 or 4 sacks of potatoes. In the end, the rain won out and we never made it to the fossils.
The next morning we made a second attempt to hike to the fossils. That time stinky diapers and the mud won out and once again we never made it to the fossils.
Once we gave up on the fossils and hiking, we spent our afternoons at the beach. Joseph absolutely loved the sand and water. He would laugh each time a wave came ashore and lapped on his feet. Before long he was jumping up and down in the water. Bophie was the one who surprised me though. She also was wet and sandy from head to toe and really enjoyed the lake. Juju did not like the sand or water and absolutely refused to leave her perch on my beach chair. Gabe and I had to search for shade, the poor kid has my fair skin, and while we were the only shade dwellers, we were the only ones who got any sunburn (thankfully very mildly).
We also spent an evening touring the island by golf cart. This was a favorite activity of the long weekend. We took turns letting the kids sit up front and at times it seemed we were playing a good round of musical chairs. It was a beautiful evening and we all enjoyed the lake breeze. The girls tried to race the cart and found they were slower than they thought. Dh also took a turn racing and found he was older than he thought.
While the task of taking our new, much larger, family on such an outing seemed daunting, we all had a good time. It was a lot of work before, during, and after (the washing machine is still running), but it was nice to get away.
We loaded everyone in the car and headed north to Kelleys Island. The kids all really enjoyed driving the car onto the ferry and cruising to the island. We caught the last ferry to the island and it was right at sunset giving us a fantastic view of Lake Erie.
Kelleys Island is known for the glacial grooves formed when a glacier traveled down from Canada and cut through the rock on the island. The glacial grooves were a short hike from our yurt.
Even though it was raining lightly the first morning, we decided to brave the mist and take everyone hiking to a beach of fossils. Hiking with all the little ones at times felt a little like herding sheep, or maybe more like carrying 3 or 4 sacks of potatoes. In the end, the rain won out and we never made it to the fossils.
The next morning we made a second attempt to hike to the fossils. That time stinky diapers and the mud won out and once again we never made it to the fossils.
Once we gave up on the fossils and hiking, we spent our afternoons at the beach. Joseph absolutely loved the sand and water. He would laugh each time a wave came ashore and lapped on his feet. Before long he was jumping up and down in the water. Bophie was the one who surprised me though. She also was wet and sandy from head to toe and really enjoyed the lake. Juju did not like the sand or water and absolutely refused to leave her perch on my beach chair. Gabe and I had to search for shade, the poor kid has my fair skin, and while we were the only shade dwellers, we were the only ones who got any sunburn (thankfully very mildly).
We also spent an evening touring the island by golf cart. This was a favorite activity of the long weekend. We took turns letting the kids sit up front and at times it seemed we were playing a good round of musical chairs. It was a beautiful evening and we all enjoyed the lake breeze. The girls tried to race the cart and found they were slower than they thought. Dh also took a turn racing and found he was older than he thought.
While the task of taking our new, much larger, family on such an outing seemed daunting, we all had a good time. It was a lot of work before, during, and after (the washing machine is still running), but it was nice to get away.
3 comments:
looks like a lot of fun!
Oh Nikki, rain and all, looks like you guys had a great time!!! How fun! I'm sad to say that is one place we never visited while in Ohio. May be we'll get there some year.
Hugs to everyone!
lol we just visited our inlaws for 2 days with the6 kids and our car was packed just like yours too. its crazy.
Post a Comment