Fly Away: Beaver Island, Michigan -- Part 3

Somehow mom has managed to drag on these vacation posts for three weeks. Absurd! But we have  been like little spinning tops since school started, just trying to get through each day. We're all waiting for things to level out, but until then, posting around these parts is probably going to be more sparse than normal (which we know has been pretty sparse anyway).


SO, in our last vacation installment we shared our fabulous trip to the Beaver Island Toy Museum and a foggy day spent at the beach. The rain continued to show up every morning the rest of the week and we spent that time checking out a random variety of island spots: the Old Mormon Print Shop Museum (the historical society museum) for artifacts found on the island and history of the Mormon King Strang (click here for a brief history of the island); Central Michigan University's Biological Station for a peek at college labs; trip up the steps of the Head Lighthouse; and a visit to the library for Lego Playhour. And we did some geocaching (yay for a new state!), plenty of crafts, more rainy beach, and another visit back to the toy shop.

But our last two days there, the morning rain and fog broke and gorgeous sun came out! We rented stand-up paddle boards and mom and dad took to the lake while we watched from shore. Then Kane decided he wanted to try ... and he took off! I liked it too, but I liked just sitting on the back of mom and dad's while they paddled me around better. They kept Kane close to shore the first day -- he didn't have a life jacket and was on an adult board -- but rented him his own the second. They paddled out far. And then farther. And then mom realized a strong offshore wind had picked up and had pushed them way, way out (though she could still hear me hysterically screaming back on the beach). Kane was a champ, but just not strong enough yet to keep himself facing back to the beach. Mom tried a few rescue attempts while Kane calmly observed "wow, we're really far out. are we going to that other island?" Luckily daddy had the idea to loop his ankle strap to Kane's board and they were able to tow him back in. Hey, it wouldn't be a trip to Beaver Island without some kind of adventure by which Grammie and Grandpa could name the summer. So, this was the "Year of the Paddle Board Rescue."

We left early Saturday morning and made the drive back to Chicago, dropping Grammie off at our Great Grandma's house in Michigan -- it was the first time she got to meet Cami! Back in Chitown, we spent the night at our beloved cousins' house and packed a lot of play into a short amount of time together. Such a perfect way to end our summer!