Travel day

I just read on another blog that Time magazine has declared that blogging is no longer relevant, replaced by Facebook and Twitter. That makes me feel so much better. My failure to blog isn't due to laziness, business or my kids being less hilarious. It's because I was following a trend without even realizing it.

But here I am on vacation with time to spare (always the sign of a good vacation), so I think I'm going to blog anyway. Even if it is no longer the cool thing to do.

Our vacation started last Friday. The kids were super excited to start the long road trip.

Eight or nine hours in the car - I can't remember exactly how long, plus there was a time zone change at some point in the U.P. - and at last we were close to our destination.

The last time we traveled through Mackinaw - I can't believe it's already been three years - we stayed at the Mackinaw Beach and Bay Hotel. It was brand new at the time. The pool area wasn't quite finished, but we liked the location and how fresh and clean everything was. And so we stayed there again this time. Only to discover that it's no longer fresh and clean. And the pool area STILL looks unfinished. 

The exercise room is equally lame, consisting of two archaic treadmills and a stationary bike. But that probably shouldn't have come as a surprise, considering they don't even know how to spell the word exercise.

In the morning, AJ and I headed to the  beach while Jeff and Sydney went swimming. Watching AJ dodge the waves, I couldn't help but remember our previous visits when he was just a toddler.

(If there's any doubt how grown up AJ has gotten, this was the first trip ever we made it through Mackinaw without him asking for a pirate sword.)

But he's still young enough to totally ignore his mother's warnings to not get his shorts wet.

After checking out, we headed downtown to look around a bit and buy cheesy souvenirs. And yes, AJ's shorts were still wet. He wanted his picture taken here, but neither of us recall why:

I left Jeff and the kids briefly to look through a store with breakable merchandise. A few minutes later I caught up to them and was reminded why I really can't leave them alone for even a few minutes.

Yes, they were spending money to get a fortune.

Sydney loved all the little shops in town. We told her she could only get one souvenir, and so she became quite the selective shopper. At last she knew what she wanted: a teddy bear from Mackinaw's version of Build-a-Bear Workshop. She helped stuff the bear and picked out a purple tutu for it to wear. And named it Snuggles.

And then it was time to climb back  into the car for the second (and thankfully much shorter) leg of the trip - to Boyne Falls, Michigan, where we met up with Jeff's brother's family. It's been a great week of fun, and I'll do my best to write more about it tomorrow.

Even if blogging is no longer cool.