Yurt Camping 101

Well my complaining has finally paid off! We have never been camping as a family while in Michigan and have never taken the dogs so we finally planned a trip and went last week.
We rented a Yurt near at the Wild Cherry Resort near Leland, MI. What is a Yurt you ask? Well google thinks that it is "a circular domed dwelling that is portable and self-supporting"
but I think pictures are better explanations.



This is a bad picture but there is a clear plastic dome on top so when you lay in bed you can see the trees and sky

Not a bad view from the front door

It even had a solar shower which was surprisingly warm!

We decided on this after a suggestion from a friend at work who went there with her husband and dogs. We love to tent camp but ours is only big enough for us and unless we want 215 pounds of dog on top of us then we needed a better solution.
After the pretty drive up there we checked in, unpacked and explored our camp. It was very secluded and the dogs loved running around in the woods. What a beautiful place too!

Then since the weather was so nice, we loaded the babies up and went to Van's Beach which is another Lake Michigan beach.
{Don't you just love him?!}

We slept great that night then the next morning hiked near our camp up to a beautiful orchard then prepared for another beach day. This time we went to a beach in the Sleeping Bear Dunes park and were amazed by the gorgeous views and blue water.


The babies had a good time digging in the sand and swimming;

maybe too good for Baby who got ear infections out of it! She would tell you it was worth it though.

(Don't worry, I'm hoping to get the road sign edited out of an otherwise great picture)

After lunch and the beach we did another short hike up to Pyramid Point which was incredible! You get the top of this giant dune and look straight down at the water with a view of the Manitou islands in the distance. I totally recommend this hike to all you Michiganders and it's totally manageable for your little ones.


After a full day in the sun and water we headed back to camp where the dogs crashed. They really seemed to feel right at home in the yurt :)


After another good nights sleep we packed up and headed home. Just in the knick of time too, we had fantastic weather the whole trip and it started raining about 10 minutes after we got back on the road. This was such a fun trip and I would recommend yurting to everyone!

Tyler's Visit

So my "little" brother Tyler came for a visit recently. He is almost 19 and we are hoping he goes on a mission soon so we were excited to have him stay with us. We tried to plan fun activities for him which included:
*Having the missionaries over for dinner
*Taking a trip to Cedar Point in Ohio for some roller coaster and water park fun,

{LOVED the waterpark!}

{Boys and their roller coasters}
{Classic Ryan}
{Soon enough and I'll have my own}



*We stopped in Kirtland to see the Temple and visitors center. It was very cool to sit inside this building that has such an important history in the church. I found it difficult though to get over the idea that it doesn't belong to our church anymore. There was "Church of Christ" stuff all over the place and I couldn't help but feel kind of robbed. Joseph Smith and the early members poured their time, money and lives into the building of this temple only to be driven away :(



I'm glad the church had a visitors center just down the street. We watched a movie about Kirtland when the saints were there and then toured some of the buildings including the sawmill, the only working ashery in North America and Newel K Whitney's home and store

*We saw a couple movies and
*had a fabulous time at the dog beach


I ♥ this boy
{Man's best friend}
In our family, everyone helps bring stuff back to the car...and I mean everyone(j/k, we tried but Norris refused to take one step with that on his back)

*and just enjoyed some one on one time with Ty. The dogs and kitty sure loved having their Uncle Tyler around. They couldn't get enough of him!
We were sad to see him go but had a great time and would love more visitors soon!! hint hint