Traverse City, a Birthday, and Dominic Starts School

I love Traverse City in the summer. It's so beautiful up there. We went "camping" in TC the last weekend in August. It was the first time we've done anything over night since Duncan was born. The campground we stayed at was the same campground I've been going to almost every summer since I was about 8 years old. The great thing is that we stayed in a little cabin, so we didn't have to pack so much - no tent, no dishes, etc. It had a microwave and refrigerator. We only had to take bedding and towels, clothes, and food. It was so easy, and the boys were so good. We had a fantastic time!

Surprisingly, we managed to pack in just about everything we wanted to do into the weekend. We arrived late Friday afternoon and got unpacked. Mel and the boys went to hang out at the Ranger Station (they've got video games, a pool table, board games, etc.) while I heated up hot dogs. Mel built a fire and we did s'mores. I'm very proud of Dominic, who slept both nights in the loft by himself. :0)

Saturday we woke to thunderstorms, but they cleared by 10 a.m. I took Dominic and Connor on a hike through the woods. Again, I was impressed with Dominic, who ate the spearmint that I picked (and asked for more) and ate a wild blueberry. When we got back to the cabin, Mel had lunch waiting for us. Then we went into town. We stopped at the two stores we wanted to visit (Higher Self and Toy Harbor), and then headed over to Pirate Cove. Dominic of course had to play the minigolf course (one of his favorite activities). And Connor had to try the huge waterslide (he went down with Mel...once - it was just a little too fast). Dominic went down the waterslide about 5 times and then got to drive one of the bumper boats. It was a great afternoon.

We got back to the campground in time for dinner and then got ready for trick-or-treating (which was just chaotic - it was so poorly planned). They boys had a great time, and then we had another fire and more s'mores.

Sunday we got up around 6:30 a.m., had breakfast, packed, and were out of the cabin by 10:30 a.m. We went to the State Beach and had a fantastic time swimming in Lake Michigan. Even Duncan got in the water (with me holding him). The boys really enjoyed building a sandcastle with Mel. We left the beach around 1:30 p.m., picked up some Burger King, and drove home. The boys slept really well in the car. We stopped after a couple hours to let everyone stretch their legs, and got home around 5:30 p.m.

Monday, August 29, was Connor's 3rd birthday and Dominic's first day of school. We enrolled him at the school district's Montessori school this year. He had a hard time getting up, but was very excited to go. And was totally fine with us leaving. I was very happy to see a traditional Montessori classroom when we arrived. Part of me feared that the school would turn out to be some sort of quasi-Montessori school...like the district's version of Montessori or something. But I was very pleasantly surprised. After dropping Dominic off, we came home and Connor and I baked his birthday cake, then it was back to the school to get Dominic (he only stayed for the morning on his first day, then started full days). After lunch everyone napped, and then Connor opened his presents. We got him one of the new BC Builder sets, which everyone enjoyed playing with. Even Duncan had a great time playing with the dinosaurs.

It was a very enjoyable, but very busy weekend. And of course, we've been busy ever since. It took us a week to get unpacked. What with getting Dominic into a routine for school, and work being totally crazy for me (due to the start of the school year). It's been rush, rush, rush nonstop. And then we all got sick last weekend (Labor Day weekend). Things are finally starting to settle down now.