July 4th – Maiden Voyage for the Trailer

After quite a bit of preparation and even some “driveway camping”, we finally took our trailer on its maiden voyage to Ludington State Park, Michigan. 

It was a last minute attempt to get a campsite over the holiday weekend, and we had beginner’s luck – due to a last minute cancellation, we had a last minute reservation in a prime location.
 Our site was the last one in the loop, so we only had a neighbor on one side, woods in front of us, and sand dunes to Lake Michigan behind us. 

The kids spent hours running up and down the dunes, and playing along the water’s edge. 

Even though the camp was full, it was nice and quiet and the kids were able to ride scooters and tricycles to the bathhouse. 

We all decided that next time, we absolutely MUST stay longer!

Summer Fun - Making Ice Cream

What kid doesn’t love ice cream? 

We were blessed with a batch of fresh strawberries from our local Farmer’s Market, which were getting a little less than firm, but had fantastic taste. 

So we got out the old fashioned ice cream maker, gathered up our ingredients, and got the kids working! 

After quite a bit of churning, the mass of liquid started turning into a solid! 

And after letting it cure a little, everyone was treated to some of the best strawberry ice cream we’d ever had!

A Day at the Capital in Lansing, Michigan

Juliana and I were invited to spend a day at the capital with our local State Senator, Rebekkah Warren. 

It was a great introduction to our State Government for Juliana. 

We started in Sen. Warren’s office and then took a tour of the capital building. 

We got to see both chambers of the state legislature in session (they were off to caucus most of the time we were there), as well as were treated to lunch with the Senator and her staff. 

It was great to expose Juliana to another of the many of career paths a woman may take, as well as give her an up close and personal view of how one can interact with one’s elected representative. 
 
 

Spring Break – A quick trip to the magical World of Disney

After our return from Mexico and a bit of Michigan Winter to cool us off, we headed down to Florida to visit some of Mom and Dad’s friends for Spring Break! 

We handed a road atlas to the kids so that they could track our driving progress. 

Though the weather was warmer than in Michigan, it wasn’t exactly balmy.  We were well prepared with our winter coats and stroller bag, but watched the many tourists shiver in their shorts.

The kids really enjoyed the whole trip.  We put the more educational pieces up front: Epcot’s permaculture exhibits are fascinating! The kids spotted all kinds of fruits, veggies, and other plants from home, as well as those we’d seen in tropical Mexico.  

And the rest of the trip was dedicated to just plain fun!  The kids enjoyed all the animals in Animal Kingdom and the rides in Magic Kingdom.

We topped it off with a stop at the Lego store in Downtown Disney.  As we were about to leave, Juliana ran into to her Teacher’s Assistant from school.  Goes to show that it truly is a small world out there!

Final Notes from the Puerto Escondido

There were so many other miscellaneous wonderful experiences during our time in Puerto Escondido.  Among them a few highlights...

Being on the water, there was opportunity to buy the freshest fish, which Alex's parents prepared into a wonderful meal!

Our wonderful hosts, David and Macri, shared with us the traditional Oaxacan tamales and local salsa, another delicious treat!

David and Macri's girls showed Juliana all of the local flowers and other plants, including some who's seed pods "explode" open, when left in a glass of water.

Between times in the sun, we played lots of card games like Uno and the kids did their homework at the breakfast table.

There was plenty of time to play in the sand with grandparents and swim in the pool!

And at night, we were graced with beautiful sunsets, and views of the stars.  There were a few nights, where you could even see the arms o the Milky Way, if you went out in the middle of the night!

Finally, it was time to bid farewell to our little paradise on the beach and look forward to a return trip sometime in the future!

Pacific Marine Life

One of the perks of staying directly on the ocean is that you have a good chance of seeing marine life throughout the day.

Over breakfast one morning, we watched a humpback whale and her calf swim on by the house.  On several occasions, we watched pods of dolphins swim by.  Of course, it always happened when our camera wasn't handy so we would simply run to where our swimming pool met the beach and watch for their dark backs to crest the water.


One afternoon we drove to another location down the beach for some wonderful seafood and an opportunity to go out on a little boat and see the wildlife up close.

We watched the birds light upon a nearby rock (which stinks up close, due to their copious droppings).

We watched numerous pairs of sea turtles, which were floating in the water, given that its mating season.   

We left well enough alone with the mating turtles, but spotted a loner out there, and jumped in for a quick swim with a real live sea turtle!

Then we rode around the water on the lookout for dolphins.  Just as we were going to give up, we were found by a very large pod of dolphins who graced us we a display of jumps out of the water.

Explorations on the Beach

After a long hiatus and as we prepare for our next trip to Mexico, I am back to chronicling our adventures from last January in Oaxaca.

One of the joys of being on the beach in mid to late January, is we had it to ourselves. 

One afternoon we decided to walk several kilometers down the beach toward a nature preserve where a fresh water river meets the Pacific ocean.

We were the only ones on the beach, and we enjoyed the waves and looked for animal tracks along the way.


The sun was pretty hot, so we rested when we would find shelters along the way.


While the walk was long, it was worth it!  The cool water rushing toward the ocean and all the birds teeming along its edge were fun to watch.  It was fun to stick our toes in the water and watch the little fish swim by.


We also used the opportunity to leave the beach better than we found it, and picked up non-compostable trash along the way.  We looked for anything that could prove dangerous to our friends the sea turtles, such as balloon remnants, plastic cups, lids, bottles, and bags, even old diapers that had turned up on the beach.  By the time we were done, we had quite a collection!