Our 1st Family Vacation...

Pentwater, MI sunset...

We have spent the last 4 days in Michigan at the Smith Family Cabin with our immediate family. It was a very fun and busy time. We had wonderful weather for the most part and created some new fun memories with everyone. Rowan had several 'firsts' while we were gone also, so here it goes.

Where do I start...

We left on Wednesday and stopped in St. Joe MI at Blayne and Molly's house, Ed and Eddie went golfing in the afternoon while Blayne and Dusty worked and us ladies hung out. We went for a walk in the blistering heat and just relaxed and played with the babies. We went out for dinner at Chili's and then we headed to the cabin (another 2 hours). We didn't arrive at the cabin until about 10pm so we pretty much just went to bed. Dusty was there waiting for us, and Blayne and Molly came Thursday morning due to conflicts with dropping off Peaches at the kennel.

Thursday we went grocery shopping to stock up for the next several days of eating. Then us women went to downtown Pentwater to do some shopping in the little shops while the guys went out on the speedboat. I personally didn't feel very comfortable with a 6 week old out on a speed boat, thus the shopping trip. We would rather shop anyways. We managed to find time for some ice cream while we were shopping too, Kieran even got some chocolate ice cream, that might have been a first for him too. He loved it.

When we were all back in the later afternoon we all went down to the pool. Rowan had her first swimming experience with her dad. She hated it! She was only in the water for a few minutes and she screamed the entire time. Afterwards she was a little bathing beauty though. She laid on a beach towel happy as a clam for a long while actually, with her pacifier of course. This is how I got her 6 week pictures! To be posted later.

Rowan's first time swimming...in her Hula Honey swim suit!

Friday it was sprinkling when we woke up so the pontoon boat that we had rented we called and cancelled because the radar was showing rain all day. Turns out it didn't rain all day, so we ended up on the pontoon boat for 4 hours instead of the planned 8 hours. So that was Rowan's first boat ride. The lake we were on (Lake Hamlin) was very rough for the first hour and we had a near death experience with the front end of the boat going under water, therefore us ladies decided to head to shore. We stayed on shore for about an hour while the men went out alone, Kieran played in the sand and I fed Rowan. Then we decided to go out another hour since the guys had found a calmer area of the lake and the weather was very pleasant. Rowan enjoyed the noise of the engine and the constant motion of the boat. So she did pretty well on the boat.

Nothing like tubing behind a pontoon boat...looks like he is going fast

Rowan's first boat trip...

Saturday it actually did rain the first half of the day, so we didn't get to do the Flea Market like we had wanted to. So we went into town and had some lunch and ice cream at the House of Flavors. Then a quick trip to Walmart for some necessities for the cabin, we were going to go bowling but in the end decided against it. The guys golfed between the sprinkles and actually ended up with a nice afternoon for golf. We took one more trip to the pool on Saturday, but Rowan didn't go in this time, just the boys.

Sunday we cleaned up the cabin and headed home. We were on the road by 11am and decided to see how far we could get home without Rowan waking up. We ended up stopping for gas just passed Blayne and Molly's house and I changed Rowan's diaper and turns out we needed a whole outfit change. That was the 3rd overflowing diaper we had on our trip. She is getting good at that. Then I fed her in the carseat while we were driving and she was content. It was perfect because then she was rather content when we stopping in Kenosha for a quick shopping trip. Boy was that a bad idea, this girl has more clothes than I do for the next year of her life. Oh well, outlets are okay, especially the clearance sections!

One other first I might be able to say for the week is her first smile. I guess I was being picky and waiting for a giggle or something because Molly and Sue said what I was saying wasn't a smile really was. So I can't pin down a date for her first smile since she was giving me the gummy smirk for a few days before we even went to MI, but in MI Molly was able to get a little smirk on camera! She is so darn cute!! More photos to come...

So Rowan's 'firsts' this trip included: 1st smile, 1st boat ride, 1st time in the swimming pool, 1st trip to the Smith family cabin, and 1st family vacation!