Ludington Week #1 (July)

{Sigh}  We are still alive and having many adventures!  

Unfortunately, early in the fall we were hit with a virus - a nasty computer virus! - and it has taken us this long to recover.  UCK!  It mixed up all of my picture files and dismantled all of my photo editing tools.  We are finally fixed, files located and back to normal, and ready to go!  So... what does that mean to you?!?!?  A quick walk through memory lane!  I will try to make it quick, with less words.  Nothing like pictures of my tan kids in this cold icky weather!  I took over 1,000 pictures during the two weeks we were in Ludington, so it was hard to narrow it down.  Sorry!

Well, where did I leave off....????

Oh that's right, trailer-ing ;)  My last post talked about our first two week adventure at Hungry Horse.  

Our second trip, which was also two weeks, was by far my favorite of the our three trips.  Jason was off from work the entire time and it felt like a real vacation - not me trying to parent alone, in a small confined space!

We spent the entire time at Poncho's Pond, in Ludington.  The first week of this trip we were there alone, while the second week my family joined us.  

Those of you who know me well, know that I am a big meal planner.  Ask, and I can tell you what we are having for dinner any night of the week!  The fact that I didn't have a real food plan on our first trip drove me nuts!!!  Although I didn't plan each meal for a specific night, my 'over planned' side felt much more calm knowing that I had the food and the plans for a meal, if needed.  I think we ended up making all but one of the dinner options.

We had beautiful weather during our visit to Ludington!  We found several different beaches - all of which were perfect!!!

 See how they actually stood facing the camera when they were with Jason???  Not so much for my turn :(

Poncho's Pond also had an indoor and an outdoor pool, so we spent a ton of time in both of them!

There was a fair at the local county fair grounds, which were just a couple blocks away from where we stayed.  One evening, Jason took Easton to the tractor pulls - yee haw!  I don't know how they sat that close to them.  I could hear them from the trailer!  Easton was in heaven though, and couldn't stop talking about the tractors and trucks!

 While the boys played, the girls and I went out for ice cream and found a fabulous waterfront playground - it was gorgeous!!!  We were able to sit right along the edge of the water as the SS Badger car ferry was docking for the evening.  

 You can see the car ferry coming in, up on the right of the channel opening.

At night the fair set off a great firework show.  We sat in a parking lot straight across from where they launched the fireworks.  Such a neat (and loud) way to view them!

 We even spent the day (and a small fortune) at the actual fair!

One of our favorite places to eat out was House of Flavors - so yummy!!!  Good food, lots to look at and great ice cream!!!

 Ellery LOVES ice cream, and would often finish everyone's last few bites.  

There was one day that was gloomy, so we headed inside to Sandcastles Children's Museum.  It was small and quaint, but very well done!  It kept our foursome entertained for several hours!

One of the things the kids missed after our trailering trips were over, was dessert over the fire!  They loved putting together s'mores, hobo pies, roasting marshmallows and making 'campfire' cones!

 Hanging out by the fire!  (Notice how close the campfire is to the road!!!)

Just because I love this picture ;)

So, here is my complaint... I hated our site!  It was awful for kids!  They put us on a site that our trailer barely fit on, and we had to park on the grass across the road (the picture below was taken from where we parked).  And, it was on a fork in the road - so we had speeding cars on both sides of us.  Our kids were bummed that they couldn't ride there bikes, and I couldn't turn around for a second.  

I try very hard to abide by the saying, "you get what you get, and you don't get upset".  I just couldn't this time!  After waiting a few days, and then a few more days of nice but firm 'complaining', we moved to a larger site (one that, in my opinion, was actually made for a trailer of our size).  It was spacious and on a much quieter street.  This change saved my opinion of Poncho's Pond!!!