On Saturday we met up with Adriaan and his son Jason for dinner. I know Adriaan from years back when he was my Youth leader at our church in South Africa, when i was still a teenager. He and his family emigrated to Canada a few years ago, and they are loving it there! Jason had some baseball games in Cleveland, so Adriaan looked me up, and we made some arrangements! We met at a local restaurant and had a great time catching up! It's nice chatting to someone with the same accent as yours, and talking about your home country!
On Sunday, after church, we drove up to Detroit for the start of our vacation! Liesel's uncle had timeshare in North-western Michigan and we were invited to join them! Nathan instantly renewed his friendships with his "cousins" (actually Liesel's cousins). The next day we drove up to Boyne Mountain, 3.5 hours away. This is a beautiful resort that is a ski resort in the winter, but also a wonderful summer destination with amazing lakes, as well as driving distance to Lake Michigan! Deer Lake is the part of the resort, and here one can go kayaking, canoeing, sailing, pedal boating on the lake, or putting, shuffleboard, volleyball or just lying in the sun on the land. I started off by kayaking, but to my surprise, Nathan wanted to join me, so I swopped the kayak for a 2 man canoe, and Nathan and I went gliding across the lake. We both loved it!
The next day, all 8 of us (including 4 car seats) climbed into Andreas' GMC Acadia, and we drove to the quaint town of Charlevoix. This town is nestled between Lake Charlevoix and Lake Michigan. There is a draw bridge in the main street of the town that opens every 30 minutes to allow the wealthy people in the yachts through. Nathan and was intrigued by this bridge that opens and shuts. We had lunch overlooking the marina, and then made our way back to the resort so we could all have a well deserved afternoon nap!
That evening we headed out to bay harbor for their annual fireworks display! This was in another beautiful setting overlooking the Bay Harbor Marina and Lake Michigan. Walking down the jetty past some of the yacht's kind of makes you feel insignificant.... as some of these yachts must cost over $1 million! There was one 3 story yacht that had a private chef onboard preparing the meal for the evening! Eish!
Nathan and Karl enjoyed running around on the grass with their new balloon hats! At 10:30 the fireworks started, and Nathan seemed to really enjoy the show (even though it ws way past his bedtime!)
On Wednesday, we drove into Boyne city (read small town) for their annual 4th of July Parade! We got ourselves a great position and watched as the bands, floats and people paraded past us. Nathan loved it as well, especially the fact that most people partaking in the festivities were throwing candy to all the children on the side! At the end of the parade (about an hour later) we headed back to the resort, where Andreas braai'ed (BBQ'ed) us some delicious steaks for lunch. After lunch, we reluctantly packed up and climbed into the car for our 6 hour journey back home :( It was a great break, and we will definitely be back to explore the area! Anyone want to join us???
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