The Shafferland Shuffle

* Last Sunday, we were waking up for our last morning in Michigan. Sigh of sadness for the end of vacations! We enjoyed a beautiful and peaceful hike through a state park and onto the shore of Lake Michigan before driving back home. (In the warm sun, of course, which showed up for the first time in days.) Still had a great vacation and it was good to be home!

* Monday was get-back-to-normal day. Ryan returned to work, I did a bunch of laundry and unpacked, Braeya wavered between being glad to see us and punishing us with much crying, and the best part of all? OUR ROSES BLOOMED!!!! They are so pretty!

* Tuesday morning I met Ryan's brother and his wife and kids out at the park to do a photo shoot for one of the kiddos. It was a really fun morning, and the colors in the pictures really popped because it was just a little bit overcast! Because I'd been busy all day with pictures and writing, Ryan suggested we use a gift card and go out to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. No problem! :) On the way home, we saw more good news: Starbucks is being rebuilt! YESSSSSSSSS!

* Wednesday was blah and yucky, but it cracked me up that I had to wait for ducks to cross the road while I was out running errands. (They were NOT in a hurry.) I picked up a fresh stock of kiddo supplies since I had the fab five for a little while that evening. Coloring books, crayons, games, puzzles - and this one kind of disturbing box that encourages "learning with Pooh." I try to stay poo-free in my learning, thankyouverymuch.

* Ryan had a carry-in at his work on Thursday, so I made cheesy potatoes and this photo is the last I saw of them. That dish was nearly licked CLEAN! I spent the entire day writing, and it was amazing. I was in the same spot when Ryan came home from work that I'd been in when he left for work! AND I got a new toy! Stand to hold my notes while I rehearse my talks. No more using the back of the recliner!

* Friday was the last day of school! I'm not sure who was more excited: my kiddo that I take or me! I decided it was a good stop-for-a-latte-reward day, so I did! (Took one to Ryan too since he filled in for me once when I was sick.) Speaking of Ryan: I LOVE IT when I see him reading a book. Makes me so happy! He started reading my brother-in-law's book this week, and I just had to get a picture. :) And Friday night we actually got a whole night at home together, just the two of us, with nothing to do.

* Ryan had to work a long day yesterday, so I did more writing and Pinteresting while he was gone. I had to record a promo video for a workshop this summer, so that was a fun little adventure. He took me out to eat AGAIN (thank you, gift cards!!) which was a real treat. Although I have to say, the restaurant and I have different takes on medium well. Yikes! And after that? A quick stop at Lowe's for Ryan's favorite thing: holiday price checks for appliances!

What's That? A SUN??

I forgot to tell you yesterday that while we were hanging out in the living room of the boat Saturday night (so I could finish Sunday's blog post), I got a text from a friend of mine back home that said, "Be safe."

Uh oh.

I texted back (knowing I did NOT want to hear the answer), "Ummmm I'm on vacation. What's happening?"

Tornado warnings. Boy I'll tell you what. Not much scares a boating vacationer more than the thought of a tornado. Because, incidentally, where DO you go in a tornado when you're on a boat?

Fortunately the storms didn't leave any damage at our place, nor did they travel to Saugatuck. But we were awakened at a very dark and early hour Sunday morning to a pretty spectacular thunderstorm. (And that is when I became very impressed that even in all that, the boat didn't move.)

Know something else impressive? Breakfast. Sally outdid herself with her berry cream waffle. Oh my word. Here was the thing that amazed me about it. Normally when I eat a waffle, I feel stuffed when I'm done, but then an hour or two later, BOOM, it wears off completely. Hers did not. We stayed full all morning and into the afternoon! Well done, Sally!

After breakfast, we said our goodbyes, packed up the car, and headed out for our final activities before coming home.

Our former neighbors spent an anniversary in Saugatuck and recommended Pumpernickel's Eatery. They're only open 8-3, and you can see that our mornings were well supplied on the boat, so we had to devise a way to enjoy it without forfeiting Sally's cooking! We stopped by after we left the boat and each picked out a baked treat to bring home. Man, our neighbors weren't kidding. That was one tasty cinnamon roll!

The weather app promised the skies would clear, so we headed to the Saugatuck Dunes State Park to do a little hiking. I have to say, I was pretty surprised that the majority of the hiking was done in the woods like a regular state park. I was expecting to actually hike the sand. But even though I was surprised, it wasn't disappointing. Very pretty, actually, and serene! Not too many people out and about!

But thennnnnnnnnnnnn...it came out on the edge of Lake Michigan!

We walked up and down the beach for a while. Loved it!!

Ummmmmm....is that BLUE SKY over there?

In fact, it was blue sky. That's right. ONE HOUR before we left Michigan...BOOM. Sunny and 70.

I am so not even kidding.

 Shut. The. Front. Door.

So that's how we came home to a gorgeous, sunny, Sunday, after a perfectly cold and rainy birthday trip.

Welcome to Shafferland.

And for your viewing pleasure...a little bit of lake love.

Good Times in Saugatuck!

We didn't let a little (lotta) rain stop us from having fun on our Saugatuck vacation! Want to see some of the fun we had?

We did explore the town a little bit on Friday evening, once we had settled into the Sea Suites. Saugatuck has lots of little touristy/artsy shops, so we scoped them out to see what we might want to come back to visit the next day!

We had dinner at this little diner in a house called Lucy's Little Kitchen. Honestly, I picked it because the building was cute. (Yeah, that's my style. Ryan picks based on food reviews. I pick based on cuteness.) It was a little on the pricey side for our dollar-menu tastes, BUT, if you heard the podcast on Tuesday, you know that we declared that this place served the best burgers we've ever had in our entire lives.

 Sorry I'm so dark here. Again, the halo! (HA!)

 Ryan's burger was loaded with onion jam and all kinds of stuff. Mine was plain, but so full of flavor and so juicy. I adored it! (And had half of it to take home with me! HUGE!!!!)

Of course we needed dessert and coffee, sooooooooooooooooo, we found a little frozen yogurt/gelato place called Notties and stopped in for a treat. The girl who was working that night was a high school student with a TON of personality, and we really enjoyed talking to her while we ate!

We went back to the boat kind of early and just went to our room to watch TV (read: fall asleep) and slept for SO MANY HOURS. We were exhausted and needed our rest, apparently!

The next morning, we got ready with our delicious coffee (thanks, Pete and Sally!) and then ate breakfast on the boat. Omelets and hash browns - way more than I could eat! So good!

The weather app showed we had a few hours of clear skies before the rain hit, so we went back into Saugatuck to walk down along the marina and through the shops.

 Ryan and I both absolutely DESPISE this saying, but it seems to be the most-used phrase for both our mothers, so we paused to capture the sign.

 If you heard the podcast, you heard about my beloved bookstore........sigh of happiness.

 A book for Ryan!!!

 Hello, Captain!

 Annnnnnnnnnnd that's when the rain started.

We walked around in it for a while, but it ended up being a cold, nasty rain, so we left and went to check out an orchard in Fennville that we'd heard offered pie tasting! WHAT!?! This is like our love language!

The place was called Crane's Pie Pantry. There's a whole orchard/winery/restaurant/bakery all together there. 

 I confess I was not in the best of moods when we arrived. The rain had gotten to me, though I was doing my best to be upbeat about our frigid, rainy getaway. And then we didn't get treated all that well, which was sad. We don't drink, and sometimes when we go eat at a place that serves alcohol, we are treated just fine, but other times we really get snubbed when we order something else. So skipping alcohol PLUS sharing one flight of pie apparently put us on the naughty list. I'm not sure. So for my review of this stop, I'd say the food was fantastic, but I wouldn't go back based on how I felt I was treated. Sadness.

ANYWAY, I'd never seen a pie tasting before. They brought samples (IN THE CUTEST LITTLE JARS!) of four kinds of pie. (They picked the kinds. Rhubarb, cherry, blueberry, and apple.)

 Ryan did get hot cider. He LOVES cider and said it was really good. I'm not really a cider girl, so I got water. Didn't put me in any better graces of the place, let me tell you!

 We polished it all off and stopped just short of licking the bowls. I didn't care for the rhubarb pie. It had great flavor, but apparently I have a texture issue with rhubarb. I didn't know that because I haven't had it in probably over 30 years, but I now know I do! So Ryan ate all of that one, and I thoroughly enjoyed my part of all the rest!

That was our lunch. LOL.

We went back to the boat and rested some more while it poured, and much to our surprise, the rain let up mid-afternoon, even though it was supposed to rain hard the rest of the day and night. We were able to get back out later, visit a few more shops, and even see a BEACH!

We started with a late afternoon snack of ice cream from Charlie's. The smell of his waffle cones had been taunting us for two days and we finally gave in. DELISH. 

 Hee, hee, hee.

I'd marked down in my planner to go to Oval Beach, but I didn't think it would ever work out because, you know, RAIN. But it did! We managed to get over there Saturday evening, and if we had KNOWN the rain would hold off, we would have walked the whole length of the beach. Alas, we were too nervous and didn't go far.

 They have their own version of the Dixie! (That will only make sense to Lake Webster People.)

 What? You haven't tried to shake hands with a duck?

 That's my man!

 Hee, hee, hee again!

We drove up to Holland for dinner that night. Got some good old fashioned BBQ! (Well, Ryan did. I was so full I just had some chicken chowder. LOL.)

A full, but good day! :) Next time we'll shoot for better beach weather!!