A good vacation is one that you come back from as happy as when you left.- anonymous

Home again. Nothing like it. I love the feeling of pulling into the garage after a long trip, late at night, groggy and tired, but so happy to be home. Last night we arrived home around 11:00, Maxwell was wide awake, he schedule was completely thrown off this week, but that's what vacations are for right? Just doing whatever suits you, and that is just what we did.
Last Monday Justins brother Jordan, Maxwell and I met my mother-in-law Jane, Father-in-law John, and sisters-in-law Joelle and Jaimee on the East side of Madison for our decent up north. Justin and Julia were meeting us up there a few days later since they both had to work! We arrived at the beach house early that evening and immediately bounded down to the beach! Max was a little unsure about the sand. Last year he was only 10 months old and sat on a towel pretty much the whole time, but this time he can run around. It took only a few minutes and he was running up and down the beach with Jaimee and Scholar(the family dog)! He soon discovered rocks on the sandy beach and began collecting them and tossing in the lake, a great game!
The next morning we all woke up ready to hit the beach but to our disappointment, we could hardly see the lake from out the dining room window. We were bummed. But soon after breakfast we saw the sun peak out. We quickly put on our suits, grabbed suntan lotion and headed down. About twenty minutes after we were all settled in reading, and Jaimee and Max playing in the water, we realized the sun had gone back into hiding and we were all shivering and surrounded by fog. So back in we headed, disappointed. We decided to head into town and catch a movie at the local theatre. We saw Over the Hedge it was really cute, and Maxwells first movie theatre experience. He slept through the first half of the movie, but when he woke up he was quite enthralled. We went home for dinner on the barbie...nothing like grilling out!
The next day Wednesday was our day! It was gorgeous! We all hit the beach with all our gear ready to soak up the sun! Hooray! It was a wonderful day and by the time we came in for the day had dinner we all noticed how much sun we actually got! We all had some nice tan lines, my mother in law Jane had some nice sun burn lines. We all have that slightly olive colored skin so all of us (except my Maxwell of course!) went without sun screen since we tend not to burn. But Jane did look a bit like a lobster! We all decided it might be a good idea to use sunscreen despite the fact we were so eager to get tan, and you know later in life we will probably be glad we used it. A bon-fire the night where we made smores...an American family favorite!
Thursday we took our time, and around 11 am Justin and Julia arrived! I missed Justin and was so happy for his arrival. I never like sleeping alone. It was great to see Julia too of course! We spent Thursday on the beach too, the boys went golfing and that night had some yummy taco lasagna for dinner!
Friday morning the boys went golfing while the girls slept in. That afternoon we headed out to Wilsons, our family tradition, which is a great Hamburger/ice cream Diner that just so happens to be celebrating it 100th Birthday this year. It was a fun treat! Afterwards we headed past Charles Petersons home/studio (one of my mother-in-laws favorite artists). We make it a point to stalk him every year, ok we don't stalk him just drive by his house to perhaps catch a glimpse of him, we always tease her about it. But this year we drove by him in his car! Jane could not have been more ecstatic! That night we watched some re-runs of the first season of Greys Anatomy, an addiction of ours. We love that show! Then spent the night reading and by the fire.
Saturday the boys headed to the beach while the girls had our very own watercoloring class. We each got our own set of paints, brushes, paper, and easels. Oh yeah, and of course a cute tote to put them in. It was fabulous. We spent the next few hours learning techniques and testing our skills. Soon we figured out that all of us were not really artists, except for Mom Jane...as usual. But we had blast anyway! That night Justin and I went out on a date (we thought it a good idea to take advantage of all these babysitters!) and reminisced about our honeymoon (since we spent it in Door County, it was so unforgettable). This year we will be celebrating four years of marriage! Crazy!
Sunday the boys golfed again, and after they came home we headed to Egg Harbor for some traditional shopping. We had to stop by Maxwell's House first, it is this adorable shop with great items for home, plus it bears my sons name!We all continued shopping while Dad John ran Joelle back home, she was feeling sick, poor girl. We met up with him at a t-shirt shop where we all picked out our traditional Door County t's and sweatshirts. Joelle would come back later to get hers :) . Then we headed ot for some go- carting. Max loved watching the boys and Julia and Jaimee whiz by in their cars. Stopped for some ice cream on the way home and when we got back we found Joelle looking and feeling much better. Unfortunately for us though, we had to pack up and leave. Justin has a conference in Houston, Texas this week, and I have graduations, baby and wedding showers to help others prepare for. Jordan came with us too since he started his new summer job today. I hope he made it out of bed, he had to be there at 6am. He was a bit apprehensive about having to get up that early!
So, back home again. The laundry machine is running, and I am beginning to upload pictures. Those will be coming soon!

A good traveler has no fixed plan upon arrival.- Lao Tzu

And that we did!