Camping at Top O' Michigan

We just came back from our first camping trip with the kids! We camped at Petoskey State Park in Petoskey, MI, which is almost at the top of the mitt. It's about an hour still southwest of Mackinaw City, which is the top. It is right on Little Traverse Bay in Lake Michigan. Our campsite was right up against the dune that was between us and Lake Michigan. All we had to do was climb the dune for spectacular views! We camped for only two nights, since we had to book in advance and were not sure how the trip would go with the kids. All in all, in went really well. Lucie was very excited to go. We read camping books before the trip and made a paper chain to tear a ring off each day so that she could have a visual understanding of how much longer to wait. We went to the store beforehand for supplies and Lucie picked out a princess sleeping bag and flashlight, so she was set to go! We brought Ethan's pack-n-play so that he would have a home away from home.

When we got there on Monday, we set up our tent (Lucie helped Daddy by assembling the poles for the tent), and then went swimming at the beach. It was a little overcast the first day, so Lucie and Ethan got cold early. The water was actually warm for Lake Michigan standards (78 degrees or so). Swimming the next day was great, because the sun was out. We cooked food on the open fire, as all campers do, and Lucie really liked that experience. Some of the things she got to try were roasted hot dogs, marshmallows, smores, banana boats, baked apples, and pups in a blanket. She also helped Mommy make trail mix before camping and enjoyed eating that.

We saw the sunset on the beach, which I always want to do, but having two little ones prevents us from doing it. It was beautiful. Petoskey is nicknamed "Land of the Million Dollar Sunsets" (for tourism reasons I'm sure). It was beautiful though. We had fun taking some pictures of everyone at the beach during the sunset. Ethan is just beginning to stand on his own (he can stand for a while if he is not aware of it--as soon as he's aware, he sits right down), so we got a picture of him standing by the water. It's my favorite picture...everything was timed just right to make it look like he is a pro at standing! Lucie said her favorite thing about the camping trip was sleeping in a tent (she also had fun playing with her princess flashlight in the tent). We also went hiking at our campground. We finished our trip by going downtown for a little while to a park by the lake and getting ice cream.