You all know that pictures on my blog in the past have been hit or miss, and while once in a while I nail it, mostly my shots are so-so at best. You'll see both kinds in this post (like the one above!), but this past weekend, me and my iPhone have redeemed ourselves, as you will see from some of the shots below!
We had a magical time at Lake Michigan with great friends and we also ate some really good food, how blessed can we be? The other nice part was that we could be away when the new neighbors were moving into Joe & Meg's house next door–hanging with them over the weekend at the cottage where we've shared so many fun memories over the years lessened that sadness a little.
On to the good stuff…
So I went up Thursday night with Megan, her sister Mary, who is also a great friend, and our eight kids. We met at an awesome restaurant in Muskegon, Michigan, called The Hearthstone Bistro. It was seriously some of the best food I've ever eaten. I've never been one to put too much importance on ‘presentation', but when food is this tasty, and then it looks neat and creative, too, it's a great bonus.
To the cottage!
Sleeping at the cottage is a treat in itself. First, I enjoyed a gorgeous lightning show over Lake Michigan from the deck, and then climbed into the coziest bed, with a breeze coming in the window, and the sound of the waves hitting the shore. Meg calls her time at the cottage ‘heaven' and I love that she still appreciates it after all these years of going there with her family.
The next day was cloudy so the kids played in the lake in wetsuits until it warmed up, we went into town to bomb around, read, and played cards. The guys came up that night and we watched the whole first season of Modern Family, it was the first we'd seen it and we're hooked! It's inappropriate at times though, so beware. After that the sun stayed out so we hit the beach for lots of vitamin D.
We always eat well with this group.
We had Fajitas with grass-fed flank steak one night, Caribbean jerk chicken sandwiches another night, and beef tenderloin with béarnaise sauce the last night we were there, and always with some fresh-from-the-farm-market veggies for sides.
Our last night there is when I got the best shots… See if you can guess which two I submitted to a Michigan photo contest?
Here's the view from the deck:
Isn't this one cool with the bonfire in the foreground as the sun is just beginning to set?
We have boys who are good friends, here they are enjoying the beautiful show:
Here's one of just our son watching the sunset – can you believe all those colors?
This last shot isn't great (I played with it a bit so you could see the people a little better and it got grainy), but it was such a fun memory of all three of our families playing beach volleyball together on our last night there that I wanted to include it.
We feel blessed to have such great friends and it was sad to come home. A big thank you to Meg's parents for always being so gracious in sharing their lake home, and to Joe, Meg, Jack & Mary for having us join them for the weekend–we love you guys!
dani says
Those pictures are amazing! They seriously look professional
Robin says
Hi Kelly-Welcome to the Modern Family fanclub!! Everyone I know who watches it LOVES it. I’ve been watching since it first came out, and it really is one of the funniest shows on TV (I literally Laugh Out Loud even when I’m at home watching by myself!).
The photos of Lake Michigan (the last few of the sunset) are really gorgeous (I especially love the ones of the kids in the boat with the sunset behind them). Great job!
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
Lake Michigan never disappoints, Todd, have fun! 🙂
Primal Toad says
Kelly… those sunset pictures make me speechless. Michigan is awesome, isn’t it? It’s amazing. Simply amazing. It doesn’t even look real!
I am going camping with my siblings (and my sisters fiances!) during the first weekend in August. Its on Lake Manistee and the river and a few minutes walk from Lake Michigan. I’ll be thrilled if our sunsets come close to yours!
Katie says
Oh my gosh… amazing pictures! How beautiful!
Wardeh @ GNOWFGLINS says
I can only see 1 picture. Is it just me? It is a pretty picture, though! 🙂
KitchenKop says
Hi Wardeh!
You can only see one pic in the whole post??? Maybe try a different browser??
Love, Kel
Wardeh @ GNOWFGLINS says
Hi, Kel! 🙂
Yes, just 1 picture (of the three of you). Plus this sentence “You all know that pictures on my blog in the past have been hit or miss, and while once in a while I nail it, mostly my shots are so-so at best.” and that’s it. I checked in Firefox and Safari. I disabled the adblocker, too. I’ll check again later, because I really want to see, too! 🙂
KitchenKop says
Wardeh,
Try again now, I just looked and my whole post was gone, thank God I had saved it separately. It’s prob because Media Temple was working on some things in the backend this morning. Thanks for telling me!!
Love, Kel
Wardeh @ GNOWFGLINS says
I can see, I can see! Wow, those sunset shots are GORGEOUS! I’m happy you had such a great time!
Wendy (The Local Cook) says
love the beach pics! looks like you had a wonderful time.
Mary says
Beautiful pics! Might head out to Holland tomorrow with the kiddos. Love Lake MI 🙂 We are blessed to live in such a nice place.
Musings of a Housewife says
gorgeous photos! half the trick to taking good photos is the lighting and knowing the best time of day. 🙂 glad you had fun and sorry about the technical glitches. i know what you mean about wearing you down. you articulate it perfectly.
Henriette says
Wow amazing pictures- an great friends- sounds like you had an amzing time
The picture with fire and boat is wonderful
Flo says
Wow! Beautiful pictures and wonderful friends! What memories you were able to make! (I can’t decide which pictures you would’ve submitted — there are more than two great ones!)