Warren Dunes, Sawyer, Michigan 2012

We went camping with Andy's family this year at the Warren Dunes State Park.  I was afraid it was going to be too cold (imagine that!) and cloudy, but we all had a lot of fun.  We stayed in the actual state park this time and it was super nice and fun!

We decided to check into the campsite first and then head right over to the beach.  It was a bit breezy and cloudy, but not too bad.  The kids were just so excited to get in the water and play in the sand!  Callie was tired and slept for quite a bit, which was nice for me. :)

We decided to go simple the first night - hot dogs and chips! Isaiah wouldn't smile for the camera, so Tyler went over to him and tickled him, which did the trick!

Andy entertained us with some nice music by the fire.

And what is camping without some sparklers?

The next day was more sunny, but it was SUPER windy and a bit on the chilly side.  I didn't get in the water at all that day and Callie wouldn't go in either.  She barely even played in the sand.  I think the wind was just too much for her.  Luckily we had big beach umbrellas the helped keep the sun off of us.  Poor Staci was downwind from us, so she kept getting all the sand in her face when we would shake out our towels!

The last day was absolutely gorgeous!  Sunny, warm and no wind.  Andy, Scarlet, Tyler, Morgan and I decided to head over to the clay deposits.  We didn't quite get into it as much as we had done before (mainly b/c I wore my new suit and didn't want it to get ruined), but we still had fun painting ourselves with the clay.

Of course, on the last day, Callie decides to actually get out and play in the sand some!

The sandcastle Morgan and I made (taken from my brother's phone, so I can't enlarge it, otherwise it is blurry)

 

On our way up the huge sand dune!

See those little specks to the right?  They are Scarlet and Morgan!  We had a little scare because they got separated from Andy while hiking up the dune, but they didn't think they were lost, so they weren't scared.  Morgan was smart enough to remember what our two umbrellas looked like and brought Scarlet back to the towels.  After some radio calls and a few rangers out looking for them, all was well again!

Isn't this just gorgeous!?  Our own version of the oceanside!

The naturalist gave lots of interesting little programs about the animals and plants living in the park.  The kids loved putting on the animal skins!  We also went to the beach one night and got to see Saturn and its rings through a telescope.  It was really cool!

This would be perfect without the little girl in the background!  Don't have Photoshop to edit it out though.  I want to make a print of this to put in the kids' bathroom.