august so far

Note: As I am writing this, Wells is asleep. He is, at the moment, approaching ten hours of sleep overnight. This is the seventh day in a row where he has slept at least seven hours overnight. I realize this might be boastful but I am so glad he is sleeping through the night that I had to share! We are so relieved to be sleeping again!

We ended July and kicked off August on Mackinac Island. I say this every summer: Mackinac Island is my favorite place to go.

There are many reasons to love Mackinac but, I think my main reason for loving it is the timelessness of the island. In a world that is moving so quickly, you always know what to expect on Mackinac. There will be bike rides, it will smell of horses, there will be fudge, there will be great lake views, there will not be cars, and there will be charm in spades.

And every August, there will be Neckers there. It's fun to see how much Elia grows from year to year and watch her experience the island in new ways and I look forward to doing the same with Wells.

We've gone to Mackinac with my parents and my aunt's family for the last five years and normally stay in the middle of the island, at some condos I grew up going to. Since Wells is too small for a bike, we opted to stay at Mission Point Resort this year, on the far side of Main Street. It was fun to stay somewhere new and we were so thankful that we weren't walking several miles into and out of town for meals.

During our weekend we spent time with our family, swimming, visiting with my college bestie Jess and her family who were on the island Saturday, and Todd and I even got to have a cocktail hour sans niños one day.

Saturday evening, we went to The Woods for dinner and bowling, a family tradition. We took a taxi there and it was far less slow than I remember it being in years past. As a bonus, Elia was fascinated by the ride. We ate and bowled, duck-pin style, before heading back into town for the evening. The Woods is such a unique and beautiful spot and we love eating time there every summer.

Mackinac never disappoints and I love creating new memories there with my family.

That was last weekend and this weekend we hosted Todd's college friends and their families at the lake house. This is a tradition that formally began two years ago, making this our third year running. Since the first year we have almost all grown to be families of four and watching our kids run around together is incredibly entertaining. The crew was slightly smaller this year but we still had a ball. I'm always grateful that Todd has such a solid group of friends from college, they're such lovely people and I always enjoy spending time with them.

With so much fun packed into the first third of August, I can't wait to see what fun is in store for us the rest of the summer!