On Our Summer Vacation...

Warning: Some may not consider the trip below a "vacation." Monahan vacations are a "do as much as you can in one day" kind of vacation. This trip was so worth it though because we really did get to catch up with 7 different families, many of which we haven't seen since before our Italy tour. Thanks to all who let us stay with them! We have so many fabulous memories!

We started our summer vacation in St. Louis, arriving in time to attend Jessica (Motchan) Hunn's wedding! The artistic photo above is entitled, "The Unity Fountains." My parents are in the background & Mike & I are in the foreground. If you've never tried to share a drinking fountain before, you should, because it is fun & fun is good!

Day 1 & 2: We moved on from St. Louis & hit Indianapolis, visiting our good friends Chris & Jill Hagan and Pat & Emily & baby Lenihan. Here we are LOVING the Children's Museum--definitely a highlight of the entire vacation for Henry! He still talks about wearing the "goo goo goggles" shown below and digging for dino bones. You can see that Andrew liked it ALMOST just as much! Curious George was also an obvious hit.

Day 3: Purdue. Having not been on campus since 2000, I really enjoyed seeing some of my favorite places AND seeing all the wonderful additions they've made to the campus! Mike and Henry did a fountain run (& some fountain sliding)...a Purdue tradition that is best enjoyed on a nice sunny day like we had!

After our Purdue visit we drove up to Great Lakes Naval Base in Chicago & stayed with the Gibbs. They were neighbors/family to us in Italy. Henry loved the fact that "Captain Gibbs" was like "Captain Feathersword" (atleast in title) and loved their trampoline.

Day 4: Chicago Monahans & Milwaukee Winters. We drove from the Gibbs to Uncle Bud & Aunt Sue Monahan's house, where we had a beautiful lunch (complete with pear turtles) and an exciting beach adventure (where Uncle Bud chased Henry into the "deep water" sparing his shorts)! Cousin Oliver also spared his shoes for Henry.

After lunch we drove to Milwaukee to visit our friends the Winters. We had such a nice bbq & soccer time at their new beautiful home. Here are all our kiddos--and yeah, Henry is wearing Lucy's hat.

Day 5 & 6: Ludington, MI. The Reisterer family (good friends from Italy) hosted us in their adorable town of Ludington. Henry & Nathan got reacquainted (after almost 2 yrs!) & even SHARED! :) We caught in on camera (see bench picture)!

We had fun going to the marina, gymnastics, the Children's museum and the beach with them (where Henry went in the COLD water with a sweatshirt & diaper)...as well as the hot tub, card games, & Wiggles party at their house!

Day 7 & 8: Shelby/New Era/?, MI - Camp Miniwanca. When Sandra told me she was working all summer at Miniwanca, the magical place I've heard about for years from her, I immediately started planning our trip to come visit! Our visit was "magical" -- Mike got to sail, Andrew got ice cream, Henry got to roll down the sand dunes (just like the Wiggles sing about), I got to see the camp, climb Old Baldy (which I'd heard about many times) AND hike to the beach....& most importantly we got to spend some time with the George family & their little boy, Jason -- who is perhaps, the happiest kid on earth! :)

That finished off our vacation for summer 2008! Thanks again to all who made it such a great time! We have a few more weekend trips planned, so stay tuned for more! :)