2022-2023 Homeschool Curriculum Reveal!

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized6 Comments

If you have ever homeschooled, or know someone who does, then you probably know just how much time, effort, research, conversations, and comparisons go into picking the curriculum your child uses. Our position is unique – we do not need to choose something that will be effective for an entire school district of children all with different needs. We need only choose based on our own child and their educational journey. However, despite having a much, much smaller student body, it is just as important and just as time consuming.

After weighing Wyatt’s needs, where he is academically, and how he best learns, I FINALLY made my choices and started purchasing them, always with the slightest trepidation and anxiety about making the wrong choice. And then I remind myself, when I start doubting myself, that if it doesn’t work, then we find something that does. Wyatt’s education is probably our biggest expense outside of our actual bills, and it is something we sometimes make sacrifices for. But it is 100% worth it.

The homeschool world has so many options. Secular, non-secular, nature based, wildschooling, unschooling, roadschooling. We sort of take a little bit of everything over here, and have a very eclectic approach. The past two years we have used Blossom and Root for everything, for the most part, and then in January I decided Wyatt needed more structure in math and in grammar, so I added in another curriculum. We will be using bits and pieces from a few different curriculum this year, including one that I am designing myself.

This year for Math we are using The Good and the Beautiful, which is what we started using in January last year. Since we started using it late in the year, we will finish up from where we left off before moving on to Course 2. We both like it quite a bit, and math is Wyatt’s least favorite so that is a definite win! It is academically strong, easy to follow, hardly any preparation, and very aesthetically pleasing, which really isn’t important at all but does make it nicer. They also utilize a lot of nature themes, which we enjoy, and use inclusive and diverse images. Wyatt and I were very pleased to see one of the lessons included an illustration of a little girl with braces and crutches! Kids like to see themselves reflected in books and Wyatt definitely liked that lesson.

Since we are talking about The Good and the Beautiful, I will just say we are also using it for reading and grammar, for all of the same reasons. One other thing about The Good and the Beautiful – you can purchase the whole kit and caboodle, or you can get a download of the curriculum for free! I think this is spectacular. The program is fantastic, and I like that anyone can have access to it for their child.

We are sticking with Blossom and Root for science, as their science and nature program is very strong. It looks like this year is going to be learning all about the world of plants – which is pretty exciting to me as well!

I was looking at Michigan’s Common Core because I do try to make sure we follow along in our own way, and it didn’t look like there was much on there about history/geography/social studies. It seems to focus quite a bit on community so we will make sure to include that in our studies, but I also added in Traveling the States by The Waldock Way. I think it is perfect for where Wyatt is right now. It gives him a nice overview of the fifty states, and it looks like it is very fun and engaging. It was originally designed for roadschooling, but can be used in a home classroom as well, as we are doing. It would be neat to include some long distance field trips this year though! You can check out an inside peek video here!

Music! I always struggle with this one, as I am the farthest from musical anyone can be. So this year I am pairing music appreciation, learning about different instruments and genres, with our literature and art program. I am also looking for music lessons for him nearby, that will take special needs children. And Jeanie at Marmalade Gypsy has told me about a program at MSU called RicStar, and I think I am going to try to get him in to their camp next summer. It looks like something Wyatt would absolutely love!

And finally, literature and art. This is separate from The Good and the Beautiful program we are using to learn the mechanics of reading and writing. This will be all literature based projects and activities, based on the readings for the week, and will include poetry, geography, history, comprehension, art, vocabulary lists, copywork and narration. I am designing this myself, so I am super nervous about it but feel I have all his bases covered with the other programs we are using so it should be ok. This will just supplement everything we are doing in a nicely complimentary way.

As for physical education, Wyatt does go to physical therapy once a week, as well as occupational therapy and speech. However, I did find swim lessons specifically for special needs children.

And since I have made my choices and started buying them all, I have also begun planning – and have some awfully fluffy assistants.

And.. that pretty much sums it all up! I can’t wait to share all of this with you when we begin in the fall!

Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized11 Comments

July is off with a bang! We had a wonderful long weekend, full of good times.

Saturday was all about Wyatt – ice cream, a picnic, and swimming with his cousin at his grandma’s house. We hit our favorite ice cream parlor, picking up the traditional black cherry for Billy and mint chocolate chip for Wyatt, and this time I went with a new one, Detroit Grand Slam. I don’t think I understand the name but it tastes good, like coffee.

We have two little water babies on our hands – or mermaids, as my little niece calls herself and Wyatt. And it is a much more whimsical description, so we will go with mermaids. Wyatt is all signed up for private swim lessons, and I can’t wait. I will feel so much more relaxed after we get some basics covered.

Sunday we went for a long drive, then chilled out at home. I think we were recovering from a long pool day, and knowing that another big day was coming on the 4th. I did release my last little black swallowtail. I only brought in five caterpillars this summer and my last one just went through it’s transformation and flew away. I hope to bring in a few more to raise later in the summer; we just have too many trips and overnights right now in the works.

But the fourth was a day to remember. A golden moment in time, honestly. A perfect day.

I haven’t seen some of my family since the pandemic started – my aunt and uncle (Barb and Mike), my two cousins (Michael and Meghan), and their families. My cousin Michael invited us all for a family party at his house on the fourth, for a cookout and some swimming, so of course the two little mermaids were excited about that as well.

We pulled up in the driveway, and tumbled into the backyard, where Mike was standing by the gate. When I saw his smiling face, I couldn’t help it, I teared up. And then my cousin Meghan came over for a hug and we were both teary and emotional. We have always been so close, all of us, and it was overwhelming to finally be with each other again. But once the quick tears dried up, the fun began!

Of course the kids hit the pool immediately. Michael and Meghan’s kids (3 boys for Mike, 2 boys for Meghan) were already in the pool, and Wyatt wanted to get in as well. Billy had a few minutes to say hi and give hugs and then boom, he was in the water with Wyatt. Pretty much for most of the day. Lol. There was also a lifeguard which was reassuring with so many kids in the pool at once – 9 total plus dads. And the rest of the day was all about sharing stories, both old and new, eating, drinking, laughing, listening to the music, and soaking up the sun (slathered in sunblock as our family will burn in a hot second). My cousin made an awesome playlist which I am sharing because it is a real mood for a summer gathering.

We finally had to say goodbye, and loaded up our weary kids into the car, tuckered out from a very full day of fun. I was also that kind of tired too, that comes from a day spent outdoors having a very full day of fun as well. Wyatt zonked out hard in the car on the way home, and didn’t even wake up when Billy carried him in to the house. The hallmark of a perfect childhood day.

What about all of you? Any stories from your weekend you want to share?

Hello, July!

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized14 Comments

Hello July! Summer is really starting to ramp up! My garden is filling out, I’m barefoot as much as possible, and the butterflies are back.

Our strawberries are just about done with their production for the year, and they were so good. But now the raspberries are poised for their turn, and raspberries are my very favorite. I picked the first of the ripe raspberries the other day and Wyatt and I enjoyed them on the porch for breakfast. There were not many yet, but there soon will be.

Last night I said goodbye to June while lounging in my friend’s backyard, for girl’s night. It was a hot night, 90 degrees but her yard was cool from the breeze from the river and the shade from her trees. It was a wonderful night. I enjoyed catching up as it has been a bit since all four of us have been able to get together. Another sign of summer – I have switched to white wine as my drink of choice. I love it with just a bit of a chill on these hot nights.

I haven’t been raising butterflies this summer – I already have an abundance of tanks in my house and lots of little mouths to feed but I did bring in five early caterpillars a few weeks ago. They will more than likely be my only butterfly babies this year. This week, three have eclosed! We named them Daniel, Blueberry, and Basil. Wyatt picked Daniel, and a friend’s daughter picked Blueberry.

Wyatt and I are enjoying a slow down. I had intended to homeschool through June and July but I realized I was burned out. And if I was burned out, then Wyatt had to be as well. So, we are on holiday, and might be until the end of the month! We are still reading books by the stack. I visit the library at least twice a week for books for Wyatt, and we are reading Charlotte’s Web every night before bed. We have easy mornings, lazy afternoons, and it has been wonderful honestly.

Next week Billy, Wyatt, and I are going on a little mini-getaway, and I am so excited. I rented a tiny house on a farm for a few nights, and it supposed to be surrounded by fireflies at night in July. It will be nice to have a few days away the three of us.

As for the rest of July, I am hoping for lots of swimming, tomatoes and berries from the garden, flowers and bees and butterflies. Slow living. I would like to make jam and can tomatoes and paint and eat ice cream and have picnics, and just have lots of unhurried days and evenings.

How about you? How is the summer treating you so far? Any plans?

Classic Movie Impressions: Double Indemnity

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized12 Comments

Recently, Lisa from Boondock Ramblings asked if I would be interested in recommending old, classic movies to each other and I was on board 100%! I love a good classic movie, especially film noir and musicals, but there are so many out there that I haven’t seen yet.

Our chat sort of turned into the two of us talking about our classic celebrity crushes as well – Paul Newman for Lisa, (young) Marlon Brando for me. If you need a reminder of the beauty of a young Brando, check this page out.. Anyway, this led me to suggesting Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof to Lisa. Lisa recommended Double Indemnity to me, and on Saturday I watched it.

Billy was camping over the past weekend, and I was looking forward to a weekend of classic movie watching after Wyatt went to bed. On Friday I watched Key Largo, which I had I already planned to watch. Key Largo is one I have seen before but I love it. Then Saturday, I settled down with my snacks and my glass of wine and entered the world of Double Indemnity.

And here I thought the world of insurance was boring!

I don’t even know where to begin! I was completely sucked in to this movie, with its quiet malevolence and danger, sexual attraction, secrets and shadows. The cast was stellar, and Barbara Stanwyck is the ultimate femme fatale, slinking about, smoking and smoldering, while MacMurray is the classic stalwart, loyal, good guy – well, at least for some of the movie.

The movie starts with a confession, which sets up the rest of the movie.

It all begins when MacMurray, playing Insurance salesman Walter Neff, meets the blonde bombshell Phyllis Dietrichson, portrayed by Barbara Stanwyck. All he wanted to do was update their auto insurance, but found himself going down some dark roads to his eventual end. He stops by the Dietrichson house to find Mr. Dietrichson not at home – but his beautiful wife Phyllis is. She inquires about an accidental insurance policy on her husband, and whether she can place one on him without his knowledge. Neff picks up what she is laying down, and is not interested. However, she shows up at his house later and Neff can’t resist his attraction to her. From there, a nefarious plan is born.

This movie took some complex turns – Neff knew all the intricacies that would be examined and made sure to dot his i’s and cross his t’s. Or so he thought. Neff’s friend, Barton Keyes, an insurance investigator, begins to be suspicious of the whole situation, and launches an investigation. Keyes is played by Edward G. Robinson, who played Johnny Rocco in Key Largo which I watched the night before. It was kind of crazy to see him go from villain to hero!

I don’t want to give too many spoilers or giveaway the ending, so.. I will end my bit of a summary here.

Overall, I loved this movie! I loved the way it looked, the shadows and darkness, the fashion, the complexity, the smart and clever repartee, although Neff calls Dietrichson “baby” so often it sort of made me crazy. But, despite the roller coaster ride that was Neff and Dietrichson, it was the end scene between Robinson and MacMurray that was my favorite scene in the movie. And you will just have to watch the movie if you want to know more!

Jr. Ranger for the National Parks

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn family friendly, nature2 Comments

This post contains a few Amazon Affiliate links.

So I mentioned a few things last week in another post that I was planning a longer National Parks post. Well, here it is!

My little niece had become a Jr. Ranger for the National Parks in this very park last summer, and was so excited for Wyatt to become one as well! Wyatt was pretty excited too, especially when he got his badges and his patch. It was really simple. We asked for the Park Ranger booklet for Sleeping Bear where we were, completed the activities inside while we toured the visitor’s center, and reported back to the ranger on duty. I explained that Wyatt’s speech is limited so reciting the oath would be tough, and she was so sweet and kind about all of it. Wyatt did repeat key words however, and listened and raised his hand – until he got shy about halfway through and hid his head on his dad’s shoulder.

Kids can either become Jr. Rangers and earn badges at nearly every National Park, or…they can do them online (unfortunately not every park has an online program)! I love that they offer some of them online, not all families have the ability to travel to all the parks, or even travel much at all, and these children can still participate in this free program! Since Wyatt was still excited about earning his badges at Sleeping Bear, I thought we would give the online version a shot. I chose Denali, since I don’t really see us getting there, especially when he is young kid. He is also familiar with Denali thanks to the PBS cartoon Molly of Denali, so it seemed like a good one to experiment with. And honestly we had a really good time learning about the different facets of Denali via the NPS website! Wyatt had to search the website, looking for answers to questions like, which sled dog would you like to meet (Nucha) and which animal that calls Denali home would you most like to see (moose)? Nucha is a cutie, I wish we could actually meet him! And he sounds like a dog made for Wyatt, sweet and charming and mischievous. After finishing up the questions, we dropped it in the mail! I guess they will mail his badge to us; I am curious about how long it will take!

Kids like to wear and display their badges, of course. My niece has a backpack that she puts hers on, and we saw a little boy with them on his hat. Neither of those options are quite right for Wyatt. A vest wouldn’t really work either, so I went online and took a peek at solutions, and found the perfect thing! A lanyard! He LOVES it, and will actually keep it on. So far he has three badges and two patches, although one is from Hartwick Pines State park, where we stopped on our way home. I figure he can pick and choose which badges he puts on his lanyard, and then we will keep the rest as well as any patches on banners, which I still need to order. I am considering getting one of those scratch off maps, or just a map of all the National Parks to hang as well.

I think this is going to be so fun to do with Wyatt! He is starting a U.S. social studies curriculum next year, where he will learn about all of the states, and I think for some of them we will try to visit a National Park, or do an online badge to go along with the curriculum.

I also mentioned in that post that Wyatt received a free lifetime membership pass for all the National Parks due to having a permanent disability. We got ours at the gate, but you can apply online here. They also have a senior pass , and free access passes for veterans and Gold Star families, as well as the general annual pass. Fourth graders can also get a free one year pass! So there are many different options out there.

I am already out here planning a trip to Voyageurs National Park with my brother and his family – and since we will be out that way, a few of the Laura Ingalls Wilder homesteads. You can rent a houseboat at Voyageurs! Has anyone done that?

We are very excited about this whole thing as you can tell. We really didn’t need anymore incentive to visit the National Parks but I think this does make it more exciting for the kids.

My proud little ranger!

My Sunday-Monday Post

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized22 Comments

My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer
Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

We are home from our trip! It was wonderful and amazing and way too short! There is also this:

True words, my friends. And then when we got home, Billy left for a camping trip with the guys! So, not much reading happening for me, sadly. I told him he owes me a weekend away too; I am thinking a trip where I go off by myself (or with like minded people) to read all day and then have a good dinner, a glass of wine, and a fire in the evening. And take naps as needed too of course. That sounds like heaven just about now.

Read Last Week:

I read the first in this series the other week, and thought it was so enchanting that I had to get the next one! This one is also quite charming, and I have recommended them to just about all the parents I know as a read aloud.

Reading This Week:

The Gone-Away Lake books reminded me of this book that I read and loved years ago, The Hotel Paradise by Martha Grimes. And now I want to read it all over again. I have a weird theme going, I know.

Posted Last Week:

My Top Ten Summer Movies

Sand Dunes, Shopping, and Petoskey Stones

Lighthouses, Lavender, and Ice Cream

A Bear, A Beer, and a Bit of a Scare

Watching:

We watched Murdoch Mysteries this past week – it’s our go to show when the days have been long and busy, which they were last week. Then this weekend I watched two old classics – Key Largo and Double Indemnity. I had watched Key Largo before and loved it, but it was my first time watching Double Indemnity. Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I are suggesting old favorite classics to each other to watch this summer. Feel free to watch along with us! I am going to post more about this on Thursday.

Billy and I are hoping to finish Outer Range and start Stranger Things (whatever number this new season is). And then we have The Umbrella Academy to watch as well!

And that is it from my corner of the world!

My Top Ten Summer Movies

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn movies24 Comments

As of Tuesday, it is now officially summer! And while summer is full of fun outdoor activities, sometimes you just need an indoor day, or a relaxing movie in the evening. Also with the cost of pretty much everything right now, movies at home are an affordable treat! You could even stream them outside onto a portable screen or sheet or garage door for a drive in type experience.

There are a few movies out there that just scream summer to me, and I am hoping you will share a few that feel like summer to you as well!

First up – my all-time favorite… Jaws!!

I have to watch this movie every single fourth of July, and it is still so good! That scene with Quint where he is talking about the Indianapolis disaster is one of the best scenes in a movie, ever, hands down.

And then of course, there is Now and Then.

I also watch this every summer. And I might as well say it now, I watch just about all the movies I am going to list in this post once a summer. Now and Then is a fun, nostalgic, coming of age movie about friends then…and again, now. In case the name didn’t give that away. Lol.

Another nostalgic favorite of mine is The Parent Trap with Hayley Mills. I loved all the parts at summer camp (is this just a movie/book thing? Do kids really go to summer camp?) and then again in California.

For those who love love, there is The Love Letter. I love this movie and the effect one lost love letter has on a town, each thinking the letter is meant for them. I feel like not many people have seen it and it makes me sad – it’s just so good.

And of course, you can’t talk about summer love without Dirty Dancing! I feel like this movie doesn’t need an explanation, am I right?

I like romance, but I also like scary. And one of my old favorites from my youth is I Know What You Did Last Summer. I remember going to the theater and watching this with Billy when we were young and it scared me so much. One scene made me literally jump!

And if you go way back in my youth, there is Stand By Me. What a fantastic movie. Another coming of age, friendship movie, full of revelations for these friends. Plus I had a huge crush on River Phoenix. So, there you go.

While we are talking about going way back, let’s talk about The Way, Way Back.

This movie is phenomenal. I absolutely love and adore Sam Rockwell, and his character in this movie..chef’s kiss. It is so well acted by all the actors involved. And Steve Carell in this movie! Dang, what a jerk!

Let’s circle back around to nostalgic, happy, and fun, shall we?

This next movie came out the year I graduated, and I will always remember going to see it with my friends at the theater. It is has fantastic music, and really captures that feeling of freedom you have when you graduate. It is wild and crazy, and yes, dazed and confused. And it is Matthew McConaughey’s first movie!

And finally, what I consider to be the quintessential summer movie, The Great Outdoors.

I love this movie! It makes me think of all of our up north trips – except our family gets along! And the duo of John Candy and Dan Akroyd can’t be beat (unless it is Akroyd and Belushi in The Blues Brothers, which just narrowly missed this list..). It has lodges, family, bears, hi-jinks, young love, good music, snarky raccoons. I mean, does it get better than this for a summer movie?

How about you? What movies just mean summer to you?

Sand Dunes, Shopping, and Petoskey Stones

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn family friendly, Michigan10 Comments

Day three! Vacations sure fly by don’t they? I think our plans for day three were the ones I was most looking forward to, and the day did not disappoint.

We had another nice slow start to the morning. Even though it was Father’s Day, Billy made the whole crew of us pancakes with strawberries from our garden on top, and Chrissy scrambled up fifteen eggs. It was cute to watch them cook at the stove together, with Rosie the dog at their feet.

We started out at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore – the sand dunes and the view are something to behold! We were on Sleeping Bear itself, which has a descent down to Lake Michigan, but you are warned that the climb back up is arduous and to not attempt it if you are not sure you can make it the almost two miles back up. In sand. In fact, there is a huge sign, and a fine for rescue, to the tune of $3000. While we were there we saw a group of college age kids, in peak athletic shape and fitness, coming back up and they were exhausted. I have never attempted it. For me, I would have to plan on camping it or something and taking it a few steps a day. LOL.

I always panic at the top, like people are just going to topple over the edge – mainly my son and my mom. So I guided them as far away as I possibly could get them and then stood in front of my child who wanted to slide down, because, well, he is 7 and it was a lot of sand.

After hanging around the top, and apprehensively watching a family start to head down the dune, with a toddler and I am assuming the toddler’s grandmother in tow, we left the view behind and started in to town.

Before I go further, I want to mention something. Wyatt received a free lifetime membership pass to the National Parks due to having a permanent disability. When we drove up to the gate the nice ranger asked if we had anyone in the car that was 62 or over or had a permanent disability. We had both actually, but my mom declined and so we got Wyatt all set up. He has a nice membership card with his name on it that he can use forever! I definitely recommend looking into it if this is something that will benefit you or anyone that you know.

Our next stop was actually the Visitor’s Center in Empire. Mermaid Girl had become a Jr. Park Ranger last year and was very excited for Wyatt to do it as well. Which he did! He received a certificate, three badges, and a patch! I think I am going to do a whole post on this next week so I will talk more about it then.

And then with our new Jr. Ranger we all piled back in the cars for the super short drive to Glen Arbor for some shopping! We had a few must stops on our list..

Leelanau Coffee for Iced Miel Coffees, and then my very favorite bookstore in the world.

I wish I could just move up there and work here. I love it.

I always try to buy from the local author bookshelves when I see them on vacation and this time I picked a book called Words Like Thunder by Lois Beardslee.

Then we headed over to the Cherry Republic and hung out for a bit, eating french fries and ice cream and shopping.

It was starting to get late but we still had one last stop – Rocky Beach in Glen Haven. Glen Haven is a deserted little town with my family’s favorite beach of all. My stepmom took us there for the first time years and years ago and it is one of her favorite places in the world. Then it became my brother’s, and now you can add us to the list too.

My SIL Chrissy is a huge rockhound. She finds it super relaxing to sift through rocks, looking at them, and on beaches where you are allowed to collect them, she does that too. Rocky Beach is part of the Sleeping Bear so a no collecting beach but they had fun looking. And she got to indulge for as long as she wanted the next day at a different beach, finding several petoskey stones, including a pretty darn big one, the lucky duck!

By the time we left it was getting late and we were all full of sand and sunshine, and ready for dinner. So we made the drive back to our cottage, grilled up some hot dogs and veggie dogs, and that was that. We had a fire on the beach, some adult drinks, and went to bed, after a perfect day.

Lighthouses, Lavender, and Ice Cream

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized18 Comments

Saturday morning was chilly – and I love a chilly morning by the lake with coffee. I stole a few moments away by myself and went down to the deck to look out over the water, which is my favorite “up north” thing to do. I love listening to the birds singing around me, the gentle lap of the water, and the peace of the moment. After a bit, my brother and SIL wandered down as well, and we all spotted a mink swimming in the water in front of us! It was a really cool sighting, and less scary than the bear.

We had a slow morning getting ready, drinking coffee, having breakfast, and finally we all loaded up into our cars to head to Mission Point Peninsula and the lighthouse, our first stop.

The lighthouse lens was first lit in 1870 and kept ships safe until it was decommissioned in 1933. I always think about what a quiet existence lighthouse keepers lived in these remote areas, especially in the winter. Now you can pay to be a keeper at the Mission Point Lighthouse which might be fun just for the experience of living in a lighthouse. It was super crazy windy and kind of cold while we were there, and it is June – I can’t imagine January but it must be stunning to look out in winter at all the ice and snow.

We were freezing so we didn’t stick around too long before heading to our next stop, Brys Vineyards. This has become our family’s favorite winery on the Peninsula, and we love the Secret Garden best of all.

We of course had to do a “now and then” photo of the kids!

We played around in the garden for a bit before heading up hill to the winery. The kids and the guys stayed outside while the rest of us (Chrissy, Michelle, my mom, and I) went in to the tasting room. I was excited to see they had hard cider. They even had a lavender hard cider that all four of us tasted – and it was perfect! I picked up a four pack of the lavender cider and a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. I will save it for some future summer evening when I want to remember our trip.

This time when we got back into the car, Wyatt picked our next destination – Moomer’s Ice Cream! This place is a much loved tourist spot, and one we have never done. Apparently in high summer the line can be wrapped around the parking lot! Thankfully it was not busy when we were there and we got our ice cream relatively quickly.

After finishing our ice cream, we all decided it was time to relax back at the house. Wyatt took a nap, everyone else just chilled out doing various things – sitting by the lake, on the deck, just enjoying the sun and relaxing. For dinner we went to Red Mesa Grill (if you go get the tacos!), and then that was it for day 2!

A Bear, A Beer, and a Bit of a Scare

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn family, Michigan17 Comments

Friday morning we loaded up the car, picked up my mom, and hit the road, heading north to Bellaire, MI. We were meeting my brother, SIL, niece, and SIL’s mother there for the start of our vacation! And after four hours, we did.

But first, we saw a bear. Like a real one, just standing by the road, looking all bear like and big. I was happy to be in the car! Then, just a whole ten minutes down the road we arrived at our first stop, Grass River Nature Preserve for a hike, and I was not as happy. That bear could be there too! Or another one. Or many others. And I am sure there were! When I went into the visitor’s center I mentioned it to the woman working and she was stunned that we saw one, which did not make me feel any better. She told me that it is really unusual to see one during the summer and that it was probably heading to town to eat from a bird feeder. She did ask me to let her know if we saw it on our hike.

Our plan was to just take a short walk, about a mile, then head to Short’s Brewing for lunch before heading on to our cottage. It was a great little walk – I love the scent of pine needles and pine trees and the minute we got out of the car we enveloped in it. Our walk was quick, with the Galloping Grannies leading the group at a grueling pace (not really but it was very fast paced lol). The rest of us were moseying, looking around, spotting wonders in the underbrush. Like the mushrooms Dead Man’s Fingers! They are well named and rather creepy. My niece also entertained us with stories of glowing pink wolves and giant foxes that lived in the woods there, and overall it was a great walk through nature. We didn’t have time to explore the whole preserve but I am planning on going back to do just that!

We then drove the few minutes into Bellaire for lunch at Short’s. My brother had been there before but it was our first time. And it won’t be the last! It was absolutely delicious. I had the Someday sandwich, which was like a club sandwich, while Billy had pulled pork and Wyatt had the kids pizza bites, which he devoured. For beverages, I tried the Gitchy Gitchy, which is a Kolsch with lemon and cucumber. It was fantastic and refreshing. Billy had the Prolonged Enjoyment, which is an IPA. We went into the take out order area, and ate across the street in the lot where they have tables set up for outside dining. And promptly divided up into two camps – the full sun people and the shade people, or as my brother said, the sun people and the moon people. Lol.

Guess which camp I was in?

After a very filling lunch, conversation over a beer, and some shopping for howlers and growlers to take to our cottage (we got a howler of Sandia Loca, my brother got the Empress Catherine) we were back on the road.

We pulled up to our home away from home after about half an hour or so, and were so ready to just settle in and relax.

But we also were excited to check out the lake..some of us more than others.

Billy, Wyatt, Chrissy, and Mermaid Girl headed down the hill to the lake while the rest of us were doing I have no idea what. Probably checking out the rental. After a few minutes though, the rest of us headed outside too.

My brother, mom, and I were standing about halfway down, chatting about the lake and how pretty and all that when I heard a splash. I immediately was on the alert, and saw Wyatt being held by Billy on the dock and Chrissy patting his back. And knew that my kid had somehow fallen in. Wyatt can’t swim yet although he loves the water, and apparently he was reaching down for the water, lost his balance and fell off the dock! (Billy was sitting right next to Wyatt on the dock and was halfway in the water before Wyatt even made it to the water. He was in the water a second or two before Billy hoisted him up. I still of course had a heart attack) However, he was with two extremely fast acting adults who love him and jumped into action, with both Billy and Chrissy jumping right in after him, no hesitation. The water was shallow and clear and he was up and out in seconds. By the time I got there, he was trying to slide back in, the little otter. And since he was wet and it was shallow, we let him, but with many close eyes on him. And of course once he was in, it was game over, Mermaid Girl was in as well.

The water was warm and the kids had a blast, before we all headed up, showered the kids, and all settled in for the night.

And that was the end of day 1!