These are a just a few words that easily can describe our family trip to Little Eden Camp this past weekend. For those unlucky readers who have not had the good fortune to ever experience Little Eden, it is a Christian retreat center in Onekema, MI located on Portage Lake. It's a place where families & friends come together for times of relaxation, restoration, fellowship, and of course....a whole lot of FUN!
My family has had the privilege of coming together every summer at LE since well before I was born. In fact, my father's mother was a summer life guard there when she was in college! To say it is a huge part of my history is an understatement. I am SO thankful that God has blessed me with the opportunity to continue to show up there year after year and for giving me a wonderful husband who has embraced LE with open arms and has encouraged our sons to welcome LE into their lives as well.
We got to camp around noon on Friday. After a quick lunch (Subway....Eat Fresh!) the boys and I took a nap while Jay went ice fishing. He got a 12-in. perch his first time out there! Unfortunately, he also got a ticket from the local D&R for having 1 too many fishing lines out. Oops!
Friday night we went into town for a really nice dinner at an Italian bistro called The Blue Slipper.....a major Albrecht family favorite. The food and service were fantastic! Later that night we played games on the Wii and went to bed early.
Saturday morning found Jay back out on the ice first thing. After he got back we went in to Manistee for some things we had forgot to bring with us from home. We then headed north on US-31 to an Amish / Mennonite general store where we bought homeade snacks for us big kids (banana chips for me, beef sticks for Jay) and candy for the little kids. We also picked up a couple pumpkin rolls (a great pumpkin, cream cheese filled dessert) for my family (another fav!). Then we were off to Frankfort for their winter festival, Shiver on the River. The boys went sledding, and we all watched a little bit of the snowmobile races.
After Frankfort we went back to LE for our afternoon nap (of course!) and then headed to the local high school for some major sledding. The hill was huge!! Even though we discovered I am an AWFUL sledder, we all had a blast!! Casey went down the hill once or twice, but wasn't sledding's hugest fan. Collin on the other hand kept going, and going, and going! Jason was the only one brave enough to head down on his belly! I had a tendancy to almost immediately veer of the path, bounce up & down on my sled until I was pretty much off it, and then come to a gentle stop....smack dab in a chain link fence! LOL
After sledding we had a simple dinner at the cabin and then settled in for family movie night (Cars) and popcorn.
Sunday we packed up early and were home by 1:00 in order to get ready for the week ahead. We were extremely sad to say goodbye to Little Eden and our wonderful weekend, but we're hopeful that God will bless with one more chance to head up their yet this winter. Let us know if you want to join us!!
