Paulsen family blog post

[As told by Sam] We went to Dunkin Donuts and we are going to go to the museum.

We slipped on a Slipping Slide and we splashed in the pool.

I am feeling fun.

We went to a hotel. We went camping.

[As told by Henry] We went to the batting cage. We went golfing. We went in the swimming pool. 

I like chocolate donuts!

I went on the highway.

We went on a boat. It was a fun boat. You went into the deeper water.

And there's a doggie there. It is Grandma Barb's doggie, and McKenzie's. The doggie's name is Jetta.

We are going to have lasagna tonight. We tried some berries, but it's not blueberries, just berries.

We saw some cows, and they had vanilla and chocolate milk in them. McKenzie said that. We had grape juice.

I feel fine. And we had fun there, but today is the last day that we're going to be here.

Washed out in Ohio

Not the weather we were hoping for.

The rain and wind (and flooding) were so bad heading in to Sandusky that we canceled our camping reservation and found a hotel room last night. Very disappointing.

And the forecast isn't much better for today in Erie, where we had hoped to camp on a Lake Erie beach tonight.

Rather than risk another washout, we're just going to drive on to Grandma Barb's house tonight. Maybe we can hit the campsites in Erie and Sandusky on the trip home.

In the meantime, Jonah is keeping busy.

Doing the Dunes

The rain finally stopped this morning at daybreak, and we knew we needed to take advantage of whatever good weather we had since the forecast isn't great for the rest of the weekend.

So after breakfast at a Michigan City diner, we packed up the campsite and headed for the Indiana Dunes.

I wasn't familiar with this, but Liz has been to the Dunes, when she was younger. We pitched a picnic site and had a sand-seasoned lunch.

The water was too rough for swimming. We waded along the surf instead. The boys liked fleeing from the waves.

Then the lifeguards told us we couldn't even wade at the edge because of the riptide threat.

Good thing we got our fun in early.

And then there was the Devil's Slide. The boys loved walking up the sand hill and running down. Even Jonah, with a little help.

In this photo, if you zoom in, you can see the Chicago skyline on the far horizon.

We're on our way to Sandusky, Ohio, driving in the rain again. The boys, who are asleep in the back seat, said after leaving the Dunes that it's definitely someplace we should go back to. Maybe next time we'll snag a campsite right at the state park.

We're wet, but we made it

Good night, from Michigan City Campground.

On the road again

It's raining and we spent about an hour going 5 mph around Chicago. But no matter. Vacation!

We plan to camp the next three nights on the way to Grandma Barb's house.

Night One: Michigan City. 

The campground was all I could find, would have preferred camping at Indiana Dunes on Lake Michigan, but that was booked. Only one goal tonight: to test out our new tent, which I'm proud to say we bought at a very deep discount because it's a discontinued Coleman model. So when you look at our site and say, "How can they stand being seen camping in last year's model?" just know that we bring no pretension on Paulsen Family Trips®.