Summer Vacation

How we spend our time as a blended family in Saugatuck, MI.

This is our third summer coming to Saugatuck, Michigan as a blended family. It’s really sort of perfect - Matt has two wonderfully kind, hilarious, inclusive adult children, with equally sweet significant others. And I have three active, comical, young boys. Our nine-top is a good group.

Michigan is special… I had never been to the state before 2020, and ended up going that August with my mom, step-dad, brother, a little Isaac, and baby MJ before Rowan’s arrival. We’ve gone annually since. Coincidentally, Matt is from Paw Paw, MI, and spent his summers growing up on nearby lakes. He then returned each July as a father with Grace and Luka when they were younger, to Saugatuck. Now we go as a team, and it is beyond what I could dream of in a summer vacation.

Matt closes his restaurants for one week during the July 4th holiday. It is his only time off other than Sundays. Our long uninterrupted days piled together with sun and sand and ice cream in town every night is something we all look forward to.

We lucked out with the same property rental as last summer in the Saugatuck / Douglas area, and since my kids are older this year (no swim diapers, more independence, sleeping soundly), we are in a solid groove of how to spend our days, where to go and when, what to buy at the grocery store, and best timing for certain activities.