Summer Vacation in Michigan
July 6, 2008
While Michigan is not known as a summer resort destination, it turned out to be a great destination for our family reunion this summer. One of the best parts of our trip was our home base, my sister-in-law’s/brother-in-law’s place in Shelby Township. The house couldn’t have been a better fit for our group. There was enough room for all the adults to have their own bed rooms. The house couldn’t have been more beautiful or more clean. The basement made for a perfect retreat for the kids to play Rock-band and Halo on the XBox 360.
I mentioned in an earlier article that we spent a day in Frankenmuth, Michigan enjoying a little Christmas decor shopping and chicken dinners. After our fun filled day in Frankenmuth, we enjoyed a day at our home base celebrating my other Sister-in-laws birthday. We had a cook out with a center cut pork loin and a little Bocce Ball on the lawn.
Tuesday we piled into the Minivans and headed to the Thumb Area. After a nice little picnic at a roadside park near Port Austin, we drove down to Caseville to the Bella Vista Resort. We loved the beautiful views of Lake Huron, especially at sunset. We had our second night’s dinner at the Hershel’s Restaurant at the Bella Vista and we were all very pleased with our meals that included fish and chips and prime rib. I also had a first rate massage by their resident massage therapist. I thought she did a better deep tissue massage than I had on my last Celebrity cruise. They also had a very nice heated pool, which the kids loved.
On the down side, the resort had small motel rooms, saggy beds, and out dated decor. These resorts are only open a few months a year, so it really makes sense that they are not kept up as well a year round resorts. Over all we loved our stay at the resort, but would recommend it with the concession that what it lacks in amenities, it makes up in lake front ambiance.
We also enjoyed a little Thumb Area Mini Golf. In Caseville, we all played at the official Putt-Putt course. I like Putt-Putt courses because of the standardized hole play. The edges of all the holes are smooth metal, allowing for predictable banking. The other mini-golf course we played was Sandy Dunes Adventure Golf . This mini golf course was spectacularly landscaped, with some of the most beautiful ever greens I have ever seen. The course was a bit more challenging and inconsistent than the Putt-Putt course. The course had many more hazards and undulations than the earlier course. Plus with brick edging bank shots were highly unpredictable. We had a great time playing our two mini golf mini games.
Back in Shelby Township, we enjoyed a couple more nights at my sister-in-law’s house and with a bit of TV and some more video games in basement. We even set off some Target approved “Fire Works” on July 3rd.
Our flight home from Detroit was not too difficult except for the toddler who screamed during our entire flight from Detroit to Dallas. After a much quieter flight from Dallas to Tucson, we arrived home very well rested.
Sleep Number Beds
April 16, 2008
A while back I mentioned that we were going to be purchasing a new Select Comfort Sleep Number Bed. Our previous mattress had served us well, but was 14 years old. Suzanne and I believed that we also preferred different style mattresses. The Sleep Number Bed seemed like a perfect fit.
About four weeks ago, we went out and purchased our Sleep Number Bed. Suzanne also tricked me and we ended up walking out of the store with three new beds as each of the kids also ended up with a Sleep Number Bed. For us, we got the top of the line Model 9000. I had decided before hand that I wanted a bed with the new “space age” temperature control materials. We have drastically different body temperatures when we sleep. Suzanne sleeps in sweats, sweatshirt and socks and has about four blankets on top of her. I sleep in underwear (sorry for that mental image) and a T-shirt and usually have just a thin cover over me. The temperature control stuff was limited to the model 7000 and 9000. In the end, I just liked the 9000 better.
We have had our beds for about two weeks now and the sleeping experience has been very nice indeed. We are still playing and experimenting with our “sleep number” but we have both been sleeping better and deeper with much less tossing and turning. These are very comfortable beds indeed. We are very happy with our purchase. The kids too are enjoying their new beds and claiming to sleep better.
Before we got the beds, we expected my sleep number to be relatively high (on scale from 5 to 95 in increments of 5) and Suzanne’s to be relatively low. As they currently stand, our numbers are actually pretty close. Suzanne is currently sleeping at 55 and I am sleeping at 60. I expect we might tweak this a bit as we get more and more used to the beds, but we were surprised they are so close.
Oh, and as to the “space age” temperature control materials, I am happy there too. In the old bed, I used to go from cold to hot several times during the night and would end up sticking my feet/legs out of the covers. While the temperature materials don’t actually get set to a temperature, they do a really good job of keeping the bed at the same temperature throughout the night. I haven’t yet experienced the hot/cold swings.
I can easily say that I recommend the Select Comfort Sleep Number Bed based on our experiences thus far. If you need a new bed, check them out – just know that they are a bit costly.
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