Take Twelve: July

We spent last week in Door County on an utterly fabulous writing retreat + family vacation, funded by this incredible grant my writing group received from the Austin Presbyterian Seminary College of Pastoral Leaders program.

We spent the mornings at the lodge writing - and talking about writing - with Sari, our beloved writing instructor from Collegeville.

The library was my favorite spot. It didn't have a view of the bay, but it did have a view of the 1960s.

The Reverent Writers. If I look a little out of it, it's because I was still on heavy painkillers. My back went out on Wednesday.

 I spent Thursday afternoon sitting in a comfortable chair on the beach while Juliette played in the lake.

Our craft book for the week.

Juliette and Zora, playing in the sand. I have had some lovely beachside experiences at the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, but have been thoroughly converted to beaches of Lake Michigan. Oh my goodness, was this a great beach.

The house we rented was adjacent to one of what seemed like an inordinate number of cemeteries in Door County.

A cemetery angel.

Is this not the most quintessential tree bark you ever saw?

Our home for a week.

Dinnertime with sixteen people went pretty darn smoothly. Each family prepped dinner once... which meant someone else was usually making dinner!

There was an ad hoc baby cheeto party that put everyone else in hysterics. We looked over and the babies had swarmed the junk food! Doesn't Genevieve totally look like she's getting away with something?