well, the results are in and as it turns out, our vacation was a complete success. the kids did great in the car for 7 hours, especially owen. very low maintenance, which is what i was hoping for. our weather was a bit hit and miss but we had three awesome days in a row, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, with warm sunshine. covered all of the bases we had planned, including, walks to the local park, lots of swim time on the beach, cook outs, bonfires, a couple of day trips in to "town",  a little fishing, and a lot of golf (one of the headlines on my agenda). i missed the record 100 holes of three years ago, but i golfed a respectable 93 holes this time around. when you consider i have 33% more kids and played only 7% less golf, that's an acceptable figure.
i was swarmed, bitten, and stung by every flying insect in the upper peninsula of michigan, but as our slogan became for the week, "it's all just part of the experience".  i read the paperback "digital fortress" by dan brown (of the da vinci code fame), from cover to cover. a techno-thriller of sorts that you would enjoy if you're into say, a cryptologist who has to save the world by cracking an unbreakable encrypted code. all in all a very enjoyable week. now....back to reality!
here's a link to what i think are the 18 best pics (out of 80).