Preserve at Woodland Harbor
I spent quite a bit of time trying to find a place for us to stay for vacation. We all had quite a few requirements: min. 4 bedrooms, pool, close to the beach, around $1000/family. I must say these weren’t easy to deal with but I ended up finding the perfect place for us. We booked the Daydreamer at the Preserve at Woodland Harbor which is a little community that has 4 rental houses and it associated with the nearby marina. We also wanted to try and go 4th of July week since a lot of us already had holiday time we could take. So we booked way back in October for our vacation this July 3-10. A long time waiting but it was finally here…
http://www.mysouthhavencottage.com/
Saturday July 3rd
The Stobe family got on the road around 9 am for our 4.5 hour drive and the Coleman and Pennington families got on the road around the same time from Dayton. The kids did great on the drive and we ended up getting into South Haven around 2:30. I tried to call the number they gave us but no one answered. So we headed to the check-in spot downtown and the door was locked. So I called the number on the door and the cottage wasn’t ready yet. They said between 3-4 as part of our contract and it ended up being ready around 3:30. I ran into the visitor’s center that was a few doors down and grabbed a few things and then we drove around until the cottage was ready. The Dayton crew arrived into town around 3pm and met us at the cottage. When we pulled into the complex it was pretty much what I expected, 4 cottages and a bunch of empty lots. My guess is they started this community right when the financial crisis hit and turned their models into rentals. There are 3 cottages together and then ours (The Daydreamer) kind of off by itself. It was kind of nice for us because no one was around. Just a bunch of trees. The house was very clean when we arrived and looked just like the pictures on the website. Everyone got settled and then we made a grocery run. Dad, Jen and I headed to the Super Walmart that is in town. It was packed!!! I guess everyone had the same idea for the holiday weekend. But we got what was on our lists (we planned out our meals for the week) and back to the house we went. That night we just grilled out hamburgers and hot dogs. After dinner we walked around the property a bit to get our bearings. It was a short walk from our place down to the Marina which is where the pool is. The beach is about ¾ miles from our place. We never walked it because we had kids, but the drive was only a couple of minutes and there was plenty of street parking. It was nice and we wanted to get ready for the next day which was the 4th!
Sunday July 4th
We got up in the morning and headed to the beach early in the morning before anyone got there. The kids had a great time. It was a very clean beach. We headed to the Newcome beach. The public part of the beach was pretty small, but plenty big for us and and we were there so early that there were never more than a couple of families there. Jason joined us a little bit after we were there. He buried Katrena in the sand and then of course Savannah wanted to join in. It was too cute. We headed back to get lunch and get the kids down for an early nap as the parade was at 3 pm that afternoon. The guys got ready for golfing that afternoon. They played in the afternoon right in the middle of the heat! Jen and I headed to the art fair in town for an hour or so. Jen bought more than me which was a first. It was a nice little fair, just hot!
We woke the kids up and headed into town to watch the parade. We paid to park at a church and ended up getting great seats In the shade. Even in the shade though it was so hot! Savannah had her candy bag and CJ kept reminding us how the “fucks” (trucks) were so loud! But we all had a great time. After the parade we headed down to the town of St. Joseph to meet the guys for dinner after their round of golf in Benton Harbor. We walked around the town for a little while and then went to the Pump House Grille for dinner. The food was pretty good, we all ate too much and then headed home for the night.
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| The guys ready for golf. |
Monday July 5th
We got up early again this morning and headed back to the beach. The kids really enjoyed it. The only issue was that it was sooo windy down there, but it was warm enough to get into the water and play on the edge in the sand. We headed back, had lunch and it was nap time. That night for dinner we had Jen’s Chicken Vermicelli. Delicious as usual. I am sure we also headed to Walmart at some point during the day. We seemed to make a daily trip there for something. Dad made fun of us for all of the food and snacks we bought but with 11 people it went fast! That night was the fireworks and we were told that we could see them from the beach down the road. So after dinner Dad and I drove down there to try and get a parking spot. It was already pretty busy, but we managed to get a spot and then we had Jen drive us down there later. We also took family pictures in our flag shirts that I bought for the whole family from Old Navy. Everyone made fun of them, but the pictures turned out great!
Jen and Neil stayed back with Alec and CJ who were already in bed and the rest of us headed down to the beach to watch the fireworks. They were supposed to start around dusk (10 pm). Good thing that there were people letting off fireworks all along the beach because they didn’t end up starting until 11! We were on our way out when they started. After all of that waiting (we left around 9 from the house) we watched the 10 MINUTE fireworks display and headed back home. It was nice that our car was there because we hopped in and were home in a few short minutes. We were all tired so we headed to bed.
Tuesday July 6th
The guys had an early tee time on Tuesday so they were up and out of the house by 7. We slept in and hung out until the pool opened at 10. The girls took the kids to the pool and since Savannah has become such a fish she had a great time! We headed home for lunch and by that time the guys made it home. They took Savannah back to the pool and the rest of us took a nice rest. I sat outside on the porch in the shade for my nap! It was so nice! Just what vacations are for. That afternoon we headed into town for a little shopping and had dinner at Su Casa a little local Mexican place. It was really good, but the service was slow for the 11 of us. We made a scene as usual with the kids, but all was good. Jim went back home with Dad and Ann and Jen, Neil and I took the kids down to see the lighthouse. Once again it was really hot and a little stressful since there aren’t any sides to keep the kids from running off the pier. But pretty cool.
Oh and I almost forgot. The guys found a turtle on the golf course and brought him home for the kids to see him before they let him go down by the lily pads at the marina. Savannah named him "sad"
Wednesday July 7th
We all got up and headed to the pool after a big breakfast cooked by Dad. Jason headed home early that morning so it was just the 10 of us, but we had a great time in the pool. We went back home for lunch again (starting to get sick of turkey sandwiches!). Since we had a big breakfast the girls opted to skip lunch and headed up to Holland to do a little shopping. It was a cute little town and we had a great time. The guys stayed back with the two sleeping boys and watched the soccer game. That night it was hamburgers and hot dogs again for dinner which were yummy. Nothing like grilling out in the summer. We were trying to figure out a date night out and do a sunset cruise, but they were booked. So after dinner Jen, Neil, Jim and I headed up to the Channel Wine Bar for a few cocktails. We had their red and white sangrias and they were delicious! After that we headed over and got some chocolate and a caramel apple. We brought them back to share and it was yummy!!!
Thursday July 8th
Well we woke up to rain. We had seen this place back in Holland called Deanna’s Play House (http://lifeservicessystem.org/deannasplayhouse/). We thought it would be a good place to go with the kids if it rained. Glad we saw it because we headed over there in the pouring rain with the kids and it was a perfect thing to do! It was like an indoor playground for little kids. Savannah even won a book in the bug hunt they did. We headed to Wendy’s for lunch (such a nice change of pace!) and headed home. Dad and Ann had gone golfing early in the morning and still weren’t home as they had a rain delay. Once they got back Jim, Savannah and the Coleman’s headed down to the pool. I stayed back to download some pictures, read a few emails and start this review while CJ was napping! Once again sat on the porch with the breeze in the lounger. This time I brought out my iPod and speakers. It was really nice even if I was reading work emails!
Once everyone got back from the pool, Jen, Neil and I with the kids went to the nearby raspberry fields to pick our own raspberries. Then Jen made us a very yummy raspberry cobbler! For dinner it was grilled chicken with fresh corn on the cob. Yummy! We all then headed down to the beach to watch the sunset. It was a little cloudy, but great!
Friday July 9th
I got to sleep in some this morning and then it was a little chilly out so we decided to head to the Kid’s Corner park. The kids really liked it. It started to get hot out so we headed to the beach for a few hours until lunch. Savannah went to the pool with Aunt Katrena and then with Grandma and Grandpa! She can’t get enough of the water!
We headed out to dinner in town for our last night. We tried to go to Clementine’s, but the wait was too long. So we headed over to Harborside Bistro down the street. We could get in but had to split up. The food was pretty good and the service was pretty quick. After dinner we headed back to the house to start to pack and have another raspberry cobbler baked by Jen. Then Jen, Neil, Jim and I headed down to the beach one last time to watch the sunset. Back home for an early bedtime! We were going to get on the road around 9 am the next morning.
Overall
It was a great trip and we were very happy with where we stayed. It was the perfect size for our three families. There were three bedrooms upstairs and one in the basement. Would for sure stay there again and really liked our location. We couldn’t walk to town or the beach, but driving was short and never had problems parking even on the 4th of July. The pool was a short walk down some steps to the Marina. The house was very clean and had pretty much everything we needed. We did go to Walmart almost every day for something, but it was pretty much food related. I packed way too many clothes given they had a washer. I could have probably survived on ½ of what we brought. We made dinner 4 out of the 7 nights and had almost all of our breakfasts and lunches at home. It saved us tons of money doing that. We brought some food from home and then headed to the Super Walmart to purchase the rest. We also got some great sweet corn from the farmer’s market stand on Phoenix and Blue Start Highway. Stopped there a couple of times.
All in all a great vacation. Good beaches, great pool and fun with family!
