The group consisted of me, Keith, Amanda, Jason, Dusten and Dana. Matt came a couple nights, and he left the jet skis for us all week! So awesome! We had a bit of rain and overcast on the first two days, but the next 5 days were pretty hot and sunny. I was even able to get in some open water swim practice for an upcoming tri that I want to do. The house was great! It was an old 1960ish 2 story cottage with a cozy feel to it inside. We enjoyed the large sun room with picnic table inside to eat and of course played dominoes. Other activities were throwing the football, Frisbees, bag toss and rock band at night. We enjoyed camp fires on only 2 nights because the evenings were windy. The sunsets were gorgeous, something you see out of a movie.
There were 2 downfalls, one, the swim beach area was kind of rocky, we had to swim far out to get out of most of the rocks, and 2, I got swimmers itch. Swimmers itch is found in Higgins Lake and other Michigan inland lakes. It happens when people feed the ducks, they poop and then the snails take that in, then these parasites leave the snails and then can penetrate the skin. You are suppose to get out of the water every 20 minutes and towel dry off. I did leave the water, even soaped up and rinsed at the outdoor shower every time, because we were aware of this. But unfortunately, the little damn parasites protruded into my skin, and on Thursday I noticed I had little bumps (like mosquito bites) all over my legs, about 100 between both legs. Keith and Amanda have just found a few. Here is a link on the life cycle of swimmers itch.












































