check out our new logo!!

How awesome is this?  I can't get over how much I LOVE it.  A HUGE thank you to Jaclyn Lantis of Lantis Photography & Design!

I officially feel legit now in the blog world!  Sorry for all the exclaiming, I'm just a little excited.  I love the simplicity of the logo and the super cute explorer is Lucky, our chihuahua.  

Jaclyn is super easy to work with.  She starts by asking what ideas you have.  I am not the most creative person in the world, so I honestly didn't have much.  I obviously knew I wanted a lighthouse and I also wanted Lucky.  I kind of thought about having some type of lighthouse family, but that ended up looking way too busy.  So, basically Jaclyn came up with a few ideas and emailed them to me.  I picked what I liked best, then we tweaked it a little.  I also thought I wanted more colors, but that ended up looking like school colors.  I love how the only thing in color is Lucky's little body.

So, check out Lantis Photography & Design on Facebook for all your design needs.  She does custom logos and decals.  It doesn't matter where you live, it is all done my phone and email.  She is also a photographer and is willing to travel for weddings. 

disclaimer-Lantis Photography & Design provided this logo to me in exchange for my review and advertising on my blog.  The opinions are mine and I was not told in any way what to say.

Shellcation 2013 hightlight reel

Well, the Stewart family has safely returned from our fourth successful road trip.  Our first one was before we became lighthouse explorers, we went to Chattanooga, TN to ride on Thomas.  The second was called Roadtrip Endeavour, we went to the Space Coast in an effort to see the very last space shuttle launch.  Sadly, the launch was scrubbed and we had to watch it on TV after we got back to Michigan (we still had an awesome vacation, though).  The third was back to Daytona, we loved it so much that we wanted to return! Plus, we won two free nights at the hotel we stayed at the previous year from a photo contest they had.

 

This one was called, "Shellcation".  We stayed in Fort Myers and rented a boat and visited the little intercoastal islands, most of which you can't get to by car.  We explored three new (to us) lighthouses, saw dolphins daily and had perfect weather.  These are some of the highlights of Shellcation 2013.  It took me a full week home to even get to the point where I can start to make some posts.  After eleven days of not doing laundry or checking mail, I had a lot to catch up on.  Plus, immediately jumping back in to the kids busy schedules.  Over the next few weeks I will do day by day full on posts of the entire vacay, just as I have done in the past.

This vacation was monumental for Lighthouse Explorations.  It was our first ever partially sponsored trip.  We'd really like to thank the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre, Castle Golf, Pink Shell and Boca Grande Marina for having us!  I will report all the deets in future posts, but they were all amazing!

Whisper - rescued baby owl

Gracie - rescued baby cow

horse back riding

dive-in movie

Easter morning

dinner theatre

intercoastal waterways

shelling

put put

Captain John

Cabbage Key

Cabbage Key

Sanibel Island Lighthouse

Fort Myers Beach

pool time 

Gasparilla Island Lighthouse

Port Boca Grande Lighthouse

getting lighthouse passport stamps

rain go away dance

Sanibel Island

Cheeburger Cheeburger

These are just some highlights.  Stay tuned for details of each fun filled day.  We got three new stamps in our passports!  Some of you that follow us on instagram may have see some of these already.  For those of you that haven't you can follow us here.

Happy Easter!

 Jesus Has Risen

Luke 24

 ¹ On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. ² They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³ but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴ While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. ⁵ In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? ⁶ He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ⁷ ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” ⁸ Then they remembered his words.

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White River Light Station

location-Whitehall, MI

built-1875
deactivated-1960
stamp-yes
players-Jen, Lincoln, Spencer, Jackson, Manya and Grandpa

So, our first exploration was so fun we decided to have our next adventure the very next day. Today we picked White River Light Station in Whitehall, MI.    We had our Lake Michigan Circle Tour and Lighthouse Map and we had general directions, but didn't know exactly where the lighthouse was.  On our way into Whitehall we happened to drive right by the Whitelake Area Chamber of Commerce Information Center.

That turned out to be a fun adventure in itself.  The ladies that worked there were very helpful.  They gave us good directions and recommended other things in the area to do after the lighthouse.  The building is  an old train station, but the tracks have been removed and have been turned into a bike path.  There is also and old caboose in the back that has been turned into a museum.  The boys LOVE trains, so this was a fun surprise.

pretending to wash in the sink

a baby on a shelf

On to the lighthouse!  It turns out that the lighthouse keeper has been working for years on turning it into a museum.  She has done a great job of attaining and displaying all kinds of lighthouse and maritime artifacts.  The grounds are beautiful and very well maintained.  They do have a stamp and a gift shop, but they are all out of passports.  Bummer, hopefully we'll find them soon, then we'll have to come back and get stamped.

inside the tower

inside the museum

inside the museum

inside the museum-this library traveled
 between lighthouses on the ships

inside the museum-
part of the traveling library

inside the museum

inside the museum

inside the museum

inside the tower

short walk to the beach

After the lighthouse, we headed about a half hour north to Country Dairy in New Era.  It's a family owned dairy farm with a restaurant and store.  Good sandwiches, delicious cheese and all you can drink milk.  Of course, the kids got chocolate.  At least for the first two cups, then I had them switch to white.  You can also do a tour and they have a playground.  We skipped the tour this time, it was too hot out, but we'll definitely go back again.

Spencer milking the cow

Lincoln milking the cow