This post is sponsored by Mixtiles.

Among all the summer souvenirs we accumulate–pocketfuls of smooth lake rocks, destination t-shirts, checks on our bucket list–by far, the most precious ones are the photos of our memories. The photos I take in the summer are often my favorites from the entire year perhaps because the essence of the season is so photogenic–sun flares, lake landscapes, popsicles and pool floats, and spirited kids who are relishing in their carefree adventures.

The question I’m often asked though is “What do you do with all of those photos?” Because locking away such joyful memories in dusty folders in the abyss of our phones and computers just doesn’t seem fair. They want to be enjoyed, relived, cherished, displayed! I have long been a fan of products that unlock those photos and set them free, especially when it’s done in good taste. So when I discovered Mixtiles–an app that turns your photos into beautiful wall galleries–I knew it was not only the perfect way to commemorate our summer, but a meaningful gift for my dad after making so many memories together at Bliss. A lonely little wall in his cabin den is now a gallery display of his grandkids enjoying summer in this magic corner of the world.

And the best part? It didn’t require 500 nail holes, cursing, spackle and giving up–I mean, not that a gallery wall has ever done that to me. I’m speaking for a friend, of course.

Before I share more, Mixtiles is offering 15% off your first order plus free shipping when you use code KELLE15 at checkout (valid until August 31, 2018). You can order by downloading the Mixtiles app in the app store or visiting Mixtiles.com.

So here’s how it works. In the Mixtiles app, you choose which photos in your library you want transformed into tiles and select what style you want (we chose the Classic which has a white mat look, but there are several other options). Drop them in your cart, order, and within FIVE DAYS (!), your tiles arrive. The print quality and color is beautiful.

Lainey and I had fun playing with arrangements before we displayed them.

And what usually is a time-consuming, tedious job–actually getting the gallery up on the wall–was quick and easy. Just peel and stick.

I used a level to get the first row even, but the rest was easy. And if I didn’t line a tile up right, all I had to do is pull the tile off (with no wall damage) and restick it.

Poppa loves the new wall.

Have precious summer memories sitting in your phone right now that you know would make a happy gallery on your wall? Add some color to your kid’s room? Bring love to your office? Ice cream trucks, flower fields and sunset scenes? Turn them into Mixtiles. Don’t forget to enter promo code KELLE15 for 15% off at checkout!

Also, I know, I know–summer’s not over yet! Let the colorful adventures continue!

 

Every summer, we return to Bliss, my dad’s cottage in Lewiston, Michigan–a tiny town in the northeastern corner of Michigan’s lower peninsula, home to 1,392 full-time residents (not counting the summer lake cottage “trunk slammers”) and a handful of picturesque lakes (nearly a third of Lewiston’s geography is water).

My dad and Gary live in Lewiston for half the year (Florida during the rest) and have expanded a 670 square foot cottage there to include a 192 square foot bunk house (where we usually stay) and half an acre of outdoor living space, the “garden living room” where we spend most of our time during the day.

The outdoor space includes a chicken coop, a butterfly house, a fish pond, a bonfire area, a hot tub and numerous landscaped paths and gardens.

Gary’s family’s cabin is one door down from Bliss, and they graciously extend their space when it’s available which provides a few more beds when more family visits. Together, this little corner of Michigan holds so many memories for us and has become the setting in which my kids write their summer stories every year.

My photos and Instagram stories have prompted so many questions about the property and gardens, I thought it would be fun to do a full Bliss tour here on the blog with input from my dad and Gary on how they created this space and the inspiration behind it.

Gary is a horticulturist with years of experience in landscaping design and nurseries, so he plans most of the outside space while my dad is behind most of the inspiration inside (they redesigned the inside of the little cabin to fit two full bathrooms and a laundry space!).

It’s cozy and efficient and works really well, especially considering most everyone spends their time outside all day (but, Lord have mercy, how cozy it is watching movies in this sweet little space when it rains!).

The kitchen has just the right amount of counter space for a grandkid to sit during a chocolate milk making session.

And I love this little gift on their fireplace from a friend of theirs–two Dutch boys kissing.

The bunk house (Bit o’ Bliss) is actually an insulated shed, built onsite and constructed taller than the usual shed to make room for the upper loft. It’s so perfect and cozy, efficiently furnished so that our entire family made it our home without any problems (no bathroom, but just a few steps from my dad’s cabin if we needed one). An armoir and a cedar trunk at the end of the bed hold all of our clothes, a small refrigerator keeps drinks and snacks, and I love the wall wine rack which stores bottles and glasses for a cozy evening.

The ladder leads to the hideaway loft which is just big enough for two twin beds and a small night stand.

Now for the best part, the gardens. One of my favorite things about Bliss is that the outdoor space was created with others’ enjoyment in mind. There’s a sign in front of the welcome arch that says, “You are welcome to walk around our gardens. They were made for everyone’s enjoyment,” and it is not unusual for other lake residents to stop by for a morning walk through them, bringing food scraps for the chickens or baked goods for my dad and Gary.

I asked my dad and Gary some questions about their inspiration behind the design and some of our favorite things about Bliss.

What are all the plants that make up Bliss?

The plants are all shade-loving varieties of hosta, astilbe, ferns, coral bells, bleeding hearts, hydrangeas with bright begonias and impatiens planted to add color. Gary wanted varieties that echoed the natural woodland vibe going here. The hosta provide a variety of texture and hue with rippled, rubbed and smooth leaf, some large and broad and some, like the variety “Curly Fries,” long and slender.

What’s your advice to someone who has the land space and dreams of Bliss gardens but doesn’t know where to start?

Dad: Our gardens didn’t begin with a master plan. Every year we added more path which defined new garden beds. Gary always plants in threes and fives. Single plants end up looking like specimens and disrupt the cohesive flow of a vibrant garden.

Gary: Start with an irrigation system so you can spend time planting an maintaining and not watering.

What in Bliss was the biggest project?

Gary: The gravel pathways.

Dad: The Butterfly House was probably the biggest, but self energizing as it fueled, in its development, our desire to see it finished. Our goal was that it appeared melded into the gardens and not an obtuse structure sitting there. We think we achieved that.

How did you build the butterfly house and how do you get the butterflies there?

We chose the size we wanted. We did 8 feet x 24 feet, 8 feet tall. We buit the framework, stained it all black. Gary ordered an 8 ft. wide roll of screening–we calked sides and roof and added a screen door. I hauled a boat load of dirt to make the floor level, and we put bark mulch down. We planted things that support the butterfly life cycle. I added a water feature and a small pond nestled into plants and rocks to appear natural. Every fall, we remove the screen from the roof and replace it in the spring to avoid damage by snow weight.caterpillars to get it started. As far as the butterflies themselves, it’s really a self-contained cycle. We have a friend who starts us off by giving us caterpillars every summer. We give them milkweed and search for eggs every day. We bring the eggs inside and store them in a small netted butterfly cage to protect them from predators, and that’s where they form their chrysalis. Once the butterfly hatches, we release them in the big house outside where they have everything they need.

Speaking of winter, what do you have to do every year to get Bliss back to what it looks like now?

We pay to have all the leaves raked, blown and carried away, before the gardens awaken. We put pieces back that were stored away. We fertilize, and I plant more annuals for color. I put the Fairy Garden back in place, refill the fish pond and get new fish. Gary gets our chickens (we sell the chickens to an area farmer when we head to Florida). We power wash the deck and put the outside furniture back in place. We turn the bird bath bowls upright and fill them. We then sit back and watch the daily theatre of plants opening and growing right before our eyes.

What are your favorite things at Bliss?

I love the whimsy of the Fairy Garden and all the hardscape elements of benches and bird baths and statuary to find (there are 14 cement bunnies, 9 frogs and 5 angels, and the kids love making people search for them).

The fairy garden is my favorite too.

What was most important to you as you created Bliss?

Dad: I wanted it to connect–the cottages to the gardens, the gardens to the surroundings. I wanted to maintain the integrity of northern woods. Too many people buy property, then clear it to resemble their subdivision life downstate. We didn’t want that. 

Gary: Creating a garden that others as well as ourselves would enjoy.

(these wine bottle paths though!)

This though…this is the best corner of Bliss.

This is where all the stories are told and the marshmallows are roasted and the memories are made. Until next year!

The pinnacle of our summer and now a six-year tradition, our visit to Mackinac Island commences when we board the ferry in St. Ignace (we cross the Mackinac Bridge for fun), a component of the trip I convinced Brett was important in creating that “far away charm.”

“Seems like a lot of effort to get there,” he mentioned as we passed our bags to the ferry staff and confirmed they’d be delivered to our hotel (by horse and carriage, of course).

“It wouldn’t be so special if it was easy,” I reminded him.

I can’t help but write about Mackinac as anything but a persuasive essay. There are these corners of the island where the magic of summer feels so intoxicating, I want to bottle it up and give it away to the people I love.

I’ve shared many posts about Mackinac Island in the summer here over the years, but if you’re new, here’s my tour guide summary:

– Mackinac Island is a small island (3.8 square miles) in Lake Huron, located between Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas.

– The island was a pivotal center of commerce during the Great Lakes fur trade leading to the establishment of Fort Mackinac on the island during the American Revolutionary War. Two battles were also fought there during the War of 1812.

– Incredible efforts have been made to preserve and restore the historical integrity of the island, and it is listed as a National Historic Landmark. You can definitely feel that in every corner of the island. Motor vehicles are banned on the island (with the exception of an ambulance and fire truck I believe); so horses, bikes and boats make up all transportation. More than eighty percent of the island is also preserved as Mackinac Island State Park.

– The most famous structure on the island is The Grand Hotel, a historic coastal resort with the largest porch in the world. The film Somewhere in Time was filmed there, and many U.S. presidents and dignitaries have stayed there. All hotel renovations have preserved the history and story of the hotel, and while it costs $10 simply to walk inside, it’s worth it to sit on the porch with a drink or explore the ball rooms, libraries and restaurants–like stepping into a movie. Conde Nast Traveler “Gold Lists” the Grand Hotel as one of “The Best Places to Stay in the Whole World” and it’s been noted as one of the top 100 hotels in the world by Travel & Leisure magazine.

And now that the informational part of this travel guide is through, I’ll gush about why I really love the island. You’ll find the majority of tourists walking about Main Street during the day which, yes, offers taverns and fudge shops, a charming grocery store, gifts from local artists, carriage tours, bike rentals and enchanting views of the bay; but the real magic of the island can be found beyond the lively tourist stretch in the quieter corners of the island–the library, the Grand Hotel lawn, the hill on Marquette Park, Mission Point or my favorite–the side streets and trails behind the main stage, where cottages are lined up with flowers spilling over window boxes and the most inviting front porches you’ve ever seen.

I like how many families you see here–everywhere you look: kids pedaling behind their moms and dads in a trail of bikes, happy babies being pushed in strollers, toddlers entranced by horses and the taste of their very first fudge.

We walk all day on the island.

We walk, but no one complains because there’s so much beauty to take in while we walk and because our walk rhythm makes room for breaks–

Walk, walk, fudge.

Walk, walk, fly a kite.

Walk, walk, putt-putt.

Walk, walk, tavern.

If you are Dash, every step of your walk includes horse research.

This includes studying their every move–noting their color, their size, the sound of their clip-clop; taking pictures of them; asking carriage drivers for their names; leaning over to take a closer look at their droppings.

We topped last year’s record for horse names collected–115 this year. Dash learned how to record the names himself this year (thank God because that was a lot of writing) with the talk-to-text notes feature on the phone. His final list revealed his precious interpretations of the names he heard including “Dilbert & Adorable” for the horse duo Wilbur & Orville and my personal favorite, “Bowls & Rice” for Rolls and Royce.

This year we stayed at Mission Point which is located at the far end of the island and offers some of the most beautiful views of Lake Huron. We had so much fun exploring the grounds and found so many hidden nooks–libraries, hidden hallways and this mammoth empty sitting room where Lainey put on her own show.

Other favorites–our walk to the library (stopping at the toy store to pick up a new kite to fly on the neighboring lawn):

Sunset at the playground behind the little public school on the lake:

Our serendipitous timing of walking by the old church on Main Street as the 11:00 evening service was beginning–I heard voices singing and saw the light behind those stained glass windows and couldn’t walk in fast enough. Brett laughed and walked back to the hotel, but my cousin and I sat in one of the back pews through the sweetest choruses while Nella fell asleep in my lap.

The best part, by far, of our island stay this year though was a secret of the island I cannot believe I waited six years to discover–Woods, a Hansel & Gretyl-ish tavern tucked in the woods far from the populated part of the island. It took a 30-minute carriage ride to get there–an enchanting experience in itself as our horses carried us along the lake shore through wooded paths where hidden cottages emerged with their glorious summer charm and the setting sun put on a show. I could not stop with the “Oh my Gods,” and I heard Brett whisper from the back of the carriage, “Well, this did it for me. This is everything.”

And then, Woods appeared…

…and when we walked in, my “Oh my Gods” turned into “Holy Craps” because my enthusiasm can best be expressed by only the classiest of exclamations.

There’s a one-lane bowling alley in the back of the tavern–so old, you have to walk down and reset the pins yourself, the kids’ favorite part.

So there’s my nugget of Mackinac tourism advice…Woods, Woods, Woods. You can’t visit the island without an enchanting escape to Woods.

The rest fills in nicely–ice cream at Sadie’s, fudge at Murdick’s, lunch at The Pink Pony.

Let the kids make pretend calls from the red phone booth on the Grand Hotel Lawn.

Stop at all the open grass to sit and drink it all in…

Take pictures with your camera to remember what you might otherwise forget.

Take pictures with your heart to preserve the rest (don’t worry, it will keep).

(Dash figured out an entertaining way to fill the time while we wait for the ferry)

And every year as the ferry pulls away, I whisper so many thank yous–to the island and its magic and for our family and another year of sweet summer memories together.