Thursday, July 16, 2026

Thursday blog posts are always a wild card for me, but I like details so I thought I would write a bit more about our Michigan trip. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out Hello Monday.

The Details:

5 cousins (plus spouses and kids) were coming to stay at one cousin’s lake house so the 5 of us started our own group text thread to do all the food so that the host had no food responsibilities. They shouldn’t have any food responsibilities because they were putting us up for 3 nights, no?

Etiquette:

Can we take a moment to talk about etiquette? If you are going to someone’s home, you should always take a gift. Last year we created a basket of products from our respective states of Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. These things were to be enjoyed after we left.

Tom had the idea to send Neal a device to make refilling fuel easier, so we also did that when we got home.

We all chipped in cash for gas on the boat and jet skis, too – both last year and this year. Boating is very expensive!

You can treat the host to a meal out, ice cream out, anything that you can do to show your appreciation is the right thing to do.

By the way, when Mason went to stay with German cousin Moritz in NYC, he bought him coasters from his leathergoods store and treated him to a meal and some drinks, too. This was instilled in me as a kid and now I hope my kids will always do this, too. It’s shocking to me when adults don’t do this!

Being a good house guest:

We also all chipped in with the cleanup, the dishwasher loading and unloading, the towel and sheet washing and changing, etc.

We always asked what we could do to help. We didn’t complain about the plan or where we were put to sleep.

The meals:

Everyone was arriving Thursday a couple of hours before dinnertime so we knew we wouldn’t have a lot of time to prepare anything. We decided to bring bbq and sides – cold salad type things and chips. Kate brought brisket, I brought pork bbq, Molly brought chicken bbq and then I made broccoli salad, we had slaw, potato salad, a ramen salad, and a green lettuce salad. Kate and I bought our bbq and Molly made hers at home. We also brought plenty of buns. This meal seemed to be a hit with everyone.

Friday night we ordered pizza from the little market. That was a hit with the kids! We also pulled out leftovers if anyone wanted to add a side.

Saturday night we grilled hamburgers and I made grilled cheeses on a griddle because we had so much bread and so many cheeses leftover. The kids loved that! We probably needed a couple of fresh sides but no one really complained. Someone brought individual bags of chips and we had lots of big bags and dips, too.

For breakfast, I brought bagels, crumpets, and cream cheese and Kerrygold butter and someone else brought yogurt parfait ingredients and someone else brought fruit. One morning, a cousin’s wife made two breakfast casseroles and that was a treat!

For lunches, one cousin was in charge of a sandwich bar and brought all kinds of sub buns and bread and lunch meat and cheese.

I brought homemade brownies, cupcakes, and Rice Krispies treats, and the aunts – my Aunt Sally and my Aunt Judy – brought cookies and cupcakes. Everyone brought appetizers and we enjoyed them in the afternoons:

The breakfast casserole:

I brought Trader Joe’s crumpets last year so I brought them again. I made crumpet lovers out of some of the teenagers!

Even the smallest of the kids could walk to the one little market to get more chips or snacks that they wanted!

I brought my coffee frother and three types of Chobani creamers – cookie butter, s’mores, and toasted coconut vanilla. The teens loved making coffees – hot and cold – and we made dirty sodas with them, too! The frother was a hit!

Everyone brought what they prefer to drink plus more to share.

Tom had ice cream every night and I had it one night – seaside caramel:

The teens make fun of Tom’s ice cream obsession and here he is giving them the side eye! The ice cream closed at 9:00 and Tom would start walking at 8:30 even if no one else was ready. One night he had 10 kids following him like he was the Pied Piper of ice cream.

These are all our kids waiting on ice cream:

Tom and niece Lena:

I think we did a pretty good job with the right amount of food. Last year we went way overboard and had too many leftovers and this year we used up basically all the food.

I do have one major pet peeve – the amount of plastic water bottles we went through (some with only one drink taken out of), and half-drunk cans of soda were out of control. The water there is really good so everyone should have a reuseable water bottle!

Neal and his wife Amy are the most laid-back hosts ever. Neal is an energizer bunny and never stops driving the boat, teaching folks how to use the water toys, talking to people, and just doing whatever to help people have fun. Amy is super chill and doesn’t mind people in her kitchen making messes!

Are you a good host? It takes skill!

Are you a good guest?

Amy