There are vacation rental properties available all over the state of Michigan, but we think ours is special, and want to share our story. Hopefully we can be a part of your family creating your own story.

Clifford (born 1915) and Mary Smith (born 1916) were married in 1936.  They had seven children, and they in turn have built a family of 63 and growing! Our family grew up on a farm in Tuscola County Michigan, and we have always been a loving and supportive Christian family. When our father passed away in January of 1991, we grew even closer together, looking for every opportunity we could to get together and spend time with mom. It was in the summer 1994 that we took our first family vacation together - mom, all seven kids, our spouses, our kids, our grandkids. Mom rented out a property similar to this one, and we all stayed in cabins together for a week.  Breakfast wasn’t organized, but each dinner (some of you might call this lunch) and supper meal was assigned to one of the seven kids and their families. Throughout the day, groups would go off fishing, knitting, telling stories, or shopping in town, but we would all come back together to enjoy our meals together as a family.

This vacation was such a success, we decided to do it again the next year, and the next and so on. Shortly after mom’s 90^th birthday, she passed away. That next summer, we once again met as a family for vacation, believing that would become the last time we would be able to afford to do so. As that vacation drew to a close, we met as a family to decide what to do. It was clear that this was a tradition worth preserving, and we would all pull together to make sure we would be able to do it again the following year. We did, and once again, feeling the increasing strain of the economic condition and rising gas prices, met as a family to discuss whether and how to continue. It was at this time that a thought began to form in my mind. A crazy thought for sure, but none the less I started to think - what if we bought a vacation property, and never had to worry again about whether we could afford to rent? It wasn’t long after that my son called and told me one of the places we had rented just a few years ago was now for sale.

Of course there were a lot of meetings, prayers, family discussions, spreadsheets, and other events to rationalize whether this was really something we could do.  We decided to take a chance, and put for sale one of the last pieces of farmland we owned, and it was that very day that a buyer called and offered our asking price.  Our crazy idea began to take shape into reality, and in November 2008, we became the proud owners of the Starry Nights Resort, now known as The Pines of Paradise Resort. The cabins were in great need of loving care, which started with replacing the roof on cabin 7 and propping up the rafters in the office before the snow started. Demolition began on the interior of the lodge in preparation for remodeling. There is a very full agenda ahead of us this spring to get the units fully ready for not only our vacation planned for the first week of July, but hopefully your family too. We are planning to replace the ancient colorful siding with real log siding and trim, replace toilets and sinks, update stoves and refrigerators, new mattresses, blankets and quilts, new kitchen utensils, televisions, volleyball court, and the list goes on. It will be a very busy year for us, but we know our efforts will be worthwhile.

We are happy to host all of our guests, but there will be a special place in our hearts for families who like ours, choose to spend a vacation together, writing your own stories. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and we hope to see you soon!

Love and wishes,

The Smith Family

Linda (born 1953) & Tom Krause

Sarah Krause

Jessica Krause (dec.)

Erika and Joshua Dievendorf

Vivian Dievendorf

Gary (born 1948) & Louise Smith

Martin & Carolina Smith

Keith Smith (dec.)

Eileen (born 1951) & Lee Rhodes

Angie & Josh Hall

Brendan Hall

Tori Hall

Rachel Hall

Owen Hall

Sheryl Rhodes (dec.)

Jennifer & Matt Hoover

Barrett Hoover

Tony Rhodes

Clifford Jr (born 1946) & Helen Smith

Holly Robinson

Corey Smith

Carissa Gary

Brooke Robinson

Nathan Robinson

Stephen & Julie Smith

Christopher Smith

Matthew Smith

Sarah Smith

Mary Smith (born 1916)

Gerald (born 1942) & Nancy Smith

Michael & Jennifer Smith

Joshua Smith

Caleb Smith 

Hannah Smith

Eloise (born 1944) & Dorland Kuntz

Doug & Amy Kuntz

Amanda Schwab

Tyler Parker

Emily Schwab

Tammy Kuntz

Tricia & Josh Phillips

Cole Phillips

Ayden Phillips

Amy Kuntz

Jim (born 1938) Smith

Julie & Steve Priestley

Jodi & Justin Mayo

David Mayo

Caleb Mayo

Kyle Priestley

Zachery Priestley

Kelsey Priestley

Melanie Smith

Krista & Robert Dean

Rebecca Dean

Olivia Dean

Marc Dean