Michigan-Day 2-Mackinaw Island

After a good nights sleep we made our way to Mackinaw Island via the ferry!  SO fun and SO beautiful.  It was by far the whole families FAVORITE day!

Under the Might Mac Bridge-Lake Michigan side

Lake Huron Side

Loving the Ferry!

Lawn in front of the Fort on the island where we had lunch

Pit Stop on our 8-mile Bike Ride

So much fun riding around the island!!!  Its the way to go!

Throwing rocks into Lake Huron

After the bike ride and lunch we headed to the Butterfly house to check out all the pretty butterflies!

And Gecko's!

Mackinaw Island has 16 fudge shops so we had to try some out.  It was good but I'd rather have ice cream!  We had a beautiful day to tour the island.  We all loved that there were no cars, just horses and bikes.  Definitely a different feel to things, more layed back, just easy.

After dessert we had just enough time to catch the last tour of the day at the Fort Mackinaw.  There was a kid tour in which the kids got to experience what it was like to be a kid back when the fort was in full commission.  The tour guide did a great job keeping the kids interest and letting them be hands on.  It was very interesting and I was very grateful I was not born in the time era!  

Emily helping with a demonstration-the girls actually thought they fired a canon ball!

It was a fun filled day and we were ready to head back for a nice dinner.  Luckily we didn't miss the last ferry of the day going back to Mackinaw City.  

Getting ready for our Ferry ride back

Michigan-Arrival Day

Family Trip June 2014

Good Morning Michigan!

This summer for our family "experience" vacation we chose to visit Mackinaw.  Since it worked in past vacations, we drove thru the night, eliminating the "are we there yet", "how many more miles" "can we watch a movie" questions.  And it was lovely.  We left around 9pm and arrived in Michigan around 7am with the 1hr time change.  Besides the threat of thunderstorms and a small detour glitch we arrived safe and sound ready for a good hearty breakfast.  We found a not-so-good greasy spoon type restaurant in St. Agnes.  Nothing really about that place was good.  Oh well...win some, lose some.  We couldn't check into our VRBO until 3pm so we had quite a bit of time to check out St. Agnes, the bridge and Mackinaw City.  All the girls, except Emily were excited about traveling on the bridge.  After she realized it wasn't bad and that we'd be traveling over it a few more times, she felt more at ease.  In Mackinaw City, our homebase, we found the grocery store, where we had to get ferry tickets, cute stores to shop at and all the various tourist attractions we planned on going to.  We also got ICE CREAM!!  With a few hours left before check in we headed to the park down the road from our place had a picnic lunch, played, napped and read.  But before we did that we went to the first lighthouse we wanted to see.

On the Lake Michigan

   

Our VRBO was interesting.  Its an old cottage on Lake Michigan right on the shore.  Great location, however, with all the shrubbery we couldn't make an easy way down to the shore, let alone see the bridge which they advertised in their description.  The house was a 5 generation family home filled with antiques.  Not ideal for a family with kids, but we thought we could make the best of things.  There was alot of "don't touch that", "be careful", "get out of there" "watch Lauren!" everyday we were there.  The house was a disappointment to say the least.  It was hard to feel at home. 

Playing Catch UP

I have alot of catching up to do on this blog so we will start where I left off after Father's Day.......  Enjoy!

We love our dads

Fathers day was pretty special as Brian and I both got to see our dads.  The weather wasn't nice enough to spend up at Brian's parents cabin so we spent the day in Wabasso, which turned out pretty nice and then we traveled to Lucan to check in with my Dad.  Oh, and Brian did start out the day with donuts with the girls and got a new shirt and shoes!

California

I was lucky enough to spend 4 days with my Aunt Rose, My Mom, Sister Annie and Sis-in-Law Laura in sunny California the first week of June.  My Aunt lives there and was thee best Hostess in the whole wide world!  She picked us up from the airport, fed us, drove us around, set up pedi's and mani's and provided us with comfy beds and a great view of the foothills.  We had so much fun, had great conversations, uninterrupted nights sleeping, tried yummy new foods, and even yummier wines.  Oh and homecooked breakfast every morning to get our day started out just right.  I think this may just have to be an annual event!

My beautiful aunt and Mom...such pretty sisters.

Oh and even prettier sisters...awwww...so sweet..even matching outfits!

Oh and the prettiest sister-in-law (on the Moore side) Laura..She's so stylish!

Our first Winery...Robert Renzoni....oooooohhhhhhh ahhhhhhhh

2nd Winery- 

3rd Winery...Wilson Creek (almond Champagne..it was ok :))

Last one...Ponte Family

Laura made us all go and exercise :) I would have rather slept longer!

But the view from the top was pretty spectacular!  My aunt lives in that cul-de-sac

After a day at the wineries, we thought we'd relax a bit and spend the next day at the beach

We chose Santa Monica pier and then drove the PC Hwy to Malibu

Pacific Ocean baby....I wonder if I can get the Atlantic in this year yet? :)

Mom sending sweet message to her "Babe"

Lots of people!!

The Boardwalk

The day we left we went to Christ Cathedral, once know as Crystal Cathedral.  It was closed but we still got to check it out...pretty cool!

A group shot before we headed back to the airport

End of the Year Awards and Field Day-Rachel and Emily

Even though the Emily and Rachel had a great year with their classes and teachers they are looking forward to being 6th and 3rd graders next year!  Emily will be next years Student Council President.  She was handed the gavel by the existing President so it is official!  Rachel will move into 3rd grade which is a big transition from 2nd grade.  She will be surprised at how much more homework she will have!  But back to this school year.  Both of them did extremely well...boring report cards which I consider awesome!  (all A's)  They worked hard to acheive their awards in Accelerated Reading and PhyEd.

Passing of the Gavel

Top 15 Readers-Emily

Presidential Excellence Award winners-Rachel (only 2 2nd graders)

National Acheivement Award winners-Emily

Mrs. Grygo & Emily

Rachel and Mrs. Johnson

Field Day fun

Spring Programs & Graduations

Emily and Rachel gave their final concert of the 2013-2014 school year and once again it was very well done and they did a great job.  Emily had a trumpet solo and sang in a duet during their JI children's choir Disney montage.  Rachel was by far the most animated and the one that looked like she was having fun!  I like to watch her because I know she is enjoying what she is doing.  

Emily-Band Solo

Rachel's 2nd grade class

Emily's 5th Grade Class

Natalie graduated with flying colors from Preschool!  She is definitely going to miss "teacher" (Mrs. Voigt) which she called her and her good friends she met along the way.  She is excited though about going to JI next year with Emily and Rachel.  The class performed many little songs they've been working on throughout the year.  They all did a fabulous job!

Natalie and Mrs. Voigt

Proud Graduate