Michigan- Last Day

On our last full day in Michigan we toured 3 places, all very fun and interesting!  The first was the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse.  Unfortunately Natalie and Lauren could not go up into the lighthouse but they were good sports and had fun with the other items on display.

Next was the Fort Michilimackinac

It was neat to see all the workers in period clothing running the fort as if it was back in the day.  All were very knowledgable.  The girls got to partipate in a group dance number which was fun to watch.

Last stop of the day was Mill Creek Discovery Park-basically we went there to zip line.  It was fun despite the mosquitos and somewhat crabby 1yr old.  Again, not a place Natalie could do alot but thankfully they had a play place that she could "zipline" at too.

Emily

Rachel

Caitlin

Mandy

Rachel helped out with a lumberjack demonstration

Oh yah...the fun rock climbing wall!  That was super fun!

It was a fun fun trip!  In the morning we headed out back to St. Agnice for Mass at a cute Catholic church and then found a REALLY GOOD greasy spoon restaurant about an hour away.  Sooooo much better than the last one!  Had good safe travels back to St. Peter.  Little bump in Eau Claire-Pizza Ranch was closed and we were all really hungry and it was pouring rain and our phones weren't smart enough or fast enough to find us another pizza place as fast as we wanted to.  So there was a little arguing :) But we did find a Pizza Hut and it tasted oh so good!

Michigan - Day 3 Saulte St Marie

Our 3rd day in Michigan brought us to the Soo Locks in Saulte St. Marie.  We didn't tell the girls that they would be heading to Canada until we were on the tour boat.  They were quite surprised and happy to knock off a new state and a country in this trip!  It was the rainy day of our trip and it was a little cool but we still had fun and enjoyed the scenery and learned lots.

Inside the locks

CANADA!!!!!!!!!!!

After the tour we stopped for a picnic dinner and headed back for ice cream and a movie

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!