Baileau Oaks

Pictures from the relaxing home of my aunt, uncle and cousins

Cherry Fesitval

On our way back to the Hudson's house in Grand Rapids, we all decided it would be fun to take a little detour to Traverse City, a city most known for being the largest tart cherry producer in the country and of course its annual Cherry Festival. In Traverse City, we ambled the shops, had some lunch, and spent a few hours at the festival sampling cherry goods and riding the rides at the Cherry Festival fairgrounds.

Petoskey Ride

Another highlight was our 10-mile ride back in the town of Petoskey on our last day there.

Petoskey Stones

Another topic that deserves its own post, especially from the science teacher in me! :) I had heard of and researched these interesting rocks before our trip. They are rocks composed of fossilized coral that were formed during the Devonian period almost 400 million years ago and they are uniquely found in northern Michigan. So I knew before I went to Petoskey that I wanted to try to find one/some of these treasures, although I didn't know whether they were rare or easy to find. I ended up with some beginner's luck and found my first and best stone on my first hunt on the lake shore. We all ended up finding some others, beautiful and interesting, but none compared to my first find. I bought a rock polishing kit and Jack and the kids and I spent one afternoon on our porch making our beautiful stones shine. I must admit, I was pretty proud of my stone!

Lake Fun

Although there were a few days where it was almost COOL outside, the Michigan weather and water temperatures didn't stop us from enjoying the beautiful lake shore. The water was chilly but nice and shallow as well as rocky which made for some fun splash time in the water for the kids while us adults mostly looked on!

Petoskey Sunsets

Yes, this topic deserves its very own post! Enough said!

Mackinac Island

Probably the highlight of our Michigan trip for me, we took a ferry on our third day to the small island of Mackinac. This town is absolutely GORGEOUS with a large fort, an enormous hotel, wonderful shops and homes and NO CARS! On Mackinac, we sampled fudge, shopped, toured the fort and Grand Hotel and best of all, rented bicycles and biked the 8-mile loop around the island. The views were amazing and there was even an ice cream and lemonade stand halfway around to take a break. I HEART Mackinac!

Ferry ride over--it was CHILLY!

Nanny on her bike

Family photo on Mackinac


Girls' bike
The boys' ride

Fourth Fairy

After finding her first "wiggler" the previous Wednesday, Kinsey FINALLY lost her first tooth. She has patiently waited and watched as all her classmates have lost them for the last two year. The fairy, named Pearl E. White, brought Kinsey two, gold, one dollar coins and a tiny horse box for the future teeth to go in.

Fabulous Fourth

For the 4th of July this year, we hopped a plane and headed north--WAY north to the tip of Michigan. Petoskey was the quaint lake town and the occasion was my cousin Abbie's graduation celebration. We had a wonderful time exploring the new area.

We arrived on the third and spent the day getting to know the town and of course the shops and restaurants.

On Independence Day, we headed about 10 minutes north to the lovely town of Harbor Springs to an awesome 4th parade. After spending the afternoon there, we came back to Petoskey for a beautiful firework show over Lake Michigan. We were able to see two shows at once--one in Petoskey and one directly across the bay back in Harbor Springs.

With Nanny on our porch

Waiting for the Harbor Springs Parade

Harbor Springs Yacht Club

Heading to the park for the fireworks

Waiting for the fireworks shows

Sick (and tired)

My children don't get along very well these days. Really, they don't. In fact, this is about the closest I have seen them to each other without a hand or foot touching the other or cross words or tattling coming out of their mouth.



OK, so really, it's not quite as bad as I make it out to be, but sometimes I catch myself telling them how "sick and tired" I am of all the arguing which reminds me of one of my favorite Bill Cosby stand-up routines.


Around the 6 minute mark you'll see the segment!

TRR2011

It was a gorgeous weekend to take yet another trip to the NC mountains this weekend. Saturday morning, we went with Granny and Sherry to Tweetsie, enjoying our season pass again. We were sooo thrilled to get to meet up with cousin Greg and his sweet girls, Mary and Caroline for the afternoon. The kids both loved the girls, had a big time and can't wait to go back again!