Vacationing in Northern Michigan

Both of the companies Jason and I work for had shutdowns last week, which meant that we were free to take the longest vacation we've ever gotten - 9 full days! We've been looking forward to this vacation ever since our companies made the announcements back in the early spring.

We're fortuntate enough to both have parents with places up north, so we combined vacation time with family time. We kicked off the first weekend with Jason's parents in Lewiston. When we're up north with them, traveling to at least one northern Michigan hot spot is a must. This year we happened to be up north the same weekend as the Bay Harbor Classic Car and Boat Show - just up both Jason and his dad's alley. It was a perfect Saturday to stroll through along the docks, checking out some beautiful cars and boats.

Like father like son.

Jason's parents entertaining Hannah while we waited for lunch

Enjoying the family time together

On the way home, Hannah got a big treat when we stopped for some super sized ice cream cones!

This girl has a passion for chocolate!

No evidence here.

For the next leg of our trip, we headed to Mackinaw where we had planned to visit the island. Unfortunately, the weather was far from island weather. Rather than freeze in the rain on the island, we froze in the rain window shopping in Mackinaw City.

The rain did let up later on in the afternoon, so we were able to at least see the Mighty Mac from one of the local parks.

Since we were staying with our families for the bulk of our vacation, we thought it would be fun to get a little extra family time for the 3 of us in between rounds, so we booked a suite at one of the hotels right on the beach. It would have been a perfect set-up if the weather had been a little nicer. Our room had a patio right on the beach! Even though it was far from beach weather, Hannah still had a great time watching the seagulls and ferries from our room.

Daddy and his big girl

We were going to try to get to the island the next morning, but the weather just did not let up. We gave up and decided that instead, we'd drive down the shoreline through Cross Village, the tunnel of trees, Harbor Springs, and Petoskey.

Hanging out in Harbor Springs

The infamous family self-portrait attempt

After our impromptu road trip, we headed back to my parents' cottage at Higgins Lake, where we hoped that the weather would improve at least a little and Jason would finally be able to take his boat out. No such luck. The weather remained cold and windy the rest of the week :-( Unfortunately, I got a touch of something and felt terrible from the night we got there until Thursday. To top it off, the dog got sick the first night we were there, so Jason, my dad, and I were all up in the middle of the night cleaning up.

Our vacation wasn't all a loss - my brother and sister-in-law came up on Thursday with our little niece, who we haven't seen since Memorial Day weekend. She's such a little cutie and growing like a weed. Hannah was much more interested in Kara this time, wanting to check her out and touch her. Very cute!

Grandpa and his girls

How cute is she!?!

Bonding with Uncle Jason

We were planning on heading home on Saturday, but after all of the cold weather, we packed up and headed home on Friday.

Grandma and Grandpa seeing us off

This pretty much sums it up...

Happy Father's Day

We were blessed with another beautiful summer day for Father's Day today. To let Jason know how much Hannah and I love him and appreciate him as a dad, we tried to make it a special day for him. After church, we packed up the cooler and boat and headed out to for some family boating. We checked out a new lake that Jason had discovered this winter - Wabasis Lake near Rockford. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to prove that we all went out, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Being out on the water and soaking up the sun caused us to work up an appetite. Our initial thought was to find a spot on the beach to enjoy our lunch, but everybody else had the same idea b/c the place was packed! Instead, we headed into Rockford and found a picnic table at a nice, quiet park next to the river where we enjoyed a fun, little picnic.


Hannah and Daddy enjoying lunch


After lunch, we ventured over the playground.


Flying high on the swing


Hannah's new favorite - the slide!


A fun little cave to explore


This little girl loves her daddy.

We are also very blessed to have 2 wonderful dads (and grandpas) in our lives. Both of our dads have been excellent role models for us through the years, loving us, spending time with us, teaching us the important things in life either while fishing on the river or shooting hoops in the driveway. They have also both loved our moms, showing us what it is to be a loving husband and by doing so has made them loving dads. Thank you for putting God and family first. Happy Father's Day.

4-wheeling

Uncle Todd and Aunt Courtney gave Hannah a really cool princess 4-wheeler for her birthday. Unfortunately, we had some technical difficulties which kept the 4-wheeler in the garage until now. With a full charged battery, Hannah was finally ready to hit the trails on her pretty, pink ORV!


Daddy's little helper


We discovered that off-roading with plastic tires really doesn't work very well.


Hannah's got the ORV look, sporting the belly


Taking off down the sidewalk


Hannah soon discovered the reality of riding - look familiar Uncle Todd??

Planes and automobiles

This being Father's Day weekend, we treated Jason to a day of one of his favorite loves - the automobile and spent the day at the Gilmore Car Museum. It's a beautiful setting - several restored barns full of gorgeous antique cars on beautiful property out in the country. Only after we arrived, did we learn that the major storms that moved through the area the night before led to a power outage and some flooding at the museum. It actually worked out well b/c it really wasn't all that busy, and turned out that all of the barns except one were all open. We spent the whole afternoon wandering around, admiring the beauty of the cars and the grounds.


Fueling up at the vintage diner before exploring the grounds.


Such beauty


These cars all have such interesting stories behind them.


Even Hannah had to get a close-up.


If it had a motor, they have it - even this double decker bus!

They have a very impressive collection of extremely rare cars, including the Tucker (blue car above) and this $3 million Mercedes that survived WWII.

Turned out that Jason got 2 of his favorite hobbies for 1. They also had a model airplane flying field on the grounds. The yellow plane above is the same type of plane that he once had (maybe it was the same one??), so we had to watch for a bit.

Hannah really enjoyed watching the planes do their tricks.

Needless to say, we had a very quiet ride home from the back seat.

Day of fun

Last week, our babysitter's little boys were sick, so once again my parents graciously gave up their time up at their cottage to come down and babysit. As always, Hannah had a wonderful time getting spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa. For a change of scenery, they took her to the Children's Museum downtown where they all had a ball!


Amazed by the giant bubble


From what I hear, this was one of Hannah's favorite activities. She ran through it at least 20 times! (On a side note, notice the one-sided pigtail. No, not a flashback to the 80's, but her reluctance to keep anything in her hair these days. And the cute, yellow top Hannah is wearing - her pajama top! It is cute and does match her skirt, and really, wouldn't we all rather just wear our pj's sometimes??)


Hannah and Hannah and Hannah...


Searching for the perfect piece


Waiting for Grandma to get up

Big "thank you" to Grandma and Grandpa for helping us out in a pinch. As always, Hannah had a great time (and we truly appreciate it!).

Day at the Beach

With all of this beautiful weather, I've been itching to get to the beach. This morning, we finally took advantage of the day and met our friends Conner and Morgan with their mom Juleen at Millenium Park. Even though we live so close (less than 5 minutes), we'd never been there before. I was quite impressed - a nice, big beach, fairly warm lake, a splash pad, park, and trails. We took some snacks and made it a lunch playdate.


Hannah testing out the sand


We ventured to the splash pad where Conner showed Hannah how to play in the water.


Morgan wasn't having it, even with Mama's and Hannah's encouragement.


2 beach beauties :-)


Miss Morgan - the little daredevil


Hannah excited to mooch another snack from the Haartman's!

Before going home, I changed Hannah out of her suit and wet diaper. She had sand in cracks I didn't even know she had! Judging from her giggling, though, it was all worth it to her. We will definitely be making more trips there this summer.