Vacation Days 2 and 3

I love the first few days of vacation.  The week is just beginning and you feel like you have so much time to do so many fun, exciting and new things. 

Moving at a slower pace is hard for me.  I am a go-go-go type person.  It usually drives me crazy when I have to wait longer than a few minutes for my food to arrive or for my bill to come, and if I have to wait in line for a long time, forget about it!  Up here, though, things move at a slower pace: it's just the way it is.  I have no choice but to get used to it.  This year I'm appreciating that more than I have in years passed.  I like that our days are going slower and I'm appreciating the conversations with locals more than I have in the past. Aaaaannd...as I sit here, I cannot remember how this was supposed to tie into the blog, soooo...I'm not sure what that says about "appreciating the slower pace".

Sunday we spent the day looking for just the right beach.  Our beach is nice, but, quite frankly, the hike out to the beach is a long one and I really don't want to do it more than once a day.  As the case would have it, though, we ended up at our beach at the end of the day.  Linicoln was in heaven, again!  It really is so fun to see him running into the water (Daddy close by, of course.  Mama avoids the ice water at all costs.)  He did play in the sand a lot more than he did on Saturday, thankfully!  He's discovered the sand.  YAY!

Our beach is rocky.  We saw a lot of people on the public beach agate hunting.  Apparently, it's a thing to do up here, agate hunting, that is.  Kirk and I aren't even sure what exactly an agate is.  There are books at the cottage and we still can't figure it out because all of the rocks look like they could be agates if they were polished.  Anyway, my new obsession is rock stacking.  Kirk and decided if it were a Minute to Win It game, we'd have to stack 10 rocks in 1 minute.  Impossible! 

There are rocks in the cottage so I, of course, brought the rock stacking inside.  I'm getting better!  My own little Stonehenge.

We brought a couple of life jackets for Lincoln since we knew we'd be at the lake a good portion of our trip.  Think this one is too big?



Yesterday, we headed into Munising for the day.  It was a strange day weather wise.  It sounds like there were some fierce storms at home.  We also had some nasty weather, but thankfully, the storming was done and it was sunny in Munising by the time we got there around 11:30.  We stopped for lunch and went to, where else, the beach.  We decided to go to Miner's Beach which is a great beach with fantastic views of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

Kirk loves Lake Superior even when it's not warmer than 50 degrees.  He's crazy (no really) and I'm pretty sure Lincoln is finding a love for the ice cold Lake, too.

We had so much fun yesterday hanging out by the beach. It seems strange to me that we are spending our vacation in the UP by the beach, but we totally are!

There are a couple funny things Lincoln is doing these days.  One is copying, sure annoying, but cute nonetheless.  We had corn on the cob for dinner a couple nights ago.  I took Lincoln's corn off the cob, but he wanted to eat it off the cob like us.  It was funny watching him eating the corn on the cob.

Lincoln is really chatty.  He talks a lot and while we can only understand about 50% (that's generous, probably more like 35%) of what he actually says, there are some funny things he says.  Right now our favorite thing he says is boat.  Yes, boat.  It sounds like he's saying "about" like a Canadian.  When we see a boat, we try to get him to say boat cause it's so funny!  We have to get it on video camera. 

We're really enjoying our week!  This morning it's chilly; I don't think it's supposed to get marmer than 70.  It's been so hot and humid that 70 is a nice break.  Sounds like Kirk's friend from PA school, Pietro, is going to come visit Wednesday or Thursday with his boys.  We're looking forward to the company!  Hoping he'll make it up for the visit.

Kirk made it out to sunset over the lake last night.  I swear I'm going to get up in time to see sunrise one of these days!

Thanks for checking in with us on whle we enjoy our vacation.  Looking forward to more days at the beach with my boys.  :)

Vacation!

It's time for our annual vacation to the UP!

I have to start by telling you, the place where we are staying is truly a "Great Escape".  I guess I shouldn't be surprised, as this is how it was advertised, but there's no tv, no phone, no internet...it's a step back in time.  I do have cell reception and I was in internet withdrawal, so here I am "in town" stealing the local market's wireless connection and updating my blog.  :)

We left yesterday and stopped in Indian River to see one of our old college friends, Jill.  I met Jill in one of my communication classes.  She actually showed up late the first day of class and I was HORRIFIED and kept wondering who was this chick who showed up LATE on the first day of class.  We both laughed about this story yesterday, but neither of us can remember what class it was or how we became such fast friends.

Jill eventually changed her major and is now teaching English at Charlevoix High School.  Whenever we come up north, we always try to meet her and hang out, even if it is just for a quick minute.  Last time we saw her, I was actually pregnant with Lincoln, so it was fun for her to get to meet him.  Hoping she'll get to meet Busy (my name for the unborn baby) long before she's almost 2 years old.

Lincoln loved Jill and warmed up to her right away.

After our stop in Indian River, we made our way to Grand Marais.  It was a long day of driving and we got a little antsy; especially Lincoln.  He was just a little slap happy as we made our way up here.

It's a beautiful area with sun, beach and sand.  I must admit: we were both a little surprised at how remote the cottage is.  I'm not sure why, because we totally knew what we were getting into!  There are neighbors, but it still feels like you're all alone.  Without the internet or tv, I was able to finish a book last night.  I'm hoping to finish a couple more by the end of the week.

When we got here, we unpacked and got Lincoln some dinner.  We decided to head out to the lake before we got him ready for bed.  Another confession: we were surprised how far the lake was from the cottage!  It was obvious it wasn't right outside the place, but good gravy, it's a walk away!  Don't get me wrong, it's a straight shot out the front door, and maybe it's the sand or because I'm out of shape, or because, oh yeah, I'm 28 weeks pregnant, but it was worth it!  I will admit that.  I love being close to the water.

This is the view from our cottage.  Beyond those dunes is Lake Superior.  It's deceiving: it's still a little bit of a walk from there.

Kirk and I both thought Lincoln would be excited...for the sand.  We know he loves water, but oh my gosh, he went running for Lake Superior.  Who does that?  It's like swimming in ice water!  We were totally just planning on going out to see the water and didn't put him a swimsuit let alone a swim diaper!!

I'm hoping today or at some point in the week, he'll discover the beauty of the sand and not have both of us chasing after him as he runs toward Lake Superior (Swede style for all you Schultz's and anyone else who knows that story)!

The weather is supposed to be hot and humid today and tomorrow and then cool down in the middle of the week.  I think we're going to do some hiking, geocaching, waterfall hunting, exploring...who knows what the week has in store for us!

I love this picture!  We're not sure what our view is of yet.  The log slide?  Grand Sable Dunes?  Either way, we hope to find out soon.

I'll try to get out here again and "steal" the internet from the local market, which, as the case may have it, also has gas, food, spirits, souvenirs, visitor information, etc...

Last weekend we took a road trip to Elletsville, IN (near Bloomington) to visit Kirk's brother's family.  Kirk's whole family also made the trip down.  We left Thursday night and came home Sunday.

We had a lot of fun seeing the sites and hanging out with family.  Friday we went to The Wonderlab Museum in Bloomington.  It really is a great children's museum.  I'm pretty sure Lincoln was in heaven playing at the water table. 

They also had a bubble room dedicated to bubbles. Seriously?  Lincoln was in heaven.  Water?!  BUBBLES?!  It didn't get any better for him.  Olivia was kind enough to play with the bubble with Lincoln.

This was one giant bubble.  You would push the big metal rectangle down and slowly pull it up and a big bubble would form.

There were also a lot of other "thnigies" for him to play with.  Don't ask me what they are or what they are supposed to represent.  All  I know is Lincoln had a great time hanging out and playing with everything.



My personal favorite thing about the museum?  The smocks for the water table.  Take note, daycare!!

Saturday was a relaxing day.  Lincoln and I did some exploring around the city, came home for nap time and then Lincoln took his first dip in a pool.  It's no secret he loves water and for the record I've TRIED to sign him up for swim lessons here but they fill up so quickly.  Last time I tried signing him up a week before the classes start and there were already 5 people on the waiting list.

Needless to say, he loved the pool!  LOVED IT!  It was so fun watching him in the water. These pictures are terrible!  I swear he loved it.  My camera was dying!

Gavin let us borrow his floaties.  When Lincoln put them on, he floated around the pool (with a little help from Daddy) like he was an old pro.  I swear...he really did!  Although I have no pictures to prove it...

It was a really fun weekend in Indiana!  We're looking forward to doing it again sometime soon.

The last weekend in June is always Balloon Festival in Howell.  It's just another podunk activity here in Howell that we love!  The best part about the weekend is always the hot air balloons flying over our house.  Well, they don't always fly over our house but we can usually see them from our house. 

This was a great year for the balloons and we were able to see all of them fly over.  We didn't let Lincoln stay up last year to see them, so this was his first year seeing the balloons.  It was slightly anti-climactic, but he did seem to love them once he realized what was going on. 

We're looking forward to the 4th of July Holiday and seeing our family and friends.  We leave for our vacation the 9th.  I'm hoping we will have internet access so we can keep everyone updated like last year, but I'm not counting on it! 

Thanks for checking in!

Friends and Family

I really like living in Howell.  I feel like we are lucky enough to have the best of both worlds.  It's definitely a suburb (I'm not exactly sure what it's a suburb of, but I feel like it's a suburb nonetheless!), but it still has that small town feel to it.  There's a cute little downtown, lots of open land and an abundance of restaurants, shopping and we are within an hour of Ann Arbor, Detroit, and Lansing. 

That being said, there's no place like home.

A couple weeks ago, Lincoln and I met two of my oldest and dearest friends in Downtown Grand Rapids for none other than "Festival".  It's actually called Festival of the Arts, but I'm pretty sure everyone refers to it as Festival.  Lisa was in town from Chicago and Kristina was in GR with her husband from LA.  What better way to get together than to go to Festival?

Festival is one of those things I didn't appreciate when I was younger.  We always went to Festival, but it was pretty much just to people watch and eat meat on a stick.  Now that I'm older, I realize what a cool thing it really is.  There are stages set up all over with different bands and dance groups and singing groups, etc., performing throughout the 3 days.  For the little ones, there are booths set up where you and your kids can make t-shirts, they can have their faces painted and participate in other fun art projects.

The best thing was, and always has been, the food booths.  Like I mentioned before, we always went straight for the meat on a stick booth.  Years later, the first booth where we stopped was still the meat on a stick booth at the Vietnamese booth, (old habits die hard...isn't that what they say?) but we also stopped at the Middle Eastern booth, the Islamic booth and the Bosnian booth.  We made a stop at a Dutch booth, but I don't think that counts since all we had was ice cream.

It was so much fun walking around together, catching up and realizing how much culture there really is in Grand Rapids.  I love that since the diversity scene in Howell is pretty limited!!

I wish Lisa and Kristina were closer.  Seeing them always makes me so happy and brings me back to a different time in our lives, even with Lincoln in tow.  Who, by the way, loves his aunts!  And his Uncy RJ!

After spending time downtown, Lincoln and I went to my parent's house for the afternoon.  Nate made a last minute decision to come over, too, and my parents happened to be watching Quin for the day.  It worked out perfectly.  Quin and Lincoln have so much fun together.  Gigi and Papa have a couple of pools (one is supposed to be for the dog) and a sink that is constantly running water (his personal fave).  They played with the sidewalk chalk and hung out in the shade when it was too hot in the sun.

One of my favorite things about the day was how it turned into an impromptu family gathering.  Joelee and Jason brought the triplets over for dinner.  I loved it!  We missed Kirk, but it was so great

Lincoln and I didn't stay too long after dinner, but we had such a great day seeing friends and family.  I wish we could do it more often.

It's been a great summer so far!  Looking forward to our vacation in a month.  Yay!  :)

Hope you all are enjoying your summer as much as we are. 

Memorial Day

Who doesn't love a parade? 

I will say, I like parades.  I remember being in a few as a kid.  When I played softball, there was always a parade of all the teams on Opening Day.  And I clearly remember carrying my purple boombox in at least one year in the Kentwood 4th of July parade. 

Since it was such a nice day, I decided it would be the perfect day to take Lincoln to the Memorial Day parade.  I'm not sure what I expected.  Well, yes I do: I expected a parade with all the fixins'!  This had to have been the weakest parade I've ever been to!  I'm so happy Lincoln doesn't know any better.  My friend Susie came with us because Kirk was working.  It's always nice to have another set of hands.

We walked to the parade and settled in.  Lincoln was a parade natural!  I put the blanket down, gave him his water and he was ready to get this show on the road!  This picture was taken at 10:02.  The parade started about a minute or 2 later. 

Lncoln was totally into the parade!  He clapped for the veterans and the fire trucks and the...oh wait: there wasn't anything else in the parade.



The Howell High School Band started the parade.  There were  a couple Girl Scout and Boy Scout Troops, also...and some police officers on horses, but really, not much else.  It was a weak parade.  I thought my KBL (the softball league we playyed in) was bad.  This was ridiculous!

Susie took this picture at the end of the parade.  The time on the display on the camera says 10:16.  The parade was over in about 13 minutes.  There was even about a 3 minute hold up for the band to decide what song to play (or something), so really it was a 10 minute parade. 

After the parade, we went home and hung out outside.  Lincoln LOVES being outside, as I'm sure any toddler does!  Kirk only worked until about 11:30, so by the time Lincoln got up from his nap, we had the rest of the day to hang out.  It was a little hot for me (this could be a long summer!), but Kirk set up the sprinkler for Lincoln and he had so much fun running through it!  I think he may have liked the sprayer more than the sprinkler.  Bless his little heart for watering the plants for us.  :)

I love how his curls come out in the humidity.  Finally!



We hope you enjoyed your Memorial Day!  Let us all remember this day is more than just a day off work.  A big thank you to all our military men and women who have and continue to put their lives on the line for us each and every day.

(Not sure why I decided to take the picture into the sun...)



What a beautiful weekend!  It could not have been more perfect and the weather could not have been better.  Maybe a few degrees cooler, but after this winter and spring, I'm not complaining!

Yesterday we took Lincoln downtown to the Howell History Days.  We'd never been before and we were surprised at how much there was going on.  Ok, so it's a little podunk, but we really did have a good time taking Lincoln to the old train station.  He had a really good time playing on the train and on the old train tracks.  And, it made for some really cute photo ops.

Our little Beatle.



Kirk had to work today, so it was just Lincoln and I.  We spent most of the day outside since it was so nice.  I was so excited for Lincoln to play with his new outdoor toys.  He really had a great time in the sandbox and playing with the little sink we got him.  There were times he was way more into the airplanes overhead and moving his chair around the backyard, but overall, it was a really fun day.

I'm not sure about anyone else, but I feel like we deserved a nice weekend after the crummy weather we've had lately!  On a sidenote, don't look at the 10 day forecast...let's just hope it's wrong.

We're looking forward to a lot more warm weekends and playing outside.  I hope you were able to get out and enjoy the weather, too!