We spent a week in Michigan in mid-August, which was wonderful - got to see family while enjoying cooler temps - just what we needed after the ridiculously hot summer we had here in Texas!! The main purpose for our trip was our niece Gina's wedding. Here's Courtney looking so sweet all dressed up!
Immediately following the wedding we headed Up North, where we spent our week in a rental house on Lake Louise in Gaylord. The kids had so much fun playing in the sand...
and swimming...
Carter went out fishing for his very first time with Daddy, Grandpa & Papa!
He was sooooo excited when he caught his first fish!!
Of course a highlight were the evenings we sat outside around a bonfire. Is there anything better than that during a Michigan summer Up North?? Here's a family photo:
Carter helped Mommy toast marshmallows and tried his first s'more! He was absolutely CRAZY about them!! (LOL - this is such a goofy photo of him!!)
We went on a couple day trips from the cabin, first over to Traverse City for some of my very favorite thing, Black Cherry Ice Cream!! Yummmmm!
We also went up to see the Mackinac Bridge (aka "The Big Big Bridge" as Carter calls it, after one of his Thomas stories!)
Then over to Mackinac Island, where we rented bikes to ride around the island. Such a beautiful place for a bike ride!!
One night we went out driving after dinner looking for elk. We found a majestic herd out in a meadow, can you see them? The zoom on my camera isn't great, but we had binoculars with us! (and clicking on the photo enlarges it, fyi!)
Later we found out that the city of Gaylord maintains an elk herd of their very own! Although I prefer to see them out in the wild, this was fantastic for the kids, they got to see them right up close, and Carter even fed them some hay! They were up in the pen area for feeding time, but they also had a huge meadow they could wander out into.
Grandpa celebrated his 75th birthday at the rental house, so Carter and I made him some cupcakes.
Courtney couldn't believe I let her try some! :-)
Our final full day in Michigan was my birthday, and we spent it at my parents' home down in Clio. The kids LOVE it there - so much space to run around in, animals to see, tomatoes to eat right off the vine...! My dad has an AMAZING garden - here's Carter sitting on the crazy-huge pumpkin Dad had growing...!!
Here's my parents, or Grammy and Papa as they are known.
Courtney enjoyed smelling the flowers. Although if you look closely, she is actually trying to EAT these cosmos...!
There isn't much Carter likes better than a birthday, because he knows birthdays and cake go hand in hand! He sat ready to begin dinner before dinner was ready...! But for my birthday, my own Gramma made me a YUMMY berry cobbler. Carter wasn't thrilled, but then he realized there was ice cream... :-)
All in all, a fabulous trip! When we left Gaylord Saturday at lunchtime, the car said it was 57 degrees outside. When we landed in Austin on Sunday at lunchtime, the car said it was 97. Back to the land of the scorching temps... we miss you Michigan!!
