Michigan Trip

That's right, Cam and I actually got to go on a trip on by ourselves!  This hasn't happened since before having kids (well, honestly we have had 1 night alone, but that's it!).  So, we were very excited to have a nice vacation away from our kids, as much as we love our kids, it was nice.  Our good friends, Janel and Derek, called us up several months ago begging us to come visit them.  They had found amazing priced round trip tickets and invited us to go visit them in Michigan.  Cam and I thought about it and realized there weren't very many opportunities to go on such a cheap vacation and w/o kids.  So, before we did anything we asked Cam's brother, Geoff and his wife Erin if they'd be available to watch our kids for 5 days, and you know what?!  They were happy to!  So, we bought our tickets for September Wed. the 14th- Sun. the 18th.  About a month prior to leaving, Cameron found out he had to go to Chicago Mon-Wed the same week of our trip for a conference.  So, his company ended up letting him fly from Chicago to Michigan the day it ended.  So, I had to fly on my own to Michigan, for the 1st time in years, I flew by myself, it was actually nice w/o kids.  So, months of waiting, the time finally arrived and we were on our way to Ann Arbor, Michigan...

My layover was all the way in Houston, way out of the way I know (probably why it was so cheap).  I was so excited to find Popeyes chicken, I had to take a picture.  This is what I ate for lunch, and it was YUUMMY (KFC doesn't even compare).  Cam and I arrived about 11 PM their time so we didn't do very much Wed. Night, we mainly stayed up even later talking.

Thursday we took a short bus ride to Michigan University and walked around campus, which is beautiful!  And, had lunch.  I love this shot of me and Janel. 

Derek and Janel wanted to help us have a romantic getaway, so they found great priced hotel rooms in Mackinaw City. So, later that day we drove the 4 hrs and we arrived to this beautiful town.  It was seriously breath taking!  We took a moment to take a few pictures.  Janel and Derek have a great camera and are getting really good at photography, so they took a lot of us.  (This great one of Cameron was actually taken by me.  The really good looking pics are from them.) 

Love it!  It's like it's straight out of the movies.

After taking a few pictures and looking around the town, we checked into our hotel and ate dinner at a family fun restaurant.

The next morning, we checked out and headed to take the ferry to Mackinac Island (pronounced the same way as the city).  My first ever ferry ride!  Beautiful views!

The ride there was so cold b/c of the breeze.

These 2 are so fun!  They're the best hosts ever!

Welcome to Mackinac Island.  This is the Grand Hotel, famous for the movie Somewhere in Time. 

The houses and hotels are beautiful!  I love the history of the island.

There are no cars allowed, so we rented bikes and road the 8 miles around the whole island.  Our first stop was to see this beautiful historic church. Oh, it ended up being the perfect weather while we were on the Island, it was wonderful!

Derek actually layed on the ground to take this picture, now that's dedication!

It was so fun to ride a bike again, it's been years!  I felt like a little kid.

Yep, that's right, we're holding hands.

No hands!!

Aww, aren't they so cute?

1/2 through our bike ride we came to a huge wooden staircase going up the side of the mountain, so we decided to go up.  We found this beautiful overlook.  The sun was really bright!

Don't you love how we match?  Honestly, we didn't plan it (I might've done her hair, but that's it).

People wrote messages w/ rocks so you could see it from the overlook, so cool!

Looking down.

Back on the bikes, looking up.

After our bike ride.  Look how cute the town is!  The only way of transportation is either bikes, horse and buggy or walking.

There were tons of fudge shops on the island. They all gave out free samples :)

We of course couldn't go to the island w/o visiting the Grand Hotel.

It has the longest porch in the world.

To go inside of the hotel you had to pay $10.  The boys could care less about it, so Janel and I went in alone while the guys stayed outside.

Love the history and all the original fixtures.

Someone made this little model of the hotel, amazing.

This picture is so cute, I had to add it.  A funny story...the tour didn't include getting to see any of the rooms, so we asked if we could, they said no.  So when Janel and I noticed a door cracked, I of course had to knock on it to see if anyone was in there.  We walked off quickly and hid until no one came to the door.  Then, we went back and walked into the room :)  Yep, I got the most for my money on this tour.  So what did the rooms look like?  Old but cute, probably original to what they looked like years and years ago.  You're definitely paying to stay there b/c of the atmosphere, not the room.

The original picture of Jane Seymour used in the movie, Somewhere in Time.

I couldn't walk past a phone booth and not pay the proper respects to Christoper Reeves (the old Superman).  He was also in the movie Somewhere in Time.  After a few hours on the Island we drove back to Ann Arbor.

Saturday morning Cameron and Derek took off for a Michigan Football game.  Janel and I did crafts, I taught her how to make fabric button earrings, while she taught me how to make a circle skirt (I'll add a picture of the skirt later, I forgot to take a picture).

That evening we went to one of the many Apple Orchards in town.  We got to go w/ their two little girls, Brooklynn and Kate, they are such cuties!

We had donuts and hot Apple Cider, very yummy.

Janel took a few pictures of us, I love them :)

I love this girl!

We had so much fun w/ Janel and Derek!  It was such a fun, but quick, trip.  I'm so glad we got to spend time w/ them in their town.  Thanks ya'll for being such good hosts and making so many fun plans.  We love ya'll, thanks for everything.  And of course, this trip wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for Geoff and Erin watching our boys.  Thank you so much, I hope you 2 realize how much we really do appreciate it.  It was so nice leaving for a few days and not having to worry one bit about my boys, they love Geoff, Erin and baby Cora so much, it was perfect.