A little getaway

Last week, Bob and I went on a short trip to Michigan's Upper Peninsula. We went to Munising, home of Pictured Rocks. We live near Holland Michigan, which is near Lake Michigan in the Lower Peninsula. It's close to a 6 hour drive to get up to Munising.

We stopped at a few places along the way to break up the drive.  This was a spot that had a place to hike to a scenic view. It was a steep hill to climb, but we were rewarded with a big view when we got to this part.

After about 4 hours we made it to the Mackinac Bridge.  It's a beautiful, 5 mile long bridge that connects upper and lower Michigan. I'm not great with heights so I'm never thrilled about going across it, but I survive!  :)

Here's a view after we crossed, looking back at the bridge.

We got to our hotel about 3:30 and were thrilled to find we had a walk out room with this view of Lake Superior.

We had supper and then made our way to a boat launch where we were scheduled for a sunset cruise of Pictured Rocks. 
Before we boarded, they warned us that the waves were 2-5 feet and some people had been sea sick on the last cruise.  Yikes!  We boarded and hoped that wouldn't be us...

Soon we were seeing sights like this.

The crashing waves carve such interesting shapes and caves into the sandstone cliffs.

This one is called Indian Head Rock.  Can you see it?

We were cold out there!  I had a shirt, and hooded sweatshirt and a coat on and was still cold.  The wind was really blowing.

The formations are beautiful and so are the colors on the rocks, which come from minerals in the sandstone and in the water that runs down over it.

It's hard to see but there's a tree growing on that stone pillar, and it has a root on the left side, reaching over to the other stone cliff side.

This is Spray Falls.

It's incredible how some of these trees grow.

The sun had set by the time we got back to shore. We didn't get sick, although we know at least one person did.

It was a beautiful first day away!

Back to school shopping

We've had a tradition of a back-to-school shopping day since our granddaughter Alaina was going into kindergarten. This tradition now includes Ruby and Cassie! We go out for lunch, buy a pair of shoes and usually try to get another clothing item as well. It's a fun day that we all look forward to.

School is starting here in a little over a week, so last week we had our day out.

Here we all our, ready to head out.

First stop - Culvers for lunch.

Then we went shoe shopping and we were successful!

Shoes for Cassie

Shoes for Alaina

and shoes for Ruby!

Next, we went to Target to look for some tops. The girls saw this hydrant with eyes on it and wanted a picture with it.  It's pretty cute!

Look at these shorts Ruby found!  They aren't my style.   :)

We found tops for each of them.

Our last stop of the day was a little cupcake shop for a treat. We had fun and I know the girls will enjoy those shoes.  It's always a blessing to spend time together!

Bob and I are on a little getaway to celebrate our anniversary and won't be back until the end of the week, so I'll be missing from blogland until next week. See you then!

Connor is two!

It was Connor's birthday on Saturday. I can't believe he's 2 already! We had a party for him on Saturday night, and of course I took a few pictures of that fun event...

Here's our sweet boy before the party started. (He had to have his tools with him)

 

 

I've shared him doing this before, but it's cute so I'm sharing again. We had this little statue in our flower bed in front of the house. Connor calls him "Bubby" which is Connor's nickname. He always goes over to him to say hi.

Heather took cute decorations along for the party.

Pizza is always a hit...

The girls were hanging out on the porch.

Time to open presents!

more tools!

Isn't he a cute fireman?

Then it was time for cake.

and blowing out the candle.

Yum!

Happy Birthday Connor!