Happy Birthday to You

Woooeee! We've been busy this summer! I promise I'm not giving up on blogging, I'm just enjoying our most beautiful time of the year. Mostly.
Before I tell you where I was, this little boy turned 2!! (And shoot, I have yet to get him a birthday present!)

A week later and he's still singing 'Heppy Bertday Dada," Heppy Bertday to You!" "Heppy Birthday Mama, Adjian!" Aah, I just love it. By the way, it was Jeff's birthday too, I already feel kind of bad that their birthdays are on the same day...;)

Other than birthdays, we've been busy with a family reunion camping trip which was oh so fun. I'm so glad we were able to make it, I just wish more of our immediate family had made it! We were celebrating Grandma and Grandpa's 60th anniversary. I have the sweetest grandparents, Grandma said it feels like their wedding was last week!

A few days after returning from that camping trip, we headed north to the camp for a week with Jeff's family. I always love being out there, it's so relaxing and Adrian has plenty of room to run. It was so awesome to let him run out the door and know that I didn't have to chase after him. The first few nights were pretty rough, he wasn't sleeping for some reason. I could not figure it out but by the 3rd night we gave him a pillow and he slept perfectly from then on. I'm still scratching my head about that because although he does have a pillow in his crib, it's so small and he's usually not on it when I check on him before heading to bed myself. Whatever, I'm just glad he finally slept! And sorry to Grandma who also had to listen to him those first few nights!

Now that we're home again I'm thinking about heading downstate with Adrian to see the fam. My sister Sara is headed that way in a few days and since they have their big van we'll be able to squeeze in with them. If I find a ride back home that is. Then after that, we have a camping trip planned with Jeff's family so I might disappear again in the next couple weeks!

Overall, I'm pretty happy to be busy right now since I'm not feeling 100%...you know, 'cause I'm having a baby and stuff. Or just having a baby. But, maybe you caught that in the last post? We're pretty thrilled since our little guy is already two. I think the biggest difference I've noticed so far is that I have the worst pregnancy brain, it's ridiculous. I've tried putting dishes in the fridge and once found the Worcestershire sauce in the cupboard when it should have been in the fridge. Who knows what else I have left to discover.

Mackinac Island

Our busy time has officially started! Jeff and I were able to go to Mackinaw/c this weekend without Adrian! Our first trip away without the little man and I did just fine. Until I saw the mom at the gas station hugging and kissing her kids goodbye as they left with Grandma. I broke down for a moment but I think that was more hormones that anything...I surprised myself with how well I did!
My camera really let me down on this trip so I got a bit discouraged and didn't take as many pictures as I should have. I think it's about time for a new one, Jeff mentioned Christmas.



Waiting to board our ferry to the island...I totally look like I just woke up.

We took our own bikes and I'm so glad we did. We were looking at prices when we got to Mackinac Island and realized that if we used our bikes for more than 2 hours it was much cheaper to pay to take them across on the fairy. I'm already thinking about taking the kids next summer...4 and under are free so it would totally be worth it. Plus, I'm sure Little A would love to see the horses!
I pretty much fell in love as soon  as we stepped off the boat, there were bikes and horse-drawn carriages everywhere. It feels like such a 'slow' area, no cars zipping around, everyone is just enjoying their vacation. We did see a few houses which I'm guessing were summer homes. I'm not sure whether I would want to stay there for an extended period of time when it's such a tourist island.

The street was so crowded when we first arrived, it must have been the busy time for arrivals so our first goal was to get out of the mess. We headed out spotting bellhops on bicycles and driving carriages. One guy was so loaded down with luggage it was amazing he was able to pedal his bike. We didn't have a plan so once we realized we were headed 'out of town' we looked at each other and asked what we should do first. It was a still early and we didn't have a little boy to worry about so we thought, what the heck, let's bike around the island! We didn't get far before parking our bikes to climb up to arch rock.

There was no one around to take our picture on this bench so I used self-timer and hoped that my camera wouldn't fall down the cliff. It's a little blurry.

We biked up to see skull cave. Just a note, when you head toward the center of the island, it's all uphill. It was a long 2 mile bike and by the time we got to the cave--not much to see now because it's starting to crumble--we decided to head back down and continue around the island rather than explore any further. I think we should train before coming again with kids. ;)
I wanted to get a picture of a horse drawn carriage and didn't realize until afterwards that it was a little weird that I would take a picture of this family too. As they passed, I heard the boy ask his dad why I was taking their picture...ha! I just wanted a picture of the horse! You can actually rent these horses and drive yourself around. That seemed a little bit crazy but all the horses seemed pretty well behaved except the one that was protesting and turning it's head so far to the side that I thought I was going to run into it when I rode by on my bike.

There were so many things I hadn't considered about an island with no motor vehicles. Like, how do the stores and restaurants get their packages? I learned the answer to that before I had the chance to wonder; we saw the UPS man.

We got back to town just in time for lunch, well, just in time to be hungry enough for lunch. It was probably past 2 by then but we weren't really watching the time.  I was surprised to see the restaurant prices were pretty comparable to those on the mainland, we had expected them to be much higher. After cooling down in the air conditioning we walked over to the park to take it easy in the shade. It turns out, a lot of other people had the same idea. Our weather was perfect, hot in the sun, and a little chilly in the shade. We laid in the grass marveling over how awesome it was to be able to sit and enjoy the shade without chasing after Adrian or worrying about his naptime, etc, etc.
We took it easy for the rest of the afternoon, wandering around the shops and contemplating going to the fort. We decided not to when we realized how much it was to get in. I would have liked to go but at the same time, it's nice to know that we still have plenty to see for the next time we go.