Mackinaw Island

I am about two and a half weeks behind on my life overall. Bills I was supposed to pay 2 weeks ago, gifts I was supposed to send, Emails I was supposed to return, and blogs I was supposed to write are just now getting taken care of.

So as I may have mentioned, my parents came to visit us in Michigan for the first time! It was pretty exciting having them come and visit. It was almost like after 3 years of living here, they were finally putting their stamp of approval on my life.

After a week of in-depth cleaning, something I never ever do, the house was as ready for company as it could be without selling our dogs and moving.

They flew in on Friday and courtesy of Airtran (the same carrier that granted me my worst travel day ever, as you may remember), their flight was late forcing them to take a later connecting flight out of Atlanta. So the day at the cider mill was cancelled much to my dismay. We figured if we can't bring the folks to the cider mill, then we would bring the cider mill to the folks. So they finally got in from their flight with fresh apple pie, cider and cider donuts awaiting them.

After settling in we went to Genji's -- a great Japanese restaurant in town. It is the kind that cooks in front of you; although, we really could have done without that because the food is good on it's own. By the time we got home it was fairly late (around 10:30) so we had some coffee (I guess that is what parents do at all hours) and then hit the hay because we had an early morning planned.

Saturday morning we drove up to Mackinaw Island. It is an island in between the upper and lower penninsulas of Michigan. They allow no motors on the island so the only mode of transportation is by horse, horse carriage, bike or by foot. It is really quaint and pretty. They have one of the largest population (? is that the right word) of lilacs and have a big festival there in the springtime. Our purpose for going was to see all the leaves change color and to travel a bit further up north so my parents could experience the fall air. Sounds silly, but if you live in Florida, you would appreciate it.

[side note: do NOT stay at the Chippewa! It was a nightmare! $150.00 a night and our bathroom smelled like mold and our external AC flooded all over our suitcase. They were kind enough (NOT) to give us a $30 discount.]

Here are some pictures from our trip:

My favorite church that was shipped over from France...or England...somewhere, I forget.

I just adore this little pig!

Our horses: Molly and Cody.

The only horse my husband tells me I ever might own - It's wooden. But hey, I kind of like it.

Little Stone Church and LOOK! There is a bride getting ready to walk down the aisle!! Naturally I wanted to stop the horses but I tried my best not to look crazy. They say that it is a two year waiting list to get married at this church and that people often put their name down even if they don't have a fiance! Not sure about security deposits, that is the firs thing I thought of too.

Sunday we traveled home along I-19 which runs along Lake Michigan and has been dubbed, "The Tunnel of Trees." It is a small, barely two lane road with no center line (which is incredibly scary) and all of the trees form together over the roadway to make a holloway. It was beautiful! There are ginourmous houses tucked back in the woods if you look closely also. We thought it would be a cute 20 minute drive to get to our destination, Petoskey, but it was more like an hour drive. I am glad we went that way, but after the 1st 20 minutes, we had seen our fill of trees.

Forgive the not-so-creative photos here. Picture me in the back seat wiggling my way out the sunroof with my camera and my dad getting very angry at me. It was a snap and go situation.

Our next stop was Petoskey, a small town with lots of shops and boutiques. My mother and I went shopping and the men headed off to the casino. We spent about 3 hours walking around from shop to shop and figured it was about time to make sure our husbands weren't spending more money than we did. Well we got there and they were not pleased, which meant that we were heading no where fast.

To get us to go away, they gave us money to gamble with. Typically when this happens, my mother and I disappear and pretend to be playing slot machines and then just tell them that we lost our money. But this time we were stupid and bored and actually gambled our money away. Needless to say, the house always wins and the odds were not in our favor. Like ol' Kenny says, "You've gotta know when to fold 'em." Clearly, we did not listen to ol' Kenny.

So around 7 we decided to start our 4 hour drive home!! Kill me now! It was such a long day!! We had a great time though.

Monday came and went quickly. We went to Bronner's Christmas Store and bought a bunch of Christmas supplies and then went to the antique store and did some shopping. Tuesday we bid farewell. It was just the perfect length of time to see your parents.

This is the first time I ever had "company" in my house though and let me tell you...it is exhausting! Hubs and I went to bed every night so mentally exhausted you would have thought we spent our days curing cancer -- we felt like we were using our minds that much.

So that catches you up on "me." Thank goodness for blogs or else I would be lost in terms of what everyone else has been up to. After this post, I am officially caught up on my emails and everything else that has been sliding by :) Hope everyone had a good weekend!