The Great Outdoors

Coming home from a long and relaxing vacation in Michigan is never easy but I think we will all be glad to sleep in our own beds tonight after getting up at 5:00 am to catch our flight this morning.  We certainly made the most of our vacation in the Great Outdoors that is Northern Michigan.  We had beautiful weather and everyone got to do what they wanted so I'd say it was a successful trip.  Many thanks to the Gays for hosting us and taking care of us for the last week.

Mister was in hog heaven.  He kept Papa in his sight at all times and had his fill of frogs, turtles, mud, dirt, s'mores, and all things BOY.  HG kept busy with new (to her) family, friends, and eating as much junk as she could find.  David fished, played in the woods, and took plenty of much needed naps.  I am blessed to have a mama that ensured my relaxation as well.  I really enjoyed watching the kids have as much fun as they did and spent a lot of time visiting with family and being lazy.  (I think the theme for me whenever I go back to Michigan is "being lazy" but I never do that at home, so I soak it up when I am there.)

We ate a lot of great food but our favorite meals are always the venison meals (Mmmm.)  David and I were able to go out a few times as well - once for our 7 year anniversary - which was amazing.  Food over the fire can't be beat either.  We spent almost our entire vacation in northern Michigan so we had a campfire some nights and had our fill of campfire food.  And on our last night we ate at Zehnders in a little German town called Frankenmuth.  I think we all gained *a lot* of weight on our trip and yes, we basically ate the entire vacation.  This is what we do :)

Enough about the food, here are some pictures.

Excited about catching his first, of many, frogs.

Riding in the golf cart.

Letting the frog go.

This is the site where we were married ALL those years ago :)

Salon Hurley.  Cousins Leslie and Jenna treating HG to some pampering. 

Cruising around with her cool cousin Leslie.

This is the little beach at the private club where
my parents have their RV.  Perfect for little ones.

S'mores are also good for little ones.

We fed them S'mores in the middle of the day
so they would be able to go to sleep at night.

Hanging with her cousins.

She's got an attitude to match!

Her famous mad face and new friend Aurora.

Telling secrets about how they're going to stay up all night.
Yea right.

Donuts + HG = Love
She is her father's daughter.

My man shooting skeet.

Riding the 4-wheeler with Dad.

Picking wild raspberries.  Soooo good.

Yes, that is mud Mister is playing in.  Trying to catch...
you guessed it, FROGS!

HE GOT ONE.  And his pants even fell off from all the
mud.  But who cares?  He still runs to show me.

Cute Mister.  Gross frog.

HG and Big Papa joking it up.

Watch out.  Hannah will actually be driving one day!

Long days and short nights meant lots of naps.

Someone gave my dad a ton of fishing gear.  He and David had
fun going through it all.

Time to cook over the fire.

Blaine and David's first campfire apple pie.

The beach on Lake Huron where we had wedding pictures taken.
No one was here this day so we had the beach to ourselves.

Mr. Turtle.

Anniversary dinner at a fantastic Italian restaurant.

Daddy and HG on the quad.

Checking for snakes and frogs... again.

Fishing with mama today.  I got skunked but Blaine
caught five!

Shooting the pellet gun with Papa.

Silly girls.

Papa and the kids climbing a dune... then jumping off.

He will also be driving someday.  This mama can't handle
that fact.  It is bad enough he goes into Kinder in
three weeks!!!

Ready for a little boating, fishing and tubing on Hubbard Lake.

HG's first time on the tube (with Big Papa.)

Ice cream.  You have to have ice cream on vacation.

And sometimes little ones take baths in the RV sink.
And stay in it for an hour.  Is that weird?

Here we are eating.  Again.  Fish and shrimp fry this evening.

Oh!  Can you guess what is happening here?  Might explain my rapid
weight gain.  Forget being 17 weeks pregnant!

It's so funny when we put popcorn in between Papa's toes
and the dog eats it.  Haha.

Zehnders in Frankenmuth after we had all stuffed ourselves.

When there is music you should dance!

And run in circles.

This was before the dancing and circles.  David was
trying to get the ham bone for a late night snack :)  LOL

This buffet was unbelievable.   

Mister LOVES eating gluten.

There are two reasons that we do not have ANY
family pictures.  That would be BM and HG.  They
NEVER cooperate with family picture time.

Oh well, we're all here.  Even baby #3 who insists on
still making my nauseous.

Good vacation.  Lots of fun.  Back to reality tomorrow...