Vacation and Move Update

Hi Everyone,

I know I've been away for a while.  We left on July 5 for a vacation.  We got to spend a couple days with our daughter in Indianapolis along the way.  It was so great to see her!  We went to the zoo and then out for dinner.

She also bought her first new car with my husband along to advise.  She really didn't need him too much, though.  I was impressed that she stood her ground on the amount that she wanted to pay!  While they were doing that, I went to a new-to-me quilt shop in the Indy area.  I decided to collect the license plates and row patterns for the Row by Row Experience. 

I also visited several shops in Michigan when we got there.  I was trying really hard not to buy anything else, although I wasn't totally successful!

After we left our daughter, we drove up to my parent's house in SW Michigan.  We had a couple days there before we journeyed up north for a family vacation on the Upper Peninsula

and northern Michigan.  The occasion was my parent's 40th anniversary.  To celebrate, they wanted to have a trip with my sisters, our husbands, and themselves, so we joined in and my younger sister, her husband, and my baby nephew, and my older sister and her husband from California.  It was lots of fun and was reminiscent of our vacations back in the seventies.

The Mackinaw City Lighthouse

The Mackinaw Bridge from Michigan to the Upper Peninsula.  It is a 5 mile-long suspension bridge.

The first few nights we were on the UP and stayed in these cabins.  They were really charming with a vintage feel.  They are designed to look like a wild west town or something.  My parents had the "school house" as it had a kitchenette.  We stayed in the fake "general store" although I would have preferred the "fort" cabin.  It had bunk beds, though.  

This was as close to camping/roughing it as we get!  We had indoor bathrooms and beds, but ate out on a picnic table and grilled hot dogs, etc.

The first full day was Anniversary Day.  The plan was to take the ferry over to Mackinac Island.  First, we had to take pictures, and my Mom requested that we all dress in Red, White, and/or Blue.

The Happy Couple

Our clothes really helped define us as a group on our ferry trip.  More than one person inquired what we were all about!

The ferry took us under the bridge. 

Mackinac Island is home to the famous Grand Hotel.  Have you seen the movie "Somewhere in Time" with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour?  It was filmed there.  Also, there are no motor vehicles other than rescue vehicles allowed on the island.  You walk, bike, or take a horse-drawn carriage.  We took a carriage tour of the island to get an over view.  Later, when some of the others went to tour the Grand Hotel, my Mom, husband, and I stayed with baby Matthew.  

Here he is, by the way.  I probably took more pictures of him than anything else!  Anyway, he was napping away in his stroller when my husband's cell phone rang.

It was the company where he had traveled to for an interview.  They were offering him the job!!!!!!!  

We will be moving to Fort Wayne, Indiana.  It is where my younger sister lives, and is two hours or so from both my parents and daughter!  It is so wonderful to finally have a plan!

There is lots more to share, but for now I need to go.  We are back home and the packers are coming any minute!

I hope you have a wonderful day!

JoAnne