I'm always up for a party!

See how much we were able to get out of General Conference with 5 kids in the house??
PARTY!!!
Thanks for a great weekend everybody! (like the party hat Craig got for me?)
Mom and Amy at the Grand Hotel.
Lunch at the fort!
The children's area at the fort was as fun as last time!
Doesn't Soph make a great soldier with her "hah" in her mouth! OOOooooo SCARY Soldier! Don't SHOOT!
It's the whole fam! Why is Soph dressed like a boy?
This pic is out of order. It's from the Dixie Saloon in Mackinaw City where we ate on Friday evening. It wasn't great food and the service was painfully slow but it helped the the kids could write all over the table, benches and walls! (kinda gross actually).
Here we are on the island in downtown Mackinac. I had forgotten how it smells like horse poo.
Taylor is a man after my own heart, he wanted to sit on top of the boat! ME TOO! Man, it sure was cold! They say it's a 16 minute ride but I really think it had to have been atleast 30 mins. My face is still recovering, but I loved it!
AHHHH!!! Don't feed the bear Peanut!
ATTACK BEAR!! AHHH!!
Cute little friends! I'm surprised we didn't meet up with this group when we were on Coeur d'Alene lake this summer canoeing.
Look Soph! Bambie's Dad! (all you hunters are laughing at me now I bet).
Who doesn't want a pic with a stuffed animal (or lots of them).
These are the reverence children.
Bear attack!!! We saw lots of crazy stuff at the Legs Inn in Cross Village! The food was authentic polish and I thought it was fine, but Craig and mom were not fans. It was bitter cold and we were NOT tempted to eat out on the patio, at all!

For my birthday this year we went back up to Northern Michigan. I had intended this trip to be about Fall color but they hadn't really started going in earnest yet. Thankfully my mom decided to come out for the trip and we made a quick trip over to Mackinac Island in honor of her coming! We left Friday morning and drove North hoping that the wind and rain and cold would blow over before we got to Mackinac but it did not so we stopped off in Cross village and did a scenic drive along Lake Michigan and got some old fashioned pix taken during the cold weather and post-poned our trip over to the island until Saturday when it was cold, but atleast sunny.

It was so fun to see the island in the fall. We took the carriage tour and they had blankets for us to put on our laps. By afternoon when we had reached the fort it was sunny and mid-50's and felt much better. We got lunch at the fort overlooking the harbor and warmed up in the sun. Then we walked around through town, got some ice cream with mackinac fudge in it and walked past the Grand Hotel and caught the ferry back to Mackinaw City and drove back down to Grand Rapids.

Hailey, Steve and the boys had come up for my birthday and for mom's visit so we were able to enjoy conference Sunday together. Hailey and Steve made some awesome chinese food for me (yum!) and it was fantastic to be all together!