Day 9-BSU Game

Game Day had arrived!!!  We brought all of our blue and orange so we could stand out among the green and white of MSU.

GG got a present from the girls....an Orange and Blue t-shirt for the Michigan State fan:)  She was a good sport and kept her shirt on all morning

The Bronco State gang

Since the game wasn't until later on in the day, we headed to Spring Arbor to visit the Children's Museum.  It was one of, if not, the best children's museum's we have ever been too

There were tons of these foam blocks and the girls could have stayed here for hours...Allie building and creating and Sophie knocking over towers and destroying 

There was an ambulance in the museum...one of the rooms was set up all medical.  Allie was in heaven in this room; she loves everything medical

Sophie couldn't have been happier sitting in the driver seat; she loves pushing all the buttons in my car

Checking out Blake's lack of flexibility...we were laughing so hard because he could barely bend forward

Music Pipes

The coolest little ball contraption....balls were going all around the room.  Some balls would dump out of machines, balls would vacuum up tunnels, twirl down tracks, it was crazy and the girls loved it

Allie enjoyed making a giant bubble around her

Sophie loved watching these washers stick to each other 

Sophie also loved the giant piano she could run on and make noises with

It was well worth our drive to Spring Arbor and our free admission into the museum.  We also toured around the U of M campus before heading back to Jackson.  The campus was huge and covered in old brick building.  It was quite impressive.

My grandma and aunt volunteered to watch all the rugrats for the evening while we headed to Lansing to tailgate and watch the big BSU vs. MSU game

My cousin and her husband hauled down the Corn Toss game; we ordered out Mexican and enjoyed hanging out before the game

Blake and I ready to root for our Broncos

The stadium was huge; unfortunately our seats were as high up as you could go in the corner of the stadium...I guess that's where the guests get put for an away game.  My poor pregnant feet were complaining about all the walking we had to do in order to get up to our seats.  Unfortunately BSU lost the game, but it was a great game to watch; they kept it close the whole time and at least we didn't have to hear the MSU fight song to many times.  The fans were also so nice, so it was definitely worth going to the game.

Day 8-Lake Michigan

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE our trips to Lake Michigan.  We headed over to South Haven to hit up the beach for the day.  My family has to spend a day at the beach when we are back in Michigan.  The water temperature was so warm because they had such a hot summer and it was so late in the season; we got to swim in the lake during it's hottest point

Allie ready to go jump in and play

Blake just loves the waves; him and Allie were taking the boogy board out

Adam and Ainsley's first experience at the Lake and they were immediatley sold.  Papa Jim had fun giving them a ride on his back 

Sophie had fun riding around on the boogie board.  It was hard to take her out to deep because the waves would come crashing down over our heads

She immediately conked out for nap time which was nice. Blake and I went out to play in the waves while our little one slept

The girls had fun burrying each other in the sand

Love how we have such a whitie;  Ainsley probably darkened 3 shades of brown the day we were at the beach

The little girls had lots of fun playing in the sand together

Sophie had fun filling up her bucket and dumping out the sand

Goodbye to Lake Michigan....until 2014 when we will return again

Mackinac Island

The day had finally arrived....it seemed to good to be true.  It had seemed like such a long time coming, but it was here.  We woke early Tuesday morning and made our way down to the ferry dock.  We waited patiently for our turn to board the Star Line; our ride over to Mackinac Island



Allie anxiously awaiting her turn to board the boat

Allie and Blake aboard the Starline; we rode up on top so we could be outside and enjoy the view

One boat a day takes a small detour and brings you underneath the bridge on your way over to Mackinac.  We woke up early so we could take this boat and get up close to this monstrous 5 mile long bridge

After checking out the bridge we headed towards Mackinac Island

We finally arrived....I have no recollection of the island from when I was little;  I only remember seeing pictures of me on a bike

It seriously felt like you were stepping back in time or stepping into a movie when you walked onto the island.  There are no cars or motorized vehicles anywhere.  The only mode of transportation is horse nad buggy, bicycles, or walking

The buildings were are beautiful; floral baskets hanging from all the balcony's.  Everything was just pristine.

Since it was basically all of our first times on the island and we had one day we decided to hit it hard and do as much as we could.  We arrived and boarded a horse and buggy to get the historical tour through town.   Anxiously awaiting to board our carriage

Family photo op on the carriage

It was so crazy to see these horses all over and no cars; it would have been kind of fun to live back in the day when life was simpler

They have commercialized a few things throughout the island to entertain the tourists; the first stop on our tour was the butterfly house

Allie and Sophie always enjoy these houses for some reason

Love Sophie's face in this one....she had spotted another butterfly

We had to wait for another horse carriage to pick us up after this stop

We headed off to Arch Rock

We hit up the Grand Hotel next....one day maybe we'll splurge and spend $500 for one night to relax in this hotel. If you aren't a guest you can't walk further than we are in the picture; you can't walk in front of it, on the patio or anything.  We actually pressed our luck and started to walk and a security guy realized a family with kiddos doesn't quite fit the mold of people that stay here; we were quickly guided back off

The kids standing in front of the sign that informs you off the dress code that you must adhere to while staying at the hotel; you could tell which people on the island were guests here because they were all fancied up

A view of the hotel from down the hill

I don't know how many fudge shops dot the island, probably at least 30.  We stopped to watch some fudge be made since that is pretty much another tourist stop.  Of course we bought some overly priced fudge too because that's just part of the experience

After lunch some of us rented bikes to tour the island by bike.  There is a biking trail along the whole perimeter of the island, which totals a little over 7 miles

Blake toting Sophie in the trailer

Allie decided to be my partner on the tag-a-long.  I should have gotten this kid her own bike; she was a little crazy for my pregnant body to handle

We stopped to view Arch Rock from the bottom

The biking trail is actually a highway M-185....it's in the Guinness book of world records for the being the only highway that doesn't allow motorized vehicles

Over 80% of the island is part of Mackinac State Park. It was fun to ride on the trials our horse tour didn't take us on and explore other parts of the park

We rode over to Fort Holmes... the highest lookout on the island; we then climbed over 120 stairs to get to the top of the lookout



We also made it to Turkey Hill Road and followed the instructions to walk our bikes back down to the city.  It was such a steep hill, I almost sent the bike down by itself a few times as I was loosing control walking it down

What a beautiful, fun filled day we had visiting Mackinac Island!!!