Traverse City Michigan Part I

Spending 4 days in Chicago was a blast!  It's such a fun, big, bustling city with so much to do and see and eat!!  The perfect antecdote for that kind of fun, is a week in Traverse City.  An area with beautiful natural lakes (including Lake Michigan) and lots of farms and boutique shops and wineries!

We rented a cottage on Long Lake.  It's the area where we used to live and was familiar to us and a great location.  I would definitely go back to that lake every year!  The lakes up there are sandy bottom, clear, clean lakes. 

We had to do a drive-by of the old house.  We call this the Fishers Run house.  It looks the same as it did 3 years ago when we moved!

Gallaghers.  The BEST farm and market!  We used to go here all the time when we lived here before, so of course, we went about 3-4 times while we were there.  Great fresh produce and you get to go pet the animals and walk around and pick some of their produce, if you want!

All over Traverse City, there are beautiful old barns.

Jackson particularly liked the bunnies. This one nibbled his finger too!

My brother and his girlfriend hanging out with pigs...

Jackson also enjoyed chasing the chickens around.

Sloan loved playing with the toy tractors.

but the real tractor was even better!

a view of Gallagher's fields.

One of the many wineries.  THis one is on Old MIssion Peninsula-that is in the middle of Grand Traverse Bay, and separates it into East bay and West bay.  This was a converted school house.

Inside the winery. My brother, Christina, me and Aunt Jodi.

Wineries aren't really kid friendly, so the boys played outside and found lots of interest things.

Grapes on the vine at the winery.

My little guy.

Chicago part II

We visited the Museum of Science and Industry, and let me tell you, that is THE most amazing museum I have ever been to.  It is beyond ginormous and has the most amazing things inside!  I truly believe you would have to go every day for a week to see everything it had to offer.

A picture of a little boy walking into heaven...

We saw lots of tractors on our drive to Chicago, so to be able to sit in a real one was pretty cool.

They had a real German submarine from WW2.  It was so cool.

This is my cautious child.  he was not sure that the glass would hold him in from falling down below.

Every day they place eggs ready to hatch out in an incubator and you can watch them peck through their shells!

This little guy hatched the day before and he liked following Jackson around the glass.

Another wing of the museum held all sorts of transportation machinery.  Trains.

All sorts of airplaines were hanging from the ceiling

Walking around downtown, we saw this Bentley/Lamborghini store.  My husband picked out the green one here. I had to wipe the drool off his chin...

We made a visit to Sprinkles cupcakes!  They were SO good. (and pricey, but hey, it's vacation)

Pizzeria Uno-the same as Pizzeria Due, just the first one they opened, thus, it's called Uno.  We always eat at Due b/c it's got a bigger dining area.  However, deep dish takes about 45 minutes to cook once ordered, so with 2 kids this time, we learned to call it in and eat it at our hotel (which was literally across the street).  We gave Gino's East deep dish a try, since it's famous too, but to us, there was no contest:  Pizzeria Due is BY FAR the better pizza.  They invented it, so that's probably why.

A day at the Field Museum of Natural History.

Of course, the Blackwells arrived early before it opened, so we played hide and seek in the lobby area.

More hide and seek.

The Field museum building itself is a beautiful building.

Sue.  The world's biggest best preserved T Rex fossil.  Named after the lady who found it in Utah.

Beautiful ceiling in the Field Museum.

Mini Golf another day at Navy Pier

The Ferris Wheel.  This, is the kind of weather when we should have gone for a ride in it.

a Kiddie ride at Navy Pier.  Fun times. 

Chicago part I

FINALLY! Pictures from our trip to Chicago and Northern Michigan!  This will be a multi-part series due to the insane amount of pictures I took.  So, here's the first of our time in Chicago!

Leaving Waco at 5 in the morning.  Jackson jumped out of bed and ran out of his room saying "I have to go check the map!"

Sloan is a little slower at waking up than his brother.

Stopping in Arkansas for lunch.  At 10:00.  Because we ate breakfast at 4 am before we left.

Can you believe that we saw Thomas on the highway?!  He was on his way to Chicago, and was probably sleeping, which explains why his face was covered up.

As soon as we got to Chicago we headed to Navy Pier. 

Playing

An anchor on Navy Pier

Mr. Frowny Face made an appearance, but we weren't having any of that for our first day in Chicago...he cheered up quickly after this.

One of the times we came to Chicago before, Jackson was 1 year old and he rode this train.  Now, it's a tradition every time we go to Chicago.  We have to ride the generic Thomas train.

Waiting to get on the Ferris Wheel.  Trivia: Did you know the very first Ferris Wheel was invented and used in Chicago for the Columbian Exhibition (i.e. World fair?)

On the Ferris wheel.  The rainclouds passed over before we got on and then CAME BACK!  The wind and rain and dark clouds made me a little more than nervous.

Riding the city bus like he's been doing it his whole life.

the mean streets of Chicago.  :)

The world needs one more Blackwell.

Because I am TERRIBLE at keeping things from people, and because you are kind enough to read my blog, I am sharing with you FIRST (after family, of course) that we will be welcoming a new bitty Blackwell in early April!!

I literally found out two days ago. The day after we got back from our trip up north. Funny thing: on the drive home, I made Jesse stop and pullover so I could go to the bathroom a lot more than I did on the way up. He complained, and I said, "hey, maybe I'm pregnant" to which he replied that it would be weird to have to go pee so early in a pregnancy, but it was the same way with my other two. Fast forward one day and HA! I told him so! What I like most about his reaction when I told him was the high-five he gave me. What a guy thing!

So, I'm about five weeks along. It's early, and I was going to wait and publish this news on the blog and Facebook after my first dr appointment, but I couldnt' wait. SO.....those of you who know me on FB, keep it on the DL for a few more weeks, please! (yes, I know it is ridiculous to ask this to be kept on the DL when I am posting it on the internet).

We are SO excited to welcome a new little life into our family! And all the wine I bought at the wineries in Michigan will have to wait 9 months to be drunk...

guilty

OK, Ok, Ok. I know I've been promising to post pics of my trip up north, but man oh man, it takes a lot of work to get back into the groove of things and readjust after two weeks away! Not to mention, I also have all the daily stuff that needs to be done.

Anyway, the only thing standing between you and pics is my aunt's will. Strange. Actually, I'm making her will and I told her I'd have it done by Jackson's birthday party, which is next Saturday. Yikes! I'll be spending my last free day (the last day the boys are in school until regular school starts (which, by the way, is NEXT Thursday for Jackson...what?!--I never got any of the emails from the school, so this was a big surprise for me when we got back.)

So, I'm guilty of being a slacker and procrastinating on the pics. I'm a bad, bad blogger and need a timeout. there.

Beautiful and Amazing

Today, our last day of vacation in Michigan, we went to the BIG lake.  Lake Michigan--a part of the lake where Otter creek runs into Lake Michigan.  We used to come here a lot when we lived here before, and just as I remembered, it is an amazing place!  I took a bajillion pictures, so you will definitely see them soon when I get a chance to upload all 500+ photos onto my computer at home! 

One of the many highlights of the day:  Papa (my dad) caught a couple of little fish (they looked like sardines to me, but who knows) and they were "adopted" by Sloan and Jackson as pets.  Sadly, this adoption did not end happily...the fish were man-handled, or rather, boy-handled and died, but that didn't keep them from being held in hand as pets... 

Jackson's adventure up north has left him grasping for adjectives to describe his experience.  This morning, when he got his little fish:  "This fish is BEAUTIFUL papa!"  and when he found a rock that he liked: "this rock is AMAZING!"    sigh.  It's been a good vacation.  We have made lots of memories.  I would love to make this a yearly trip, but we shall see.  We definitely have to come back so Sloan can have more vivid memories of the place.

Hope you all get to have, or have had a chance to have a wonderful, memory making vacation such as this!

almost over

Well, vacation is almost over. Only one more full day after today. We've been so busy having fun and relaxing!

I still can't figure out how to get pics from my ipad to Blogger, so any and all pics will have to wait until I get home and use the ol' desk top. Maybe I need to find an app for blogging. Any suggestions?

Being back up in Northern Michigan, I realize how many things I miss about this place and how many things I don't. FOr one, I miss this weather!!!! It's been perfect weather, with even a day of rain, which is more than welcome for this Texas girl! Most of you know, Texas has been SO dry and SO hot. I will not be missing this place, however, come January and February. I miss the water up here. Every.single.body.of.water.is.crystal.clear. I have taken lots of pictures, but pictures don't do it justice. It's breathtaking and awesome to swim in. You'd be hard pressed to find a lake that I'd love dunking my head underwater in in Texas. Not so, here.

Anyway, time to get back to vacay. I am meeting up with some mom friends that I had here. I am looking forward to seeing their kids another 3 years older!