Good Times

- August 24, 2008

So, our week in Michigan....

The first whole day we spent there, we hung out with the Moms and my sister Sarah and her hubs Leo. Such sweet relaxing time! We were excited to find out that it also happened to be the week of the Great Lakes Folk Festival...talk about bees to honey. Bruce and I took the kids into E. Lansing and parked a couple miles away and rode the bus into the festival.

Baby's first bus ride!

We were lucky to catch the Crooked Road Revue set, and old timey band we all enjoyed.

We picked that particular week to go to MI because our dearest friends, the Marinos, daughter Jessica was having her HUGE graduation party that Saturday. They had given us the date over a year ago so there was no chance we would miss her big day!! We were so happy to be there to celebrate her and as an added bonus TONS of our friends were there too. It was so good to connect with y'all again, if only for a few hours!

The next day we headed out to visit with our friends Kassi and Joe who are recently engaged - CONGRATULATIONS!!! They just bought a beautiful home together and we enjoyed our day with them. Griffin had so much friend reuniting with his old buddy Madison (Maddie-moomoo).

We were able to sneak in a trip to our favorite restaurant, the Clarkston Union, with the Marinos. We met up with Bruce's Mom and my old place of employment, Papa Vino's. It was a great time to catch up with her and also visit with some of my good friends who still work there - plus the food there is delicious!

After a few wonderful days relaxing with the Moms, we headed back into the city one more time to spend the day with the Markle family. We have been keeping in touch with Vida and Matt and keeping track of Julia's every milestone but this is the first chance we had to meet this lovely little creature.

We spent an awesome afternoon hanging out in their garden and then walking into downtown Ferndale to take a peek at the Dream Cruise. Believe it or not, it was the first time I have ever witnessed the event! (For the non-Michigan readers: the dream cruise is a 3 day event where people who have classic cars come from hundred of miles around to cruise up and down a stretch of road through the northern Detroit suburbs. It is a HUGE event, drawing 1.5 million people, that boggles up traffic, books up all the hotels, floods all the restaurants for days before and after the event. Although loved by many, it makes the locals CRAZY!) We were lucky enough to walk up on the police/fire row where all the vintage police cars were parked. Griffin got to use the fire hose and that totally made his day....well 2nd only to helping Vida harvest veggies from the garden!

We were all happy when Matt got home from work. The proud Papas had fun showing each other their sweet baby girls. So good to be with such good friends!The next morning we set off for Goshen to visit Kelly (Bruce's sister) and her family and Bruce's parents, Steve and Lee. They are such an awesome family and we always enjoy the time we spend with them so much...always wish we had more time. This time we spent a lovely afternoon and their home talking, eating and fishing. They have an amazing property complete with a stocked pond. Griffin was so proud of the little fish he caught!