Our Last Day in Michigan

Thursday was to be our last day in Charlevoix. We went to lunch at a place overlooking the drawbridge.

Afterward we went to the beach to look for Petoskey stones one last time. On our way back to the cabin, there was something in the road. From a distance we couldn't tell what it was. I stopped my car and got out to get a better look.

I'd say it's a turtle, but you could probably talk me out of that. If you'd asked me a day ago if turtles ever have tails that long with big spikes on them, I'd have said NO.

Here's a photo with my kids, showing the scale of this turtle-like thing.  They're keeping their distance.

Relaxing on the Island

After biking all over the island we were ready for a change of pace. We walked through some of the parts of the town that we hadn't seen yet.

It really is a very beautiful place and the absence of cars means that it is quite peaceful.

The kids really wanted to take a ride on one of the horse-drawn buses, but we didn't need to go anywhere.  In fact, at that hour, we needed to stay roughly where we were so that we could meet up with everyone else in our group.

Aunt Terra was the first person we found. My oldest was delighted to wear her hat - the biggest hat I have ever seen ever.

We found a bit of shade and settled in to wait for the group to come together. The kids gathered around the mini-DVD player that I brought along. Terra read a book, and I stared at a crescent moon, watching as it progressed across the late afternoon sky.

Biking on Mackinac Island

Early on Wednesday, we set our sights even further north and left Charlevoix for Mackinaw City. There, we caught a ferry to Mackinac Island. Don't let the spelling confuse you. They're both pronounced with the "w" ending.

Here we all are at the dock.

There aren't any cars on the island, which is accessible by private boat or chartered plane, ferries, or you can wait for winter temperatures to freeze the lake and then you can drive over on a snowmobile. We opted for the ferry.

The ride took about 20 minutes. The boats move pretty fast, creating that jet of water off the back as they go.

Once on land, we rented some bikes and took off on a tour of the island. The two older girls had two wheelers, and my youngest rode on a trail-behind attached to my bike.

I was unprepared for the difficulty of this arrangement. I could barely keep balanced in the beginning and thankfully other riders chose to cut a wide berth around us. After the first mile (it was 8 miles to go all the way around) it got easier, and I decided to try taking a photo of the older girls while I rode behind them . . .

That wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done, and though I didn't crash while trying I decided it was best not to try it again.

Shortly after taking the picture of the kids we had a few really near misses, brief moments of terror followed by frank amazement that nobody broke and arm or got mangled by oncoming bikers. Every few minutes I'd shout ahead to remind the girls to slow down, stay to the right, get away from the center, use their brakes (rather than their feet on the pavement).  Nerve wracking.

We biked around the eastern side of the island and returned down the center, a path the British took during the war of 1812.

This route took us past the airport, a golf course, a battled field and two cemeteries, and the old fort. The whole trip took us three hours.  In the end, I was proud of how well the kids did and delighted to have avoided serious injury.

We celebrated with ice cream. I decided to have some too, settling on the cherry moose tracks which did not disappoint.

Travers City National Cherry Festival

Festivals. They're mixed bag aren't they? They're crowded and hot and everything costs more than it should. And yet it's an experience and it's fun and it's about being there at a limited-time-only event.

The Travers City Cherry Festival had two sections; a cherry half and a carnival half. The kids couldn't resist the carnival.

Here's my youngest, just before her first ever attempt to pop a balloon with a dart. She got three tries and popped a balloon on her last try. She won a small stuffed whale and could not have been happier about it.

Her sister and cousin had a blast on the rides:

But they decided against the Starship 3000 once they saw how fast it went and how long it would keep them spinning.

Our endurance and our money seemed to run out at about the same time, so we returned to the cherry part of the festival where the kids each chose a cherry treat.

We tried the chocolate covered cherries, cherry jelly beans, and here, the kids are sharing a cherry slushy.  There was so much there--cherry flavored beef jerky, salsas and BBQ sauces, pastries, pies, tarts, licorice ropes and cotton candy.  Cherry everything.

Petoskey Stones

One of the things to do in Charlevoix that you can't do anywhere else is hunt along the beach for Petoskey stones. Apparently, you can't find them anywhere but northern Michigan.

Most of the waterfront near Charlevoix is rocky, so that's a good place to start. Here you can see that there's a really wide variety of rocks along the coast of Lake Michigan. I didn't expect that.

We spent the early evening down by the water.

I even found a couple Petoskey stones. They're small, only a few centimeters wide.  It was fun finding them.

The Kids

I must have taken a few dozen pictures of the girls all together, but this is the best one.

We had time to kill and nowhere to go so the kids were playing in the leftover spot between a McDonald's parking lot and the loading zone of a grocery store. And you can tell, you can see it on their faces, they were having a wonderful time because they were together.

Just to the north of downtown, there's a channel that connects lake Michigan with Lake Charlevoix and Charlevoix harbor. It's an Army Corp of Engineers project.

There's a draw bridge over the channel. The blue sign in the background states that it opens on the hour and half hour from 6 AM to 10 PM.

During the day sailboats with tall masts cue up, waiting for the bridge to open.

Nearby, there was this sign:

I took the picture because I'd seen other signs like this sprinkled around northern Michigan, and because I'd never heard of Zonta before. Taking a photo is one of the ways I remind myself to look into things that are unfamiliar to me.

Turns out, Zonta is just like Kiwanis, or Rotary, or Lion's Club, only it's ladies instead of gentlemen.

Charlevoix on the Forth of July

Charlevoix is a sleepy summertime town. We were there in the early afternoon looking around the old downtown. What did we find there? Mostly shops catering to tourists.

And in Charlevoix, what the tourists want is chocolate and ice cream. We did not resist.

The flavor the girls chose is called 'superman', I think. But what I know is that they liked it.

Tiny Tots Beauty Shop

On the morning of the 4th of July, the little kids decided they wanted to play beauty shop. They found many obliging adults to act as canvases for their make-up artwork.

It was fun to look so colorful.

Later, we had to wipe it off before going into Charlevoix's cute little downtown.

First and Second

I neglected to bring my camera to the actual wedding and I regret it. I've grown accustomed to the camera. If it's in my hands I always have something to do, and if I see something I like I can share the memory of it with others.

Katie and Brian's wedding was lovely. There were a handful of children at the reception and they immediately gravitated toward an enormous chess board at the site. I spent a few happy minutes helping some of them play the game. I had to ask a few other adults about some of the rules of chess that I'd forgotten.

Here's my daughter (in the back) with her first cousin on the left and her second cousin on the right.

Thanks to my sister-in-law Terra for taking pictures. I swiped this one from her facebook page.

Wedding BBQ

The night before the wedding, Brian and Katie invited friends and family to join them for a kick-off BBQ. It was casual and fun. My husband's aunt arranged all the food which was delicious. Location couldn't have been better--a pavilion in a park right on the beach. There was a playground less than 50 feet away. Perfect.

It was really fun to meet the bride's family. Her parents are in this photo, standing together to the right of the pillar.  They're very nice, fun-loving.  Here, they're listening to the bride's maids who were giving advice to the soon-to-be newly-weds.

On the far left, Katie. On the far right, Brian. And between them two bride's maids. Their advice was mostly silly (things like Katie is always right) but there were a few touching things in there too, and I liked that.

Happy Birthday

On the left is my mother-in-law, who just had a birthday right before the family got together in Michigan.

Next to her is her sister, who (in addition to seeing to all the food and lodging for me and everyone else) made that enormous cake to celebrate.

Behind them is John Wayne, I think.  That was part of the eclectic decor at the cabin where we stayed. 

Along the Way

I couldn't help it. I was driving, camera in hand, snapping photos of these amazing places, all of them in Illinois:

I really would love to take a tour of a farm just like one of these.  I'd love to learn how all that stuff works and what it's for. Someday, I'd like to know.

The second day we continued north along the western edge of Michigan.  Our drive took us into territory that was less industrial farming and more recreational. Here are the signs to prove it:

There were loads trucks pulling campers, boats, bikes, etc. Like everyone else, were were headed north to have some fun.  We arrived on schedule, none the worse for wear.

Northward

Friday was the girls' last day of art camp. They had a very good experience with this camp and have given it an unqualified endorsement, as have I. I'm glad we tried it.

The next adventure began right away: a week in Michigan with my husband's family. The first step was driving there. I picked up the kids and set my sights on Chicago--pretty much the half-way point between St. Louis and northern Michigan.  It's a 5-6 hour drive, doable with an afternoon departure.

Traffic was terrible but I didn't mind. I would have normally, but I happened to be stuck in mostly not moving traffic right in front of what is probably my favorite view of the city. The interchange between highways 44, 55, and 70 is a place that you'll never really look at properly in optimal travel conditions. You zip through so fast that you can hardly appreciate it, much less take a picture. But traffic was terrible, stop and go but mostly stop.  All those stops were great opportunities to pull out my camera and I got a few good pictures.  Now I can show people a little bit of St. Louis from my favorite vantage point.

There's a huge controversy around that mural-sized sign that reads "Stop Eminent Domain Abuse". The guy who painted it owns that building and several others and, well, he has a bone to pick with the city of St. Louis. Here's an article about it.

Directly after that interchange, the path northward takes you across the Mississippi river into Illinois, Chicago bound.

This is what the highway sign looks like:

The picture shows highway 70 West continuing northward. Exits for downtown are also ahead just a little way. But first, everyone one who wants to continue their journey on highways 64 East, 55 North, 70 East -- All of them will have to squeeze down to one single lane.

Who thought that was a good idea?

That little bit of bad design causes traffic to back up at probably every hour of the day.  On bad days it backs up all the way to the 44/70 interchange.  So it's that little bit of bad design which enabled me to take photos of my favorite view of downtown. I guess I shouldn't complain.  It really made my day to be able to take pictures at my favorite spot.

First

Probably nobody who reads this will already know that I come from a family full of women who have never pierced their ears. As children, my three sisters and I naturally begged for pierced ears because everyone had them and earrings were so pretty and grown-up looking. 

But at some point the begging stopped and life moved on without little holes in our ears.

I honestly never think about my ears these days.

Well, my youngest and soon-to-wed sister has been thinking about hers. With her wedding just around the corner, she recently decided she'd go for it.  She's become the first one in the family to do it. It feels like a big deal and it feels mundane at the same time.

In the photo she's about to have her ears pierced. She's talking it over with the sales girl who will do it.

Meanwhile, my girls were completely taken in with the consumer wonderland aspect of the shop.

They had just about every kind of dress up thing a little girl could want.

It all went well and only a few minutes later we were at the other end of the mall where my sister selected some makeup, just another finishing touch for the big day.

An Evening at the Botanical Garden

The Missouri Botanical Garden has a summer concert series. After 5 pm admission is free and folks begin to arrive with picnic dinners. A few hours later the music starts.

We spent the evening checking out a new exhibit of "tree houses".  There were quite a few neat designs, and all included lots of wood scraps, bark, etc.

The kids liked this one. Here they are on the inside:

Here's another one, a freestanding play house with tree-bark siding.

Soon, we were off to the Children's Garden.

It's one of the kids' favorite parts of the Botanical Garden; full of hands-on, climb-upon exhibits for kids.

This little watercourse illustrates how locks and dams work. In the past, there were boats there too. The boats were gone this time, though.

Then we were off to explore the caves.

Last stop of the day? Snowcones.

Ah, summer.

Roast

It's awfully fun in the summer time to roast marshmallows. That's what the girls did with my dad mid-week.

They'd already roasted hot dogs for all of us for dinner. It was late, well past bedtime, when we remembered about the marshmallows. The coals were still hot, but not too hot--in other words they were perfect.

I should add that my family doesn't grill. We camp.  That's why they're gathered around coals in the dutch oven on the back patio.

Art Camp at Laumeier

We're trying a lot of new things this summer, specifically we're trying out day camps. There are lots to choose from in St. Louis, and this week, the kids are doing an art camp at Laumeier Sculpture Park.

In addition to all the normal summer camp things (nature hikes and games and trips to the swimming pool), there are daily art sessions. The kids get to paint, collage, sculpt, etc. during the camp.

I'll have to post some pictures of their projects later on.

It'll be an adventure trying out this camp and a few others. Still to come are camps at the zoo and the city park near my parents' home.

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

One of the highlights of the summer will be my sister's wedding. On Sunday, she stopped by with her fiance, who happens to be extremely good with children. That's fortunate since there are so many in our extended family.

He explained the rules of monopoly to my kids and their cousins and kept the peace during the game that followed.

His overview of the rules included several reminders that you have to pay the price listed on the card, and you have to pay it immediately rather than installments made over time. Apparently there's a new version of monopoly where you can negotiate and pay little by little. I'll have to play that kind of monopoly some time--maybe one of my nieces or nephews will teach me.

First Birthday

In our big, extended family there are a lot of summer birthdays. The first of the summer is my Moms.

Here she is with all of her grandchildren.

It's amazing to me, the number of circumstances that led to all of us being together on her birthday. I can't help wondering if it will ever happen again, wondering how many years will pass between now and then.

The Flights

During the summertime we fly from Beirut to the US where we rest, recreate, and visit family.

This requires three planes and four airports over about 24 consecutive hours. To get through it as comfortably as possible, we pack very light-weight carry on bags which include some fun stuff (like magazines and snacks) and some practical stuff (like a tooth brush and a change of clothes).

Change of clothes comes in handy when your luggage gets lost and you have to survive with nothing else for a few days.

And when the magazines fail, it's good to have electronic back-up plans.

This year, flying was easier than it has ever been. The kids are so big, so good at doing the airport thing. They're such great travel buddies and they seem to get better and better every year.

Still, our layover in Paris was a real low point. I got on the wrong bus and ended up on the wrong side of the airport and undoing that error was tricky. Then, during the first of several security checks I discovered that cough syrup had spilled inside my carry-on, my daughter had stashed a gooey half-eaten pear in the bag with her i-phone, and that the Beirut Airport had neglected to issue me baggage claim numbers and I had neglected to notice.

All that, and still, still this is the easiest it has ever been which is completely awesome and it makes me absolutely love my life.