Point Betsie

After going grocery shopping a bit south of Glen Lake in Benzie we went home a different route up M22. We wanted to see a couple of the lighthouses. We stopped at the Frankfort light house the the parking lot was PACKED and the breakfront was closed to foot traffic due to high winds and waves. So we looked at it from the car. We also stopped at Point Betsie. There was a fee to climb the light tower and Autumn was too short to do it anyway, so maybe next time. The waves here were fun to run from. The colors were unbelievable, the pictures just don't quite do it justice. I keep trying to find yarn in these colors to weave something, no such luck yet.

On the Road

This was a place we stopped on the UP to have lunch, the 'beach' was a bit flooded, it was high tide. You can see the path to the beach in one of the pictures below. This rest stop had huge rocks, quite a number of them. Autumn of course, had to climb every single one. It was a long lunch break. :) It's nice on a multi-day trip to have places were you can stop, stretch your legs, and also have amazing scenery. Much better than your average interstate rest area!

Glen Lake Part 1

And we're off! We are headed to Michigan for a week of rest, relaxation, and battery recharging. Someone is going to have to drag me away. Ended up taking Nero with us as he had a bit of a mental breakdown during our short hop to Nebraska. If we had another cat or something he probably would have been just fine but a fish for company just isn't enough. He and Autumn enjoyed the backseat views. (this is going to be in parts otherwise it would be a VERY LONG post!)

Autumn loves to read maps. She will spread them out on the floor and pour over them for a long time. So when we got an updated Wisconsin map she got the old one to "help navigate".

We stopped for lunch in Wisconsin and Autumn was determined to get this pump to work. It took Daddy's height and muscles to really get it going. All her weight did nothing but lift her feet off the ground. :)

We got to The Mackinac Bridge our second day, going out it was foggy and when we came back it was cloudy and rainy so this is the best shot we got. Tried to get one of

Autumn and the bridge but when I got good ones of the bridge all I'd get was the back of her head or her backside and when I got good ones of Autumn the bridge was mostly hidden. oh well :)

Two wiped out kiddos. We are almost to our destination and they decided to rest up so they could play later.

Tree Climbing

Autumn climbing this gigantic tree. She probably could have gone up and down and over and through and around this tree for more than the hour we gave her. :) turn up your volume, Autumn has some good comments.

Big Tree

Since Autumn was born we've come to this tree once a year and taken pictures. It sure takes longer to hike there than we remember each year. When we first started our walk Autumn took one look at all the trees and said "Oh, the forest, we have to recsue grandma and grandpa" (she seems to think they are lost in the forest, no idea why, but she is always wanting to recsue them from the forest). So she took off at a run to find them. We walked and walked and walked and....... Using a makeshift "tripod" and with a running jump up the tree Kurt managed to take some good pictures of the three of us. As you can see behind us in the zoomed out shot, this tree has not made it through the latest batch of storms unscathed. The two huge trunks that stood up in the back are now lying on the ground behind this bohemeth. You can kind of see one in the bottom left corner. It was still a lot of fun to climb it and accidentally slide down it. Wonder what it will look like next summer?

the videos wouldn't load I'll try them again another time.

Dino Dress and Large Friends

A few weeks ago we went to the Mall of America to meet some of the Backyardigans and as a bonus also got to give a kiss to Ming-Ming. We had to wait in line for about half an hour as we got there right at the end of the first time slot. That didn't seem to bother Autumn at all, she waited so patiently I couldn't believe it was my daugher! When our turn came Autumn zipped over and hugged Tyrone, Pablo, and Uniqua about a dozen times bouncing back and forth between then. It was the funniest thing to watch. That same day Autumn won a build a bear when we walked through the door of that store to get a gift for a friend. How lucky was her day?!?!

This is the other dress I made for Autumn. I had to borrow a friend's sewing machine to finish it since mine is kaput! ARUGH. She loves it and that's what matters.