Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Detour Roadside Park

Sunday was the annual baptism and church picnic at Detour Roadside Park. I didn't take pictures of the service (We were late, the battery died in our car and we hadn't noticed the clock was wrong). It's so special to have baptisms in Lake Huron, I was bummed to miss it! We did get to join the picnic afterwards. I didn't take pictures of that either, I just enjoyed it!

It was a cooler day, but Lake Huron was gorgeous!








My youngest took off and went swimming in the middle of "Amazing Grace":




This picture is the result of a delayed response of my phone's camera... it's not what I intended, but I still like it!




Beautiful!




Sand! (So much of Huron's coastline is rocky)




A little island:




Stunning clouds:












Blessed :)

Location:Detour

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Wild Rover- Irish Fare in Marquette

I am in Marquette and ate lunch at the Wild Rover. The Wild Rover, Public House & Bistro, is Irish!


Here's the wonderful interior:


The view of downtown Marquette out the window:


Tomato basil soup and corned beef sandwich I ordered!


It was so good! (and I wasn't very hungry to begin with!) Corned beef and cabbage on rye seemed perfectly Irish! (I think there's a teeny tiny bit of Irish on my dad's side.) It was honestly the best tomato soup I've had my whole life!


Awesome door to Wild Rover:


Here's the sign! If you're in Marquette, it's downtown on Washington Street. I know I want to eat there again!



Location:Marquette, MI

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Quick Visit to Fort Mackinac

Fort Mackinac is wonderful and deserves more than a quick visit. However, since we are blessed to live on Mackinac Island and able to visit easily, I think it's excusable in our case. My oldest daughter expressed a desire to visit the fort- she loves the Kids Quarters. There wasn't a ton of time before dinner, but we went anyhow!

In the Kids Quarters, there's an awesome training video on marching and proper positioning of your gun. There's a blue screen, so you can see yourself as a soldier on tv. So cool!


My littlest soldier spent a bit of time "training".



Checkers! Big sister understands the basic premise, and little sister pretty much messes the board up... Not the best sister bonding experience in our case.



Another room in the Kids Quarters has a dress up area. She has gotten the "picture pose" down! (It's a fabulous achievement!)





Little sister's picture pose is a little crazy... But still incredibly cute! (We're in the terrible twos)


Gotta love these!


Her big sister is holding her up so she can reach!


I'm obviously biased, but this child is too fun!



We visited the Guardhouse before we left (or, as the girls call it: the dungeon!)


The locked-up damsel role is apparently really fun.



There is SO much more to experience at Fort Mackinac. We didn't even sit through a rifle or cannon demonstration. We spent most of the time in the Kids Quarters (and I only took pictures of a fraction of the things to do there). Even in an hour, the girls had a blast!

Here's the lovely sky on our way home:



Location:Mackinac Island

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Family Bike Ride Around the Island

Yesterday, the girls and I enjoyed the school playground. It's amazing to play with the Mackinac Bridge in sight!





After work, Daddy joined us and suggested dinner at the Cannonball. This also means "Let's bike around the island" as the Cannonball is on the opposite side. So we did.

We stopped at Devil's Kitchen, and he chivalrously moved the burley to his bike.





I took this picture just past Devil's Kitchen- I love how tangled roots get here!



We made it to the Cannonball and enjoyed chicken tenders, fries, hot dog, and pizza between the four of us. I definitely had a chocolate shake- it was thick and excellent! (I still need to try their famous deep fried pickle.) I love their sign! It's true- the seagulls are a thieving crew!


Here are my Michigan Mittens at the Cannonball! (People share photos of them on the Michigan Mittens Facebook page)


And my Michigan Mittens by British Landing:



Lots of lovely sights as we biked home:





This is Silver Birches. This really old cool property is for sale!


Lake Huron:


The road behind us:


The sun setting:


There a lot of wildflowers along the road! I didn't take pictures where they are most abundant, but here are a few sweet wildflowers:


Arch Rock is one of my favorite spots on Mackinac Island!


The east lakeshore in the shadow of the island:


We figured out (through 4square) that last time we did a family bike ride was last August- we should do this more often!

Location:Mackinac Island

Friday, August 3, 2012

We Love the Butterfly House!

We love the Butterfly House! These pictures are from two recent visits.
This was a rainy day, so the Butterfly House wasn't as busy. Here the girls are watching butterflies eat old fruit from a hanging platter:








Look! A butterfly!


There are some birds too! They don't bother the butterflies, but they help take care of bugs that might!


My youngest enjoyed this lovely little bird!


While we were in the insect world portion, Willow the tortoise got out for a walk:





We love Willow too!



When we visited this week, it was a sunny day! It was pretty warm in the greenhouse, but the butterflies are much more active!








So pretty!





My oldest touched Willow's shell this time:


Little sister chickened out:



And an edited picture from dusk in front of Mission Point's Lakeside Marketplace!



Location:Mackinac Island