Life at my Folks' House

Phil started his job in Muskegon, and we've been living with my parents until our apartment becomes available (in mid-late July).
The best part of moving- seeing my niece and nephew more!


She loves being with her cousins!


My brother Andrew visiting with his 4 month old son:


My "little" brother Heath, a cool uncle :)


He joined us on a quick trip to get groceries. Heath had to rein me in a little because I was getting too excited over prices down here. (Apparently 2 bags of bagels for $6 is normal here... They're $5 a bag on Mackinac Island!)

My little helpers!


We enjoyed some rain earlier this week,. and the girls played in it!


Marble works! They are as awesome as I remember!


A tire swing out back!



I'm job searching. Anyone going to the island for Lilac Festival? I can't believe I missed the lilacs this year! :/ These Instagram photos are from last year:





I'm mackinacmommy on Instagram too. I will eventually change it, but I'm not ready just yet!

Move off of Mackinac Island :(

There's a reason I've been so quiet- we moved off of Mackinac Island over the weekend. My husband is working on a seminary degree with the goal of full-time ministry. He was offered a position with the Christian non-profit Love INC of Muskegon County. A worthy reason to leave the island! (But I admit I'm rather heartbroken). It happened so quickly I didn't get the chance to say goodbye to many dear Mackinac folks. We packed up our household in two weeks. We fetched boxes with our burleys.





We have too much stuff! (An ever present truth when packing). These are our movies... And we needed one more box. (Don't even ask how many boxes we have of books!)


My oldest went on a road trip with her grandma, which was helpful for our packing. Here she shows off her drawing of the Mackinac Bridge while on the ferry:


Oh man! The fact that this is no longer home is killing me!


Mission Point was wonderful! And the send off cake was incredible. The frosting was as tasty as truffles. And there were fresh strawberries in the layers- so good!


There are two ways to move off of Mackinac- by dray or by luggage cart. We used the latter:


My husband may be a packing genius:


It was great to see one last old fashioned bicycle before we left!


The girls went to grandma's for our final day of moving. Hey! This isn't a catamaran!


I actually broke down and cried while buying fudge before I caught my final ferry off. Who'd have thought I'd get so sentimental over fudge! (I wasn't much better on the ferry- my apologies to the couple sitting behind me.)


It took a lot of work- thank you Dad for making the big drive and helping!


And thank you to Arnold Line Ferry for being so helpful!



I have taken SO many pictures while on Mackinac Island, I can continue my blog. Plus, I will have to visit!

A busy week!

Last weekend was the 40th annual Women Today Retreat.
Our mini sessions enacting the Book of Ruth went well. We've been working on it for months, and it was good to finally do it!

This is fun- look where everyone had come from! There were hundreds of women.



The day after the conference, we celebrated my firstborn's birthday! It was a Justice League / Jellyfish party (bet that's the only time I'll experience that combo!)
The birthday girl!


Phil found decorate-able masks:


Little sister enjoyed it:


So did her cousin:


While we were at the conference, the girls made jellyfish decorations:


Grandma made the jellyfish cake!


Daddy found the marshmallow "tentacles":


We looked ALL over for Justice League toys. Wonder Woman is her favorite. Phil finally found an adult snuggie-type blanket featuring the heroine:





All I found was a Superman sticker book that included Wonder Woman a little.



There is so little available for girls who like superheroes. Disappointing. You know, if a boy liked Barbies, he could find a Ken doll. We noticed the gender disparity while Christmas shopping. She is also a Power Ranger fan- stores carried masks for the boys, but none of the girls! Grrrr!

She was looking forward to receiving a birthday crown at school on her birthday- here it is! Little things make such a big difference- thank you, thoughtful teachers!


This week, we tested her bubble gun (batteries not included!) It was super cool!








We got snow on multiple occasions. This is the last full week of April. Brrrr! These are shots of snowy bikes at the school in the morning:






Downtown is getting busier. Signs and awnings are going up:


There was an earth day concert at the school. The kindergarten and first graders did great- it was cute! (My girl is on the left with the pink headband):


It was a full week! I'm tired!

Positive and Negative

Today was a little nutty. There were positive aspects and negative, too.

Positive: the orange fencing is coming down around Mission Point property! I realize it serves a purpose (protecting the miniature golf course and flowers from snowmobiles), but it doesn't look as pretty in pictures. I am happy to see them put away! Another sign of spring!



Positive: Martha's Sweet Shop's sign went up! The return of signs is wonderful downtown!



Negative: It snowed. And it was the tiny hail-like snow. Which really hurts when blown into your face at 30mph. I missed my snowmobile helmet.



Negative: The wind blew in ice. I'm not sure whose ice it was, but it wasn't ours yesterday. It looks like we've lost progress on spring.



Negative: Today's ferry was packed, and the straits were wavier than normal. The boat did a lot of rocking back and forth. A toddler in front of us threw up on his dad. Poor kid. (I don't blame him, I was feeling nauseated myself.)



Positive: I got to attend the Women Today Retreat in Sault Ste. Marie. It's the 40th anniversary, and over 500 women are participating. This is LSSU's Anchor Room where Phil and I get to lead a breakout session tomorrow. (We've spent this winter memorizing the book of Ruth, and I'm looking forward to sharing it... I'm simultaneously nervous.)



Negative: The high winds knocked out trees. One of which landed on the swing set. We go to Phil's folks almost every weekend, so the girls play here regularly.


Positive: Phil's dad thinks it can be fixed.

Negative: Driving back from the Soo was crazy. The combination of wind and snow led to white out conditions. I wanted to take a picture, but I was alone and driving. I played it safe.
This tree fell down on the road. and Phil and his folks had to move it off the road earlier tonight.


Positive: God is good and kept us safe!