Rainy Days...

 

We often plan vacations that have a lot of outside activities, so we hold our breath when we check the weather. When I look back over our trips, I see that we have been blessed with much good weather to enjoy the things we planned to see. This trip was no exception, but we did have one extra-rainy day. You know what? We weren’t even sad about it. We’ve learned to find the value in mid-trip rest and in this case, we welcomed the rainy day as a chance to take naps, watch TV, talk, and take life slowly.

                Ryan was up early, so he went to Jave Joe’s, the coffee shop next to our hotel. He got coffee to go and delivered it to me in bed. What a wonderful way to start the day!

                The breakfast area for our hotel was actually the hotel restaurant, which was behind the main building. I was thankful the rain held off until after breakfast so we didn’t get soaked walking over to get food! Have I mentioned how good breakfast was at this place? So good.

                We rested all morning, and it was so good for the soul. We decided to drive back over the bridge to explore Mackinaw City and get some lunch over there. Goodness, I sure was glad this wasn’t bridge walk day!

                It was lightly raining, so we walked around the downtown Mackinaw City area with umbrellas and eventually settled on a lunch at a restaurant overlooking the lake. I failed to get a picture of the sign, so I forget the name of it. It wasn’t our favorite restaurant. The service wasn’t stellar, and that made us sad. The food was good, though. Lobster bisque and onion rings for Ryan and clam chowder and veggies for me. (We both brought part of it home.)

                We wanted coffee and dessert after lunch, but the only coffee shop we could find was Starbucks, and we wanted something local. Ryan found a shop that was open…for about five more minutes. We had to get ours to go (since they were closing) and enjoyed it in our vehicle instead. We hadn’t been off the sidewalk for more than 30 seconds when it started POURING.

                We spent the rest of the afternoon taking it easy. The rain eventually stopped, so we wandered around the beach area of our hotel. We hadn’t explored it yet, and it was our last day there, so we figured we should go.

                We cobbled together a dinner of leftovers and while we ate, we watched Somewhere in Time. I mentioned this a few days ago, so I’m circling back. If you aren’t familiar, this movie was filmed back in 1979 and starred Jane Seymore and Christopher Reeve. It was filmed on Mackinac Island and everyone always says you should watch it before you go. We forgot/ran out of time/didn’t, so we watched it on our rain day.

                Unpopular opinion here: I did not love the movie. Ryan liked it better than I did, but it wasn’t his favorite. I was a huge Dr. Quinn fan, so I had the worst time trying to see Jane Seymore as anyone other than Dr. Quinn. Ryan said he couldn’t see Christoper Reeve as anyone but Superman. We both agreed they did a great job in the movie, but we just struggled with our connection to them because we loved them as other characters. They had great chemistry, and we learned after some research that they were actually a couple at that time, so that probably helped with that!

                The movie is a time travel movie, and I hated the ending. Ryan felt like the ending was abrupt. I felt like it was abrupt and not what I hoped for. So there’s two hours we won’t get back.

                I’m so sorry if it’s your favorite movie. We just didn’t like it.

                We ended the day by packing up the bulk of our luggage so it would be ready the next day! And so ended our day of rest.

Sunday Snapshots: Memorable Moments from the Week

 

I feel like this week may not have been our best documentation representation. Ryan went back to work after our week of vacation, and both of us ran heartily throughout the week without pausing. So please overlook the awkwardness of pictures, but here are some of our favorites from the week.

After church and naps and such on Sunday, we all piled in the car and headed to see my parents. We hadn’t seen them since before our vacation, and we had flowers to deliver! Lexi and my dad were quite happy to see each other, and Mom was happy to see pretty new flowers arrive.

Monday evening I locked myself in our home office to work on a paper for school. Trying to learn the style of academic writing I need to know for my classes is quite a process, and I needed to really focus. While I did that, Ryan and Lexi worked on a packaging project for some things that needed to go in the mail. Lexi was so proud that she was “such” a helper!

Tuesday was a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnng day for me with lots of meetings and a trip to the hospital for visitation and office work and more meetings, and while I did that, Ryan and Lexi went on an adventure together. Ryan was so kind to have dinner waiting on the table for me when I finally got home about 8 p.m.

Wednesday was a lot like Tuesday, except I totally forgot to take pictures. When we got to church for our small groups, I took pictures of our respective class signs because that was the best I could do for documentation.

I chose to work from home on September 11^th so I could honor my long-standing tradition of watching documentaries all day long. I don’t think Lexi was upset at all to have me home after I was gone so much earlier in the week.

After a brain-frying Friday, Ryan so sweetly brought home pizza for dinner, and then we went on a bike ride after dinner. Time alone with him and time out on the bike was just what my heart needed. I was so happy!

We had small group last night, so I spent part of the day baking for that. I tried a new fresh-milled-flour recipe that was a coffee cake, and it was so pretty to make – and fun to plan in the kitchen.

Saturday Suggestions: Inspirations for Your Weekend

 

Yesterday I completed the bulk of an assignment for school, and when it was done, I asked Ryan if he could get me a shirt that said, “I feel like I’ve been run over by a bibliography.”

                I have zero bibliographies for you, but I do have a few fun things for your Saturday! Enjoy!

We do not have enough garden space to raise pumpkins – unless we give up growing everything else and just become a pumpkin patch house. (That’s not happening.) So…we have to purchase pumpkins each year when it comes time to decorate the porch. In the grand scheme of decorating purchases, the price of pumpkins isn’t terrible, but they don’t last forever, and sometimes it does feel frustrating to spend money on something that won’t last very long. (This is one reason I like to decorate early in September…I want to maximize the investment!) This post gives ideas for realistic faux pumpkins. The downsides to this idea are: expense at time of purchase and storage needs. But to reuse the pumpkins year after year? Might be worth it! (BONUS: KariAnne did a whole post about porch décor, and I confess I had more fun readig the comments than the post – even though the post was excellent. She took a poll on colors and decorating style for porches, and I was genuinely shocked with how many wanted a more simplified look!)

I have updated our travels and tours page here on the blog. From the top, the page includes: a chronological link to all our vacations, followed by our links to our Indiana county tours, and ending with the adventures we enjoyed in Abby the RV! If you’re looking for some ideas of places to visit, take a look! We’ve enjoyed our adventures and are happy to share what we’ve loved so you can love those places too! NOTE: We haven’t abandoned our county tour project. We originally paused it during the pandemic, because nothing was open to visit! Then we added Lexi to the family, and since many places we might visit aren’t pet-friendly, we are struggling to find a good way to go visit. We don’t want to leave her all the time, but our counties are distant enough that spending time there would require boarding her.

If you have ever felt that you should have lived in a different time (and not just for the nostalgia of a different era) take a look at this post from (in)courage. You were chosen for RIGHT NOW for a reason!!! I have to remind myself of this sometimes, so this was a perfectly timed read for me!

It seems like everyone wants to do more baking when fall arrives. Maybe they want to warm up the house, maybe they want to smell the spices…who knows!? But if you want some ideas for fall baking, here’s a whole bucket list of ideas from Taste of Home! Sign me up for the apple and maple flavors. It’s not that I dislike pumpkin, but I pick apple and maple over it any day!

I am of the opinion that there is never a bad time of year to eat ice cream – even if it’s cold. I also love cute food parties. You know that. So this ice cream sandwich bar idea feels like a perfect party idea!!! (BONUS: If an ice cream party really is too cold for you at this time of year, here’s a chili bar idea with multiple chili recipes and lots of ideas of what to serve WITH the chili!)

I enjoyed reading Mary’s post about her homemade eucalyptus salve, which she shared in anticipation of cold and flu season. If you like a home remedy (even if you pair it with traditional medicine) you might enjoy reading this too!

Island Celebrations...Part 2

 

Yesterday’s pause was needed in my heart. I spent the day working quietly at home, with my documentaries.

                Today I want to share with you a little more from our monthiversary (last week) on Mackinac Island. On our first trip to the Island, we rented a tandem bike and rode the perimeter trail. On our monthiversary, we rented individual bikes and rode all over the Island. Or we attempted to. Ryan did a great job. I did a lot of walking my bike, because if you did not know, this is one hilly island!

                We went through town and started by visiting the Grand Hotel. If you aren’t familiar with this hotel, it’s indeed a grand old hotel…built in 1887, actually! It has a commitment to elegance, so there is a dress code, and we are sure nowhere near it in this picture outside the hotel. But we have proof that we pedaled by the front of the hotel.

                We had the best time appreciating that beautiful homes around the Island. Of course I’d looked for the ones for sale. There aren’t many, and most are over a million dollars.

                We also enjoyed finding some of the highlight spots, including the Somewhere In Time gazebo (more on that movie another day) and Arch Rock.

                We loved the pretty houses and buildings, but we also appreciated the beauty of nature!

                We spent the last hour of our time in Mackinac sitting on a bench in front of a coffee shop, sipping on our afternoon coffee and eating some fudge. Mackinac Island is famous for its fudge, so we couldn’t leave without trying it! We also did a lotttttttttttttttt of people watching. I think our favorite was the lady who pulled a stick of deodorant out of her bag and just put it on right there in front of the coffee shop.

                We caught the ferry back to St. Ignace, and on the return trip, we were able to sit on the top. It was MUCH cooler up there than it had been for our trip over that morning.

                We were pretty tired from a day in the sun and all the pedaling (and bike-walking), so we grabbed Subway and ate dinner in our room.

                I’m not sure what we’re doing for our October monthiversary, but I don’t think we can top this.