We're home.....

We are home SAFE and sound...and we had a W*O*N*D*E*R*F*U*L time!!! I've not laughed so much...and so hard...in so long......and like good medicine...laughter does the soul good!!!

We left Minnesota on August 26th to meet my parents 1/2 way to their home in Wisconsin, then it was early to bed and early to rise as we left for Mackinaw Island at 6:00am. It certainly was a LONG drive along the North Shore pulling a huge fifth wheel, and traveling down a curvy two lane road. After 7 hours of driving...stopping...eating.....laughing...we finally arrived and camped right on the lake shores of Lake Heron.

It didn't take long to get things set up and we were ready to head out sight seeing! Here Ashley is with my parents as we are ready to hit the sights!!

We spent one entire day in Mackinaw City visiting all of the cute little shops, eating lunch on the lake shore and then we where off to visit Colonial Michilimackinac.

Ashley is a huge history buff and she could hardly wait to visit the 13 buildings that are inhabited by a regiment of redcoats as well as traders and colonial ladies who demonstrate cooking, sewing, and other domestic arts of the time.

Next stop was an hour drive to the Canadian border where we went on a Soo-Locks boat tour that took us into Canada!! It was very interesting to see and experience what the huge ocean liners go through as they bring their goods into the United States.

Following the boat tour, we toured a HUGE boat that had a lot of artifacts from the Edmund Fitzgerald. For those of you who are not familar with the Edmund Fitzgerald, it was a huge ocean liner that went down in a storm in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975. We were amazed as we watched video from the rescue workers, to other boat captains who were sailing Lake Superior at the very time the Fitzgerald went down!

(I couldn't resist to post a picture of Annabelle. She too had a wonderful time on vacation...visiting the sights!! )




Then, finally Thursday arrived and Ashley was beside herself with excitement as we headed to the boat docks to head for Mackinaw Island!! Of course, words, and pictures do NOT do justice to how beautiful it is on the Island!!

The only form of transportation on the Island is either:

a. horse

b. bike

c. your legs!

It's amazing how huge boats bring all of the supplies to the Islands for those who live there! Here are a few pictures of the beautiful home's we saw:

We were also amazed to see a rather large school on the Island for those children who are growing up on Mackinaw Island!!

After walking close to 8 miles....in 8 1/2 hours...we were exhausted and ready to head back home.

We then spent the remained of our weekend visiting with both sides of our families as they said their final *Good-byes* to Ashley as she is now down to 7 days until she leaves for YWAM!! It was very heart wrenching to watch the good-bye exchange between Ashley and my Mom!! :-)

We are now home safe and sound...and we already have one day of school under our belt!!! Last night we celebrated the first day of school (for Andrew) with our annual pizza party...which consists of too much food...and lots of laughter!!!

I wonder if my dh and I will continue to have pizza parties once the kid's are both off at college???