Happy birthday Drew!!

 if you ask anyone in our family who their favorite person was in the family and they honestly answered, they would say Drew. He's easy to love. I often reflect on our dating months and realize how little I knew him and man, did I luck out! He's a great provider, and an amazingly patient dad and husband. I know I could ask him to do just about anything and he would make it happen even if his poor body was acheing. He's generous with his time and seems to have more than anyone around him. And he never stops improving! 

I Love you drew, happy 32!!!

Hiking, bears and lakes

Drew wanted to touch as many Great Lakes a he could- this is Lake Michigan 

Taquamenon falls 

We found a bear sanctuary that was pretty interesting. It's a family owned home for bears. Did you know that in many states it's legal to own a bear? Well, people actually buy bears and then later realize they can't take care of them, and this place takes them. We actually got to feed and pet a cub. 

And Lake Superior 

One night G collected peices of crabs...

Our last night camping it rained and rained, we all slept amazing! Isn't camping in the rain dreamy? Well, until you realize you have to use the bathroom and pack up the car. 

This trip was amazing! The nights cooled off into the 40's we enjoyed the outdoor beauty and spotty phone reception. It was the perfect little family vacation. 

Up in the UP

We crossed over to the upper peninsula to camp on the banks of Lake Huron and because it was The 4th of July we had to light some fireworks. 

Mackinac island (pronounced like mackinaw)

One word to describe Mackinac island is dreamy. Seriously we have already started plans to go back. The island is the only place in the US that doesn't allow any motor vehicle- no cars, motorcycles, scooters, nothing! Only bikes and horse drawn carriages. The island is known for its fudge so that's what main steet smells like. Yum! We hiked around and fell in love with this island, the lawns were perfectly manicured, flowers the size of your head,  the most beautiful homes and picturesque hikes. We had the perfect day. 

Annie could not get enough of all the wild flowers. 

Lake Huron. 

The movie Somewhere in Time was filmed here. Recognize the Grand Hotel? 

Michigan- Dayton and Detroit

I have been wanting to visit michigan for years and we finally made it happen. On our way up we stopped in Dayton Ohio to visit the Air Force Museum. It was really cool. Hundreds of air planes and really interesting stories. 

Mac saw this plane and blurted out its name! We started laughing and poor Mac was embarrassed after we told him why it's best not to say that word. Mac is such a sweet innocent boy and a good reader;) 

Next stop the Tigers stadium for a baseball game. This was what drew was most looking forward and turned out to be the perfect early birthday present. 

It was a beautiful stadium, my favorite so far! 

A hike

Drew had church meetings on a Saturday and I was itching to get out so I took the kids to raven run to hike around. We found a new hike and it was absolutely beautiful! 

We found some natural water slides that needed some more water to really work but still had fun- Annie is just in her underwear but looks naked. 

Right about here, the sky went dark and dumped buckets of water on us. As we ran through the woods we could see the fireflys- it was magical. We laughed and ran until we got to the nature building. We thought we would wait the storm out but saw that it wasn't going to end anytime soon so we made a run for it. We were drenched but what a memory! We all wished drew could had been there with us.