Trip to Houghton Lake

My grandma passed away on February 2nd and the service was February 23rd.  Last Friday I flew to Detroit to meet my sister (who flew in from Maine) and we drove to pick up our mom and then headed up north to Houghton Lake. Despite a cancelled flight, not enough time to make a connection, last minute booking on a flight to Washington DC and then having an issue with not being able to take a full plane, and a passenger hiding in the bathroom, I made it to Detroit and had a few stories to tell.   Our hotel right on Houghton Lake 

the lobby, it just felt like up north with the antler light fixture

my sisters foot prints on the balcony, she was cooling off after her run

My sister Amanda and I

view from the balcony, you can barely see the shore on the other side of the lake

the lake was frozen and there were lots of snowmobiles, ice shanties and even cars and trucks on the ice

Me standing on a snowbank on the edge of the lake

Our grandparents old house on the lake, several years ago they moved to a house on the same side of the lake as my dad.  With age came the need to be closer to everyone and also a home without all the up keep and docks.   Amanda and I have so many memories tied to this house and time with our grandparents.  About 2 years ago I wrote my grandparents a letter telling them thank your for all the wonderful times and letting them know that I will never forget all the fun we had.  I often tell my kids stories from my childhood and many of them are times spent in Houghton Lake.  Going back to this house as an adult it seemed smaller and the distance to the lake shore seemed shorter, funny how your perspective changes as you age.

snowmobiles, they were everywhere, I took pictures because my kids have never seen one

 

Amanda and I with our grandpa

He and my grandma were married 66 years, he is going to miss her so much

While in town we had a family gathering at my Aunt Martha's house and we were able to see so much family.  My sister Ashley and her husband Miguel were there with their little girl Daniela.  I was able to meet Miguel for the first time. 

This is Amanda was Daniela and Caleb (my cousins little boy)

Sisters, we are just missing Audra (who lives in New Mexico)

My aunt Annie in the middle with her 4 kids and some of her grand kids (I think we are missing 2 of the boys)

some of the cousins and their spouses

Miguel pulling Daniela in the sled

my uncle Allen had built these slides and boy did we have fun

I can remember as a kid he would build us forts and igloos

Amanda and I with our dad at his regular restaurant... it was so good to have time together remembering and talking about our lives.  As kids when we were up north we always went out to breakfast with our dad, for years it was Charlie Brown's donut shop and then it became Randy's and now Bunker's. 

Detroit airport, fountain and people mover.   My flight was delayed on the way home but I did not mind as much it just gave my sister and I extra time to visit.   We were able to make a sad reason for travel into a wonderful trip. 

Yummo!

My last morning in Maine my sister and I went downtown Bangor- such a cool city

she took me to a place called Giacomo's-the place was so fun

I love this chalkboard menu

my sister always has the same thing- The Rohman Holiday: imported prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, tomato, fresh basil on ciabatta (left)

I ordered the Davide: imported prosciutto, hot capicola, provolone, tomato, romaine and red onion on ciabatta (right)- seriously love at first bite!
there was not a thing on the entire menu that I would not order- so appetizing

Henry was our lunch date!

we had a great time and a wonderful send off lunch together

when in Bangor visit Giacomo's it is a hidden gem

Orno Bog Boardwalk

While visiting my sister and her family in Maine we went to the Orno Bog Boardwalk.  I have been to Maine several times but this was a new experience!

The weather was cool but not unbearable and with the exercise we were warm enough.

Maine is full of pine trees and they are beautiful

Micheal and Ava ahead of me

Ava

cool

I could not resist a few black and whites

Ava took this pic-not the best but one of the only few of us mommas

Ava and I

It was awesome, I would love to go back some time- maybe next year!

Advent Project

WARNING, when my sister and I get together we get crafty.  Amanda is a scrapbook queen and always dazzles me with her creativity.  While I was visiting we decided we needed a craft and we went to AC Moore and browsed but came up with nothing.  So I was telling my sister about this article in my Parenting magazine I had read on the plane and showed her an idea for advent cards.  Well we decided to tackle them and add our own spin.  The directions said to go to parents.com/adventcards

we decided we did not want to use their cards so we cut squares and circles out of pretty Christmas paper

and 2"x2" squares out of white card stock and wrote down the activities we wanted to do with our kids

we covered the card stock squares with clear packing tape and rounded the edges with a punch

then we painted all the squares with a mixture of 1 part dish soap (we used Dawn with oil of olay) and 2 parts acrylic paint (gray).  It takes very little paint so we did 5 ml of soap and 10 ml of paint and had plenty left over.  Once the first coat dried we added a second coat.  We tested it out on a plain square first and used a coin to scratch it off and it works wonderful.  We were absolutely giddy! 

so here we are painting the cards

drying

Amanda AKA Martha Stewart

we bought little clothespins and I decided to hand mine in front of my french doors- the directions said to glue the scratch off part to the card and we decided to use Velcro so we could take them off and repaint them or move the activities around

I embellished the cards a little with some rub ons, stickers, glitter and buttons

I know the kids are going to have a blast scratching the paint off to see which activity we are doing

the possibilities are endless you could make scratch off cards for a party to see which type of prize they get

some of the activities on our advent calendar:

make Christmas craft

drive and look at Christmas lights

make cookies

drink hot chocolate

snuggle on the couch

read Christmas story

discuss what we are thankful for

have a dance party

picnic for dinner

play a family game

If you want to see how Amanda finished and displayed her cards take a look at her blog.

My niece Rowyn

I finally got to meet my niece Rowyn Gracie Jane!  Isn't she sweet?  She has these long eyelashes and adorable chunky cheeks!

I think she looks like her momma when she was a baby but she also looks like her daddy.
Rowyn was born September 20th and I had not met her yet because she lives in New Mexico.

She is such a doll baby!

I hate that my sisters and I live so far apart and I do not get to see everyone nearly as much as I want.  I still have not met my nephew Henry who lives in Maine.  Hopefully someday soon before he is too big. 

More Trip Pics

Ashley and I, ready for our friends wedding

we were cracking up at something Audra said, who knows

Audra and I (Aud wasn't going to the wedding but we wanted a picture together since we are hardly in the same state!)  Audra lives in New Mexico and I had not seen here since I was pregnant with Griffin. 

Me with my niece Daniella (2nd time seeing her), she is Ashley's daughter (sister in top picture)

My mom was gracious enough to have a family gathering while I was home for the wedding. I was able to see a lot of our family and it was great.  I think we packed as much as we could into 3 days!