Back to School and a bit of Happy Birthday

So reality is here, actually we are really still trying to figure it all out.  Becca is doing awesome at her early mornings.  Kind of a shocker as she was my late sleeper this summer.  The fun of schedule pickup and locker decoration is over and this week we are full into notes and testing.  Brayden has had his first out of town soccer tournament and is doing well at Cross Country even with practices being so terribly hot.  Becca is back at the flute and excited for her first pep rally.  James and Andrea are no quite as excited as school means home work and not quite as much fun.  I am right there with them.  Work has been a LOT of WORK!  taking three days to be at school is a bit much for me, I don't know how mom work full time!!

 Some fun parties before heading back to school.

 Silly girls-some fun make-up challege, blindfolded

 Lilly got her one snowcone of the season.....and loved it.

 Color wars for Middle School kick off at church.  Seniors won....not sure how as they had the smallest group!

 My birthday was spent at the PBR...a gift from a friend at church to take all of us.  We had awesome seats and lots of fun watching all the craziness.

 Cheesecake for my cake!

Please be kind to your school at get your immunizations done and make sure they are to date.....neither of us were smiling when we found out we were to be audited the first full week of school!

 First full day for everyone-back to school.  Just made it to the car...not enough time for a nice shot.

 First thing James wanted to check out was the books

His teacher this year Mrs Hutchins

 Second place at an OK city tounament

Still gets to play with Max-long time buddy from MTSC soccer.

A free afternoon spend enjoying a bit of downtime before having to pack it all up for a cross country picnic at school followed by a small group pool party...still hard to pull everyone back together after the summer.

Happy Birthday Andrea

11 Year Celebration for Andrea.  It always seems like the last fun days before school begins for us.  We made a weekend out of her birthday, always fun when the weather is still nice and sunny.  We headed out to the zoo-always fun to see the animals...about once a year for us.  Double the fun as there was a two week old baby giraffe that we were all looking forward to seeing.

 For being a hot summer day we saw a lot of animals up close!

 Everyone is growing, I remember when they couldn't reach and now they hardly fit!  Andrea is growing and maturing and becoming more comfortable and confident with herself.  Her fear of heights has disappeared this summer with her jumping off river cliffs and pool high dives.

 We decided a little cooling off was needed after a full day in the sun at the zoo.

Sunday we headed to church then drove to OK city to the Science Museum.  It was a huge hit and ended up staying to about closing time.  Andrea had to wait till evening for Cake and presents.

 I love that she loves playing in her room and has been setting up all her little critters

 Becca and I made a strawberry and confetti checkerboard cake...per Andrea's request.

Michigan Bike Trip

This trip to Michigan Ron and I finally did our long bike ride we have been thinking about doing for a couple of years now.  Sometimes you just need to sit and plan something to make it happen and we are so glad we did.  It was such a wonderful break from life, doing what we enjoy together.  The kids had a great time hanging out with Grandparents-who we are so thankful for and we were able to just be a couple for a few days.  We started out at Harbor Springs early Monday morning with a threat of rain but we loaded/packed up-one backpack with some day clothes for stopping/swimming and a pack on the back of another bike with overnight stuff, and one tool kit.

The goal the first day was to ride from Harbor Springs to Traverse city-around 92 miles.  It was a beautiful ride besides for the overcast clouds.

The bike path from  petoskey to charlevoix was just beautiful-nice rolling path along the water, perfect for families...highly recommend doing it sometime and then staying at either petoskey or charlevoix.

We spent the first night in Traverse city-stayed at the Wadsworth Inn, a great place to stay if you are looking for a room in the area.  Much better deal than a hotel and walking distance to restaurants.  We used the bus system here, close to our room, loading up in the morning and riding to Glen Arbor along the coast.  The second day with rode to Sleeping Bear Dunes-realized we needed a national park pass to ride the scenic drive to opted for a short hike up part of the dune.  We then started on the trek up to the top-Leland, then over to Northpark and then up to Lelanaue State Park, lighthouse point.

 We made it-Lelandau State Park.  The water was super cold and perfect for Ron to cool off before starting our ride back down to Traverse city.

We crossed this a couple times. We rode back to our room in the Wadsworth Inn for another night in Traverse city.  The first night we walked to dinner, tonight we opted for pizza and bed-another 96mile day.

Our third day with once again took the bus to Glenn Arbor.  We were worried about getting our bike on the racks on the bus seeing as there were only three available on the bus but after getting to know the driver the first day he told us we were the first to use them!  

 We followed this route a bunch and the store with everything M22 was here in Glen Arbor.  Today we headed south-our goal was Ludington.

 Once again just beautiful riding-roads along the water, then roads along cherry trees and orchards-to just riding through thick forests filled with small cottages.

 Glen Arbor to Empire then on to see Point Betsie Lighthouse.

 Gas Stations were our place to load up on food-lots of Starbucks Frappaccinos...soooo good!!  But this fruit stand was delicious and a welcome stop along a long country road.

 We had to ride around two lake this day...seemed a bit long when you can see across the lakes and know that is where you need to be.  Manistee is where we stopped and enjoyed the beach for a bit.  We managed to find a sandwich shop downtown-which was not terribly impressive to enjoy on the beach.  Funny how when riding you get a craving for some food but then pull into a town and they just don't have anything to quite satisfy what you had been thinking about eating for the past three hours...besides a cliff bar!   Ron cooled off here in the water and we both cat napped in the sand before finishing the day down to Ludington, once again another 96 mile day.

We finished the day with a full meal at the house of flavors.

A meal was complete with a mini-pig, lots of ice-cream and plenty appetite.

 Yes-we walked the pier, although my legs were more sore from this day ride.

 A party aboard this boat-heading out the channel to cross Lake MI about 9pm at night-the entire front of the boat was filled with people yelling and waving, like seeing the titanic off.

We stayed at the Ludington Beach house-another awesome find, walking distance to the beach/pier and town.  The shower and beds were wonderful each night.  we ended up washing out bike kits in the shower after smelling so bad the first day.  It stormed during the night and I woke up early to dark skys and blistery winds.  This last day was going to be our longest and with the weather I was not sure how we were going to do.  Surprisingly after a couple hours and by 7am the weather had settled down a bit and we headed out-the goal, Grand Haven Michigan  117 miles.

 We took a mini break on this pier, just a couple kids out fishing to take our picture.  the clouds were starting to clear but the air still had a bit of chill.

 Silver lake-Ron had a lot of fun memories to talk about as we road through this area.

 Another pier to ride out to-such a great place to ride bike when you have these little stops to enjoy.

 This Dog and Suds hit the spot!!

 This is what made the ride...coming down a road and riding towards a view like this

 Another gas station stop...

 Made it to Hoffmaster State Park.

 Our bike and gear-no issues and nothing forgot or needed.

 Then to Grand Haven Pier.

 And pulled into the Conference Grounds-117 miles this day!!  Yes my legs were beat and a shower was wonderful.  A ride to remember for both of us.  Special days spent together enjoying the beauty around us and our company without any distractions.  So thankful for the time and ability to do this Tour, 396 miles in four days-our first and hopefully not our last!