Day One of our 5 Year Anniversary Trip

First let me start by saying, we had an amazing time on our trip to Mackinaw City/Mackinac Island, Michigan! 

As I'm sure you know by now, I am a picture-a-holic and I took a ton of pictures on our trip. So to kind of space them all out for you, I thought I'd do a post a day of each of the days of our trip. 

The first day was mostly spent driving, but I took a few pictures along the drive and then some once we got into Mackinaw City.

The morning we left (Sat. July 7th), we woke up very early, around 5 a.m., to get ready to leave. We packed most of our stuff the 2 nights before so we'd be ready that morning. We also had to pack all of Jackson's stuff because he was spending the week with my parents. So after getting ready, we drove Jackson to my parent's house to drop him off and we were on the road by around 7 a.m. Here are a few pictures along the drive to Michigan.

A bunch of wind mills in Illinois.

Passing into Indiana.

Passing into Michigan.

We stopped at a little beach town in Michigan for lunch. (St. Joseph, MI) This is a picture of a canal going into lake Michigan.

This was the restaurant we ate lunch at in St. Joseph. It was very good and it was perfect weather for sitting out on their patio and looking at the beautiful Lake Michigan.

This was our view from the patio at lunch.

After lunch, we headed back to the highway, but first we stopped and waited for a few sail boats to go under this bridge.

Driving through Grand Rapids, MI.

Once we got into Northern, MI we saw several of these interesting looking trees.

After about 11 hours of driving and about an hour stop for lunch, we arrived in Mackinaw City, MI, where we were staying for the night. You can see the Mackinac Bridge in the background! Much more on that bridge to come later. ☺

This is a picture of the back of the hotel that we stayed in, while we were in Mackinaw City for the night. It sat right on the beach of Lake Huron. It was a great view. Our room was the balcony on the far right, 2nd floor.

Jake standing out on the balcony taking in the view.

The view from our balcony.

Jake and I in Lake Huron at the beach at our hotel in Mackinaw City, MI.

After checking into our hotel for the night, we drove up the road to the cute little town of Mackinaw City.

The streets were lined with these cute little shops and restaurants.

We found this little "mall" type area and went in there to check it out.

It was really cute. In fact, Mackinaw City, MI could be a vacation by itself.

The night we were there, they were doing a dog show. Of course, being the dog lovers that we are, we had to stop and watch.

And being the yellow lab lovers that we are, we cheered on this cute yellow lab. Here he is playing dead!

Some of the dogs waiting to go out and perform. They all did a great job.

After the dog show, we had dinner at this restaurant. It was very yummy pizza.

Inside the restaurant, was a Mackinac Bridge Museum. Which was very interesting to see.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel. We sat out by the water and looked at all the stars. It was so nice to just sit back and relax.

I will post about the 2nd day of our trip tomorrow! ☺

Our 5 Year Anniversary Trip

We left this morning for our 5 Year Anniversary trip to Mackinac Island, MI!! We are driving the 11 1/2 hour drive into Mackinaw City, MI, where we are staying the night at the Fairview Beachfront Inn.

We plan to have dinner in Mackinaw City tonight and drive around the town some. In the morning we are going to the Historic Mill Creek Discovery Park, where we plan to spend the morning zip-lining and exploring the whole park. It looks like its going to be so much fun.

Once we're finished exploring the Historic Mill Creek Discovery Park, we will then take a ferry over to Mackinac Island. There are no vehicles of any kind (other than horse drawn carriages and bicycles) aloud on the island. So we will park our truck in a gated lot and take a ferry over to the island, where we will spend the remainder of the week!

We have lots of stuff planned, as well as a lot of relaxation time! We are staying in three different hotels to try and capture all the different areas of the island. We will be going on a carriage tour of the island, touring the fort, visiting a butterfly conservatory, playing golf at the Grand Hotel, going on a midnight ghost tour/hunt, dining at lots of different restaurants, bicycling around the island and doing some shopping on Main Street. I'm sure we will find other things to do once we get there, but I'm really looking forward to some relaxation time and uninterrupted sleep!

I will have a detailed post(s) of our trip when we return the following week. I can't wait to share our trip with you all.  I will probably post pictures here and there on Facebook and Instagram while we're gone, so if you'd like to follow us along on either of those sites, feel free. I have buttons on my sidebar! :-)

Our Fourth of July

We had a wonderful 4th of July! It was extra special because it was Jackson's first 4th.

The morning of the 4th, my husband played golf with our brother-in-law, my dad and a friend. While he played golf I baked a couple of pies to take to my Aunt and Uncle's later that day and had a little photo shoot with Jackson. ☺

When Jake got home, we packed up and headed to my Aunt and Uncle's house for family fun, food and swimming! 

Jackson with Auntie Ashlee. ☺ 

My sister's family!

My sister's 2 boys with Jackson.

Jake and my uncle Mark in the pool.

My 2nd cousin Hannah in the pool. :-)

These next few pictures are of all the kids playing in the playroom at my Aunt and Uncles house. Their 2 grand-kids, David and Hannah, are over a lot and are in some of these pictures playing with Landon, Jackson and Mason.

I didn't get any pictures of lunch, but here are the desserts. :-)

My sweet boys! ♥

My nephew Landon and my second cousin David, playing video games.

My bro.-in-law's birthday is on the 4th, so we celebrated by singing happy birthday to him and my sister made him a cake! 29 Candles.

Later that evening we drove downtown, to my office, to watch the fireworks. I work on the 24th floor, so we had an awesome view and we got to sit in the air conditioning! Doesn't get much better than that. :-) Here are some pictures I was able to take.

Jackson and I watching the fireworks on his first 4th of July.

My sister and her family joined us for the fireworks. Here they all are watching from my office window!

Jake and Jackson watching the fireworks.

The grand finale!

The full moon was so beautiful overlooking the city.

The empty Cardinals stadium after they won their game last night.

The large crowd of people trying to leave the city after a Cardinals game and fireworks for the 4th! It was quite hectic.

We had a great 4th of July. I hope you all did as well. :-)

Next week I may not make as many posts as we will be on our 5th anniversary trip to Mackinac Island, MI! I may make a few small posts here and there, but I will have a full post the following week, when we get back from our trip.

Embrace the Camera

Linking up with Emily at The Anderson Crew

Embrace the Camera is where you'll take a picture of YOU with your kids, spouse, friends, etc. The point of embrace the camera is to get in front of the camera and to document a bit of yourself.

I have a few pictures that my sister took of Jackson and I from yesterday. We had a great 4th of July! I hope you did too.