The Adventures Of Our Family!: Michigan Trip...days 1,2, and 3...

This past week we went to Rockford, Michigan (one of my faorite places in all of the world). My 93 year old (almost 94 year old) grandmother was born there and has lived there (with all of her siblings) ALL of her life. I can't really explain Rockford to someone who has never been but to give you an idea it is a mixture between Bedford Falls (from the movie "It's A Wonderful Life") and Mayberry! My grandmother has lived within a 5 mile radius of where she lives now her whole life. How cool is that? My dad and his 2 brothers grew up in Rockford and what i love most is so many people that my dad knew as a kid still live there in the small town of 5,000. It is a slower pace of life and instead of people living to work like they do in Atlanta, people there work to live!! It is probably why people live past age 80 because the stress of life is much less!

It was Allen's first plane ride with Noah so they wanted to sit together on the plane. They spent most of the ride playing a miniature golf game on Allen's ipod.

We flew into Flint and drove 2 hours to Rockford...

Noah crashed on the ride to Rockford but we were all starving so we headed to The Corner Bar for some hotdogs. Dad was very excited for Allen and Aimee to try the famous hotdogs!

Noah slept through dinner and stayed alseep for the night!

Allen and Barrett enjoyed the dogs...

Grandma eating a dog...

Somehow I ended up with everyone's food in front of me...

The next day we woke up early because Dad wanted to take Allen around Rockford and show him all the sights...I love hearing my dad talk about this small town he grew up in. I love that when my dad talks about Rockford, you can hear the passion in his voice about the love for his hometown and memories of when he was a kid.

Rockford is so beautiful. I love the houses and stores....

Of course we had to take Allen to the famous Rockford Dam. One of my favoite stories is listening to my dad tell about the time that he and his friend, Steve Servas (who happens to be Rockford's judge) went slidding down the dam. It was illegal and they got caught but didn't get in trouble since Steve was there. What's funny is that i have heard the story a hundred times but for some reason always thought my dad was in his early 20's when it happened. I just found out this weekend my dad was my age when he did! Now I know where i get my wild side from!!!

We walked along the river on the path...it was so beautiful!!

How beautiflu is that??

Aimee wanted to take a picture of Noah next to this tree and as you know i never miss a good picture so i joined in the fun. Noah was getting annoyed with us taking so many pictures....so...

Barrett joined in the fun with his pretend camera which helped bring Noah's good mood back around...

Later that day we drove about 45 minutes to lake Michigan to see my dad's cousin, Patty, who lives on the lake. We picked up My dad's Aunt Shirley (Patty's mom) along the way so she could go with us. I will tell you what...I have decided if i ever win the lottery i am buying a house on Lake Michigan or one of the Great Lakes. It is soooooooo much better than the beach! Swimming in the frest water is amazing!! Grandma and Shirley enjoyed the sun...

While Patty, My dad, and Noah enjoyed the water.

Barrett and Aimee enjoyed the sun too...

The water was so cold at first but once you got in it felt really good!

Noah liked being pulled on the raft by Grandpa...

what a life...

Noah was a little fish...he was jumping in and under the water....

How beautiful is lake Michigan???

Barrett and Aimee walked up the pier...

The next morning we woke up early again because we thought it would be fun to take a canoe trip on the river. This picture is outside Grandma's place. I love this backyard, i used to play in this yard when i was Noah's age. I love that nothing has changed in 26 years!!

We didn't bring our camera in the canoe because we were afraid we might tip over. Barrett and Aimee had one canoe, Dad and Daine had one, and Noah, Allen, and I had one. We should have brought our camera because the only ones to tip over were Dad and Diane...

After our awesome canoe trip we were starving and tired so we headed back to The Corner bar for some hot dogs...

yum..........

We then headed to Robinette's, an apple orchard...

Noah found a wagon slide...

The apples were so good...

After Robinette's we went to this popcorn place that sold all kind of flavored popcorns. Noah liked the Blue cotton candy popcorn but i like the good old fashion carmel!

On the way home we visited my grandfather's grave. For some reason I had never been there before (or i was way too young to remember). My grandmother visits a few times a week and wateres the flowers on his grave (we moved them for the picture). My grandfather died in 1973 after 33 years of marriage to my grandmother...

We also went to another grave of a man who received the congressional medal of honor in WWII.

Later that night my dad's cousin, Tom made dinner for the family. My dad's Aunts and Uncles and cousins all came over so we could see everyone. Here's My grandma and her sister Aunt Elaine...