A post from Kensie...

Since I'm turning 1 in a few weeks, Mama and Dada thought it was time for me to take on some more responsibility in life...

I guess this is their idea of it?

I'll have some time to practice, but looks like I'll be a big sister come March 12!

Boy, they sure have a lot to do by then....

Love,

Kensie

Just a summer day at the park...

Kensie LOVES the park. She loves the grass, putting wood chips and other dirty things in her mouth, roaming free, and she especially loves the swings. As she becomes more mobile, I could see us spending ALL our days at the park (well, until dreaded winter comes that is...).

It has also been such a joy to see her take more and more steps!! (I think her current record is 4 in a row). But, she has definitely mastered standing up on her own, and then proceeds to wave her arms in excitement. Thus, the following picture...

Just after this, she plopped down into her bear crawl stance and took off towards the playground without even looking back. Uh...a bit brave are we??

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I've also been feeling this incredible sense of summer urgency. Like there is a ticker counting down each day we have left, and there is nothing you can do about it. Anyone else?? I know...fall is incredible: there are apples to be picked, pumpkins to be carved, and hay bales to ride...blah blah blah. Don't get me wrong, I love the colors of fall and the feeling of warm sweaters with cute jeans. Buuuuut, I LOVE SUMMER! And I think most of this urgency stems from last summer looking like this:

Wow. Bringing back some VERY uncomfortable memories....

Ok, I'm back. Phew.

Anyway, I just feel like I missed out on last summer in so many ways. And so, this summer I tried to pack two seasons worth of "summer-fun" into one.

What I didn't realize is this makes it go by very fast! Oh well, we are definitely making the most of it...and it's still not over!

So here's to summer!

Mackinac Island

How do you pronounce it?

Let's clear this up right away...

The "c" is silent on the end, so it sounds like 'aw'; Mackinaw Island. This has always bothered me when others say either "Mackinac" or "Mackinaw". So, now you know.

It's pronounced "Mackinaw Island", despite the 'c'.

Now there is also the mainland city across the water spelled "Mackinaw City". It too, is pronounced the same.

So, why two of the same names with two different spellings??

Way back when settlers landed on the island, they came up with 100's of different spellings, but eventually agreed on "Mackinac Island". When "Mackinaw City" was established, they changed the ending letters so that postal services would be able to distinguish between the two.

I know you were all gonna ask (at least my non-Michigan friends), so there you have it.

Now on to some great pics from our trip...

First off, we ran into Greg's cousin Joanna and her boyfriend on the ferry ride to the island...so random, but so fun to see them!

Greg- "Come on Shan, you gotta take a picture of that..."

Me-"ummm, ok?"

Two big trucking companies shipping their cargo to the island.

What can I say? My husband loves trucks.

Just some good old-fashioned rock skipping.

The famous "Grand Hotel"- $400 a night people!

With the longest front porch in the world.

In front of our adorable hotel - "The Harbour View Inn"

Loved staying there....would do it again.

Went out for one nice, "dress-up-worthy" dinner.

I think it was the best fish I've had since living in Slovenia....yummm.

We managed to only have one fight the whole weekend.

Biking + trails + confusing map = marriage builder for sure.

Once I gave up the map and let my "professional navigator" do his magic, we had a great time! Funny how that works. :)

Only bikes and horse drawn carriages are allowed on the island.

Makes for some interesting "pedestrian crossing".

Overall, a WONDERFUL trip. And we are especially thankful to Greg's parents for watching little miss Kensie for the weekend. It was such a treat, even though we missed her terribly.

Here's what I woke up to this morning...