Memorial Day Weekend

We spent Memorial Day Weekend at home this year and got lots of rest and relaxation in, along with some visiting. We headed out to a couple of graduation parties on Saturday afternoon. Sunday afternoon we went to lunch to celebrate Great Grandma Rice's birthday. We had a nice visit with Aunt Joann, Uncle Dave, Grandma and Grandpa Rice and Great Grandma Rice while enjoying a meal at Bonanza. Monday afternoon we took Evelyn down to Nordeen Park to swing on the swings--another "first" for her! She loved it! I think she would have been happy to swing all day long! She really enjoyed watching the older kids play too.







Reading "Pat the Bunny"
Playing peek-a-boo with Paul in "Pat the Bunny"

Trying on a new dress from Grandma Winterfield
What's this? A necklace!
Great Grandma, can I have your necklace?
Kisses for Great Aunt Joann

Grandma, you have a nice necklace too!

Kissing the baby in the dishwasher!
"Hi baby!" says Evelyn to her reflection in the dishwasher!

Mackinac Island 2009

Evelyn tried on a few hats at the toy store!

We just took our annual trip to Mackinac Island with the Gwinn Middle School Student Council. We had a large group this year--35 students, 17 adults, one kindergartner and one infant! We met up at Gwinn Middle School at 7am Friday and drove to St. Ignace to catch the Starline Ferry at 12 noon. Once we got to the island, we checked in to the Murray Hotel (downtown), and then headed off for a carriage tour of the island. We enjoyed dinner in the Murray Hotel Garden Room Friday and Saturday nights, as well as breakfast Saturday and Sunday mornings. The group walked over the Fort Mackinac on Saturday morning, despite the cold, windy and rainy weather and were able to see rifle and cannon demonstrations as well as tour the historic buildings in the fort. Saturday evening the kids were treated to an evening walk up past the Grand Hotel to see the Mackinac Bridge lit up for the evening. We caught the 11:30 am ferry back to St Ignace on Sunday morning and headed home to Gwinn.

The mom's taking photos of the students!

Our "biker" moms--they heard that the Zoo de Mackinac bike racers would be on the island Saturday evening to celebrate the end of their bike race and wanted to fit in--we had to break it to them that they were thinking of the wrong kind of bikes! But we sure had some good laughs while they tried to talk to us with their fake teeth in!

Evelyn fell asleep at Fort Mackinac

View from Fort Mackinac

Evelyn under cover in the rain Saturday morning

Smiley Evelyn on our bed in the Murray Hotel--we had a beautiful room with a jacuzzi tub in the bath!

The Michigan Governor's Summer Residence

Evelyn had fallen asleep on the carriage tour and was still sleeping when we arrived at Arch Rock--we had our friends take a photo of us anyway!

Evelyn window shopping--she really wanted that stuffed deer!

Evelyn checking out a special horse shoe for the island horses.

The Grand Hotel--I've had the privilege of staying there twice for a women's retreat with my mom, sister and mother-in-law. I highly recommend you experience it at least once in your life! The meals are to die for!

Evelyn looking like she's not quite sure what to make of the carriage ride!

Sick for the first time...

Evelyn napping with Mickey Mouse

Evelyn napping with Mickey Mouse and Monkey today

Poor Miss Evelyn has been sick since last Wednesday with a nasty virus of some sort. This is the first time she's been sick. She woke up on Wednesday morning sounding pretty raspy and then started to run a temperature later in the day. This weekend things started to break up a bit in her nose and chest--so she's had a very runny nose and the coughing sounds even worse (but it's good to see and hear things moving out of her system.) She's been pretty miserable until today. She fell asleep for her afternoon nap after playing with a few toys in her crib--she's really taking a liking to Mickey Mouse and her stuffed monkey. She woke up talking to Mickey and Monkey and had a big smile on her face again when we went in to get her up!

We also knew she was starting to feel better today because she's been crawling around getting into EVERYTHING like she normally does! Daddy even set up a little road block in the living room doorway to try to keep her in one room, but as you can see, she figured out how to bypass the roadblock! I'm so glad that she's starting to feel better! She needs to be feeling better so we can enjoy our trip to Mackinac Island next weekend!

Evelyn escaped past the laundry basket roadblock and made a break for the bathroom (guess it's time to start keeping that door shut!)

Two teeth!

Evelyn goofing around with Daddy. If you look closely, you can see her two teeth on the bottom!
Another shot of her teeth--the tooth on her left came in first and is a bit more visible.
Evelyn's been crawling over to the book shelves and keeps grabbing this photo of Grandma and Grandpa Rice. We had to relocate it for now since we don't want her to get hurt on the sharp corners or the glass.
Evelyn's legs are getting very strong! She loves to hang on to your hands and tries to walk a bit. Of course, she had a death grip on her sock--she insisted on carrying it around.

Easter Day

The Easter Bunny

While we were downstate, we decided to visit the Easter Bunny at Macomb Mall. We were hoping that Evelyn would be as calm as she was at Christmas when we saw Santa Claus. We were in luck again--she was completely unfazed and posed for a cute picture. The ladies taking the photos really knew what they were doing--they were prepared with stuffed animals and noise makers to draw the kids' attention toward the camera. The Easter Bunny sat in his garden --see photo of gigantic vegetables growing--it really was a cute display.


Gigantic vegetables!





















OK, I guess I'll sit on your lap. What's this on your vest?























Oh, yeah, a button--I LOVE buttons!





















Pretty smile with the Easter Bunny!




















After out visit with the Easter Bunny we spotted a hyperbolic funnel. I am always a sucker for these--always ask Brian for some change to watch it roll around the funnel and down into the collection pot. I have no idea what the money was going to for this particular funnel, but many times it is some sort of fundraiser, so I don't mind throwing in a little change. It's just too fun to watch--even Evelyn enjoyed it this time!