Traverse City Fun!

Dan and I took off to Traverse City, MI for the weekend to go on the wine tour and get out of Lafayette for a couple of days. The trip started off as a disaster on Friday. We drove up there in the pouring down rain, 6 hours to the Northern coast of MI. My allergies were driving me nuts! We got up there, and Dan headed to the hotel hot tub/pool, while I ran across the street to the Walgreen's. I got over there, and realized that the power was out at Walgreen's. It didn't take me long to realize that the power was out in the whole TOWN. Dan was locked in the pool, because the electronic swipe keys didn't work without power. Hey, at least he had his BlackBerry with him, he could text, email and take pictures of himself to pass the time! Ha! He finally got out of the pool, and although the power was out for 3 hours, it did eventually come back on, and we were able to go to eat and have a few drinks before it got too late.

In the midst of all this, my sister called to tell me that my mom was in the hospital. She had fallen in the back porch of their house in Twelve Mile, and broken her leg. Dad was in Puerto Rico traveling for work, and Elizabeth was 1.5 hours away with two babies. My brother-in-law ended up going to pick her up, and brought her back to my sister's house in Lafayette. What a mess!

Had dinner Friday night at the North Peak Brewing Company, where we indulged in some amazing bleu cheese, dried cherries and pecan dip, and reuben sandwiches. It was delicious. Dan indulged in some dark, seasonal beer from this brewery, but as I'm not much for brewery beer, I stuck to iced tea.

We got up the next morning and headed out for a drive, up the Northeastern shore, to see some beautiful scenery and a lighthouse. Then, off to the wineries for some wine tasting. We tried lots of different kinds of wine, and ended up bringing home about 10 bottles of different kinds. We're anxious to break into some of them and share!

Below are some pictures from our trip:

The lighthouse. Not exactly what we pictured, but it was really neat to go up in it and see. The lighthouse was actually built INTO the house.

As you can see, it's a REALLY tight squeeze to get up there. Very narrow ladder, and not much room up at the top.

The view from the top.

There were definitely some unique tree formations up there, too.

This one was right outside the lighthouse. Really neat branches all the way up the tree, they were curved upwards, with leaves only on the ends of them.

This was at the Black Star Farms winery. They were the only winery that had their vineyard draped with mesh cloths. We're guessing to protect the grapes from either bugs, or frost, or both. ?? No one really gave us a clear answer on that. It was a pretty sight, though!

This was taken at the Ciccione winery, where Madonna's father is the vinter. MUAH!

My co-worker, Dave, and his lovely wife, Jess, got married here!

If you've ever been to a store (Meijer sells it) and seen wine bottled with Madonna's picture on the label, it is made in Leelanau, MI. It's a beautiful winery, and although a little expensive, the ambiance there is great! Wine wasn't of my liking (they only make dry wine), but Dan indulged in some. In case you didn't gather, the guy drinks pretty much anything. :)

This was also at the Ciccione winery, he was having a flight at the bar there.

This was at the Shady Creek winery. Beautiful scenery in the background, you can see Lake Michigan pretty clearly in the background.

The trees were all changing, and the fall colors were absolutely gorgeous! :)

At another winery (I don't remember the name.....we went to about 8 different ones!). They had a patio out back that you could sample a flight of wines, complete with your choice of cheeses and crackers. Probably some of my favorite wine. We bought a couple bottles there. "Serenity" was the name of my choice.

Another view from the car.

We went bar-hopping downtown Traverse City that evening. The table that we chose to sit at had a hanging bat (in honor or Halloween) hanging right by Dan's head. He got the pleasure of staring this guy in the face all night long. We parked the car in a parking garage that night, and took a cab home. Dan graciously offered to jog to the car the following morning to retrieve it. He got about 3 miles into his run, realized it was further than he thought, and decided that perhaps a 5+ mile run the morning after doing a wine tour probably wasn't something he wanted to do again.

We had a great weekend, in spite of all the drama on Friday, and would definitely recommend going there to anyone interested!! :-) If you'd like more details, get with me, and I'll send you some info. My co-worker Dave has been there lots of times, and knows all the great places to visit. Thanks for all the great recommendations, Dave! Much appreciated!

Pumpkin Patch

Dan and I took Olivia to the Pumpkin Patch this weekend to pick out her pumpkins to carve on Saturday night. (Which was a flop, since she thought the pumpkin guts were "yucky", and didn't want to touch it.) However, she did have fun at the pumpkin patch. Here's a bunch of pictures:

They had a petting zoo there, with all kinds of different animals. She liked the horse.

She wasn't quite as fond of the little pedal tractor, however. She was pouting here.

THEN, she got to ride the horsie. Since she was kinda' pouting around, we thought that she wouldn't like it, but she LOVED it. She had a BLAST on the horse. It was sooo cute. She patted it and petted it, and giggled the whole time that she was riding it. His name was Mr. Ed, which she told everyone. (Although it sounded more like, "Mrs. F" if you ask my mom.)

Dan walked with her while she was on the pony, too!

She was trying to pick out which little pumpkin she wanted. She changed her mind about 100 times. First, she wanted a white one, then an orange one, then she wanted two, then she wanted a different one. she had different ideas than Titi did. I'm pointing at one thing, and she's pointing at another. :) Ha!

She played in the sandbox filled with corn. They had little tractors there and little people. She kept burying the little guy, and saying, "WHERE DID HE GO??"

She was picking out small pumpkins out of the bin. She was almost too short, and they were almost too heavy for her, but she managed to find two of them that she wanted. One for Gage, and one for Bogey, she says. :)

Uncle Danny put her in the wagon with the pumpkins and pulled her back to the car. She liked that part, too. :)

AND, they had a playground that she could play on. Of course, she wanted to swing and play on all the toys.

They'll take your picture on the straw bales. The three of us. :)

AND, she called Nana on the way home in the car to say really loudly 4 times, "I RODE A PONY!" She was pretty proud.

We had a great time, it was a lot of fun! I look forward to taking her again next year.

Thanks for the recommendation, Christina!

Fall Update

Thought that I would send another update, downloaded some more pictures to share….
Can’t believe that we are nearing the end of the summer. BUT, fall time is here, and that’s definitely our favorite season. Fall weather, and most importantly, FOOTBALL……

I spent some time traveling recently, but think I’m finally done for a few more weeks. I was in Williamsburg, VA for a week, and then turned around and went to San Diego for a week. The weather in San Diego was beautiful, but unfortunately, I was so busy the entire time that I was there that I didn’t even leave the hotel but once, just to walk to a Starbucks for a coffee and a mug for my dear cute friend, Chanin. :) Definitely would like to visit again sometime when I can actually do some sightseeing.

However, the second night of my conference, another vendor sponsored a party with the American Idol Rejects. Remember them? She bangs! She bangs! (William Hung…..who looks like William Hung OVER in this picture) and some other guy named Renaldo something or another. These guys are known for their horrendous singing. They came to this party and sang. (The name of the party was “I HUNG with Trace Security”….very clever.) And yes, it really is that bad in person. It was pretty much a train wreck, that you couldn’t quit watching. Anyways, they took their picture with me. (That hat does not belong to me. It belongs to Renaldo.)

Most of you probably know that there are two little girls who smear a smile all over my face. My niece, Olivia, and my goddaughter, Savannah. Savannah just had her first birthday. It’s hard to believe that she’s already ONE! She’s growing so fast, talking, and walking all over the place. She’s an unbelievably beautiful and sweet baby. She had her party a couple of weeks ago. Although she wasn’t really sure about the cake at first, she definitely had icing everywhere. (Including in her ear!) Dan bought her a sock monkey for her “special” present from him. The thing was ugly as hell, but she seemed to like it. (Here she is with it below!)

I can’t recall the last time that I sent an “update” but things with Olivia haven’t changed much, I’m sure. She still loves Uncle DAAAAANNNNN the best, and tends to like him above everyone (cept’ her Mom, of course!) the majority of the time. Although, she does still remembers my name (“Titi”), and Dan assures me that this is just a phase for her. She’s getting ready to have a new baby brother sometime REALLY soon. Although her mom is about to pop any second, Elizabeth is still gallivanting around town, working, and was even reportedly spotted TAILGATING this past weekend…..although that’s not really that odd, as Elizabeth, (who purely LIVES for shopping the day after Thanksgiving) sped around the mall on Black Friday, only to go into labor with Olivia later that night. BUT, she got her shoppin’ done! :) We’re not sure exactly how Olivia’s going to do with all of this, as she’s pretty used to being the one to rule the house the majority of the time. I do think she’s excited about the baby, though. She knows EXACTLY where Baby Gage is at, and if you ask her, will promptly run to Elizabeth and pull her shirt up…..to expose her belly. And the kid is still rotten. If you ask her, she’ll proudly announce: “I’M NOT ROTTEN!” Ha! Does she LOOK like she’s not rotten….??

Trevor is back in school, and doing great! He had a fun time this summer at the lake. He finally got his dad on the tube with him this past weekend. They flipped the tube and ended up crashing into the lake at a high rate of speed, but he thought it was awesome, and couldn’t wait to get back on there! :)
He’s started football. He had a game last week against Pioneer. Although his team didn’t win, he had a great game. He had 1 sack, 5 tackles, 1 interception, and a fumble recovery. He’s doing so well, that the coaches have asked him to start practicing with the Varsity team on Wednesdays. He’s the only one from his team who got this privilege. He was nervous, as an 8th grader, practicing with seniors, but it seems to be going o.k. We’re really proud of him. (That’s him #52 in the pictures below.)

We went on a canoeing trip with our friend Chanin for her birthday. Drove down to Turkey Run and canoed down Sugar Creek. Of course, Dan and I didn’t follow directions very well. The guide told us after crossing under the suspension bridge, to stay to the LEFT, because there was a tree sticking out into the water that would suck you in and upset your canoe. Pretty simple instructions, right? Well…..if you can believe this, I was talking….. (No way!) and not paying attention. Yeah. We ended up in the tree. And before I knew it, we were also in the water. My shoes were floating downstream, we were soaked, our canoe was full of water, and the biggest bummer of all, our camera was gone. It’s probably somewhere in Kentucky right now. We weren’t so upset about the camera itself, but the great pictures from the day that were on there. Dan did manage, however, to save the most important item from the canoe. Our camouflage cooler of beer. :) I stole this picture from Chanin (thank you!), it’s one of the few pictures that we have from the day. :( We did have a great time, though!

Hope this finds everyone well……and enjoying the end of summer and beginning of fall. We’re looking forward to some tailgating time rooting on the Boilermakers, the birth of Baby Gage, Monday Night Football, some quality time catching up at family reunions coming soon, and a weekend trip to a SURPRISE destination (Well, it’s a surprise to Dan. I know where we’re going.). Fall is here, and we couldn’t be more excited!!