Up North

Last week we attended a family reunion in the north-west corner of the lower peninsula of Michigan, at Boyne Mountain.  Boyne Mountain is a ski resort in the winter, and it has some fun things to do in the summer, as well.

Tuesday we went to Castle Farms, which is an old show farm, which has been converted into a "castle."

It was very pretty, and the kids all enjoyed exploring the gardens. 

There was a fun garden maze, with miniature trains running through it.  We spent lots of time there.  The kids even got to meet the "engineer."

We also saw many of the rooms.  The farm was originally a show farm for the head of Sears to show off all their cool farm equipment, and they had cattle and horse barns. 

I'm standing on the top of where they made the ice cream.

Daniel outside the farm manager's office

After some period disrepair, it has been restored, and the barns have been converted to reception halls, and I'm pretty sure a couple more have been added on.  Castle Farms now does tours and hosts weddings and receptions.

We had lots of fun, until Emily fell for the third time in less than an hour, banging her head pretty bad.  Then we all left.  Dan and I had to fill out an accident report.  We kept an eye on her on the way home, even stopping to make sure she would still wake up and walk around (she fell asleep right when she got into her carseat, possibly from the two hours or more of walking around we had done that day).  We got to take a ferry on the way home, which I had never done before.  Emily completely missed it, since she was zonked.

The next day we went to the beach in the early afternoon.  The water was about air temperature, which was just above 70 degrees. 

The kids got in the water, I got in the water, and Pappy got in the water.  Most people complained about how windy (and thus a little chilly) it was, and we eventually abandoned the beach for a heated pool. 

But the water was great at the beach.  Once you got out about 10 feet it was just soft sand underfoot, and the water didn't get deep; I wadded about 40 feet out with a couple girls, and it only got to my knees.

Thursday we went to a discovery center, which had, among other things, reproductions of ancient sites, and reptiles the kids could get to hold.  Emily loved the gecko.  It wasn't nearly as horrible as the snakes.

This monument has stones around it, that have dates, or months on them, and times. 

A reproduction of how people walked through swamps in ancient England.

The kids also loved playing on the playground at the resort, and I got some things at a couple local towns, including Petoskey, which is a beautiful town, right on Lake Michigan.  It had an awesome downtown, and a JCPenneys, and a Lowes. Oh, and a JoAnn Fabrics.  I think I could be happy there, except for how far it is from everyone else.  And Emily really enjoyed getting to spend so much time with all her cousins.  Between our trip up North and all the time we got to spend with cousins here at home, I think she is all caught up for a while.  Although, she did ask for her cousin Jill today.  She sure loves to spend time with her friends!