Charlevoix

CHARLEVOIX!!! Marvelous!!

Jack, Craig, Julia, Kim, Steve
Cathy, Kathy, Liz, Stephanie

30l Nichols St. ...Downtown Charlevoix

We are so blessed! The Steve and Kathy invited us, and Jack and Cathy, to Charlevoix to hang out for the week. We stayed in a beautiful home one block from Lake Michigan and the downtown area. It was a week of relaxation and renewing!!

The first day we rode our bikes from Charlevoix to Petoskey on the bike trails. It was a 30 mile breathtaking ride along Lake Michigan. We stopped at Bay Valley to have breakfast at the Pancake House. Delicious!

Liz, Steph, and Julia waiting for our table!
Riding along Lake Michigan...Brrrrr....

We finished our ride in downtown Petoskey. We ran into several friends from FlintTown. It was fun seeing everyone there! :) That evening we watched the sun set into Lake Michigan. Amazing!

The girls watching the sun set

The next day Craig, Steve, Kathy, and David Leyton went golfing. Jack, Cathy, and I went shopping downtown Charlevoix. What a sweet, inviting little village! A highlight of our time in Charlevoix was being able to sail on the Neumann's boat. Eight of us boarded on their sailboat and traveled into Lake Charlevoix and Lake Michigan. The water was tourquoise and the clouds looked like giant puffy pillows. They even opened the downtown bridge for us to pass through! It was amazing!!!

The bridge opened for US!! Ahhh...

Craig and I are very blessed! Our friends are special and dear to us!! They are the kind of friends that could sit together on a porch, never saying a word, but we'd walk away feeling like we'd just had the best conversation! Love them! :)

Happy 4th of July!!

Ok, this morning Craig suggested we ride our bikes into Flushing for breakfast. I thought it was a great idea! I'm always excited to go out for breakfast! Plus, it makes more sense to me to ride to SOMEWHERE... as I don't understand just taking a 10 mile bike ride for nothing! I'll gladly ride 20 miles TO an ice cream shop or TO breakfast!


OK . . . we ride to Flushing to ChooChoo's restaurant. All the while I was pedaling, I was vacillating between French toast, or a Swiss and mushroom omelet . . . We pull up to the restaurant and all I saw was CLOSED!! OH MY WORD!! I've ridden 10 miles and the restaurant is closed??? Craig QUICKLY suggested riding downtown to Kathy's and see if it was open. Ok, I love breakfast at Kathy's! NO!! It was closed, too! The bakery across the street was closed, the Elbow Room was closed! Skip's was closed!! The pizza shop was closed!! I'm close to spazing out, so Craig suggested checking out the A & W!! FINALLY, something was open in Flushing! It was only 10:30am, but I thought a hamburger and fries was better than riding to his next destination. . . The Hollywood Diner on Corunna Road!

Phew . . . finally somewhere that's open!

Notice the water bottle on my bike is filled with Diet Root Beer!! :)
(Not exactly the biker's code of ethics!!!)

All in all, it was a great ride. . . but the next time we head out, I'm packing a snack pack for emergencies!! Geeeze!!!

Mexico

Mexico. . .Playa Del Carmen

The Reef Playacar . . . the resort where we stayed

. . .the beautiful Caribbean Gulf

Aren't these cool chairs? I made Kathy pose with me!

These were everywhere!! They scurry up and down the trees.

Sharon, Kathy, and me on the plane

Franko and Leonardo - our entertainment crew

Aztec Flyers

Beautiful waterfall at Xcaret.

Gorgeous flowers - they grow all over!!

A quaint sitting area right by our room at the Reef.

Everything is so green and lush!
Flying home - - watching the sun set! Love the American Clouds! :)

Mexico . . . beautiful beaches, sweet people, hot, very hot climate, tall, lush trees, fantastic flowers, and horrible food! We had a great time, but I was never so glad to return to America, the Beautiful! There's something special about our great land - - Home of the Free!!

Bay City Rail Trails

The Bikers

Saturday we drove to Bay City with our friends to go on the Bay City Rail Trails! What a wonderful experience!! We rode our bikes for 35.1 miles!! It was an amazing ride through the city, around the countryside, along the water, past beautiful gardens, and through the woods. God even blessed us with a very special sight - - a beautiful deer just grazing along the trail! It was a GREAT day!

Isn't he beautiful!!

We stopped for lunch at a delish cafe and ate outside!! Later, we stopped for ice cream!! It couldn't have been a more perfect day!

PS I love my new bike!!

New bike!!!!

Craig took me to Assenmacher's to get a new bike!
It was SO exciting!
After riding several different bikes,
I chose this one! I LOVE it!!!
He bought my old bike 26 years ago . . .
time for new technology!
Love it! :)
It looks like it has a headlight,
but it's just the reflector!!
It does have a very cool horn (bing-bing) on it!!
Love it! :)
I can't wait to join the "Shifting Gears" for a bike hike! :)

Graduation - ChiTown

Adam, Julia, Sarah, and Jonathan in front of

beautiful tulips - downtown Chicago

After graduation, we hopped the Metra train and headed into Chicago to celebrate Julia's graduation. We strolled along the Magnificent Mile, shopped, ate, and enjoyed our time together as a family! Bella went along and stayed in her 'bag' all day, very contented!

Sarah and Julia in the train station

Julia and Adam in the Hershey store . . . yummy
Craig and me at the 'Bean'.

Bella enjoying Millennium Park

It was a great day of celebration and family time! What a precious time to draw closer together~ pulling our hearts close! I so enjoyed being together!! How blessed am I!

Graduation from Olivet Nazarene

This weekend was Julia's graduation from ONU! It was a beautiful, outdoor ceremony - - very moving and touching! We feel so blessed that Julia could be immersed in that faithful environment, and a part of the Olivet family for the past three years! She as grown into a beautiful, confident, and self-assured young woman!

Doesn't' she look happy - - it's been three intense years of study! Phew!

BELLA joined our trip to Chicago - - her first road trip!