Michigan Lovin: Catchin Up Part 6!

*Disclaimer* Sorry about the length of this post. I really should have gone to picnik.com and made collages, rather than posting each picture one by one and therefore taking up my whole blog homepage with just one post, but I'm way too lazy/ busy (I'm gonna go with busy;) to do that right now!
About a week after my birthday, we boarded a plane with Julian to take him to where I spent more of my childhood than anywhere else (besides home, of course): Michigan. It was way past time to introduce him to all of my family up there.

There is no such thing as packing light when traveling with a bebe! I was so proud of myself: I packed all three of our shtuffs into ONE suitcase!
My parents are both from MI, but moved to FL right before I was born. So all my aunts, uncles, cousins, and late grandparents live(d) there. My dad & stepmom just finished building a beautiful home on Lake Michigan, where they plan to live in when he retires...(but we all know that will never happen! He loves what he does too much.) The first part of our week was spent with them at the newly finished house.

My dad & Cheryl in the indoor kitchen preparing some pizza for the grill...

Stace & Boo Boo in the "outdoor kitchen" waiting for the pizza to finish grilling

It was so fun to watch Julian run around and explore in the beautiful Michigan air. It's what I used to all the time. I didn't need anything but an imagination when I was there. I could see that was all he needed, as well. He was so happy exploring his surroundings.

My grandparents have had a cabin in what is called The Slagle Trout Club since way before I was born, and now it belongs to their children. It has always been a requirement that in order to be a member of the Slagle Club, one must be a male. My dad is working to change this. Haha. He would:)

It is also a rule there that men are not allowed to do any type of fishing at the Club except for fly fishing; women are allowed to cast a spinning reel, though. I don't mind if he doesn't change this one! ha! (And I doubt he would do that anyway.)

My dad taught Stace how to fly fish while we were there...because if he's going to be a member, he'd better learn! My dad said that Stace picked up on it as quick as anyone he's ever seen. For my dad to be so complimentary about fly fishing (something he's a serious pro at) is kind of a big deal. I'm not surprised at all though:)

I have such fond memories of catching rainbow trout & fireflies and watching the hummingbirds outside our window at the cabin. Here are my dad and Julian exploring the Slagle grounds while Mama catches a few fish.

If you have been around Julian anytime in the last...oh four or five months, then you've heard him enthusiastically say "HIT THE BALL!" This is a line from one of his favorite books "Danny & the Dinosaur" when D & D go to the baseball game. Well, he was no different in Michigan. When our plane landed in Traverse City, he saw a plane ground traffic guider-guy outside our seat window and the man was holding a long orange spear type thing (I'm sure there's an official name for it but I don't know what it is!) and he was guiding the pilot to where he was supposed to steer the plane in order to reach our gate. When Julian saw him holding this long object, he immediately said "HIT THE BALL!" because everything with somewhat of a handle that is even slightly long is a baseball bat to him! Including this dog toy in MI:

So how lucky he was to find on the ground at the Slagle Club his very own miniature sized wooden baseball bat! He really does have a good little batting stance & swing for an 18 month old!



I, of course, didn't try to explain to him what it's real purpose is... :/
Back at the Lake Michigan house, we got to see this famous workshop my dad has been telling us that he now has:

And Julian got a little work done in dad's office:

And we admired the pretty flowers Cheryl has planted:

And of course enjoyed "the beach" (Lake MI is so big, it looks pretty much just like an ocean, and the sand makes it just like a beach!)

And Julian looked dashing as he was dashing around:)

And Baby Girl bump made her appearance at the beach too:)

Stace and Julian tried desperately to warn a bug from getting too close to the water, but he didn't listen:(

Stace tried out the sauna...

We said adios to el casa de Papa and drove down South to visit my mom's side of the family. I had to stop and show Stace the town of Frankenmuth, a place where it's Christmas all year long! We visited Bronner's: the world's largest Christmas store. Stace said it was like an IKEA, but filled with only Christmas stuff...I think that was a very accurate description! Here I am excited to see that Julian's name is not on Santa's naughty list! Phew! That was a nail biter! ;)

We then went to Pinckney where my Aunt Shelley & Uncle Jeff live and took in the beautiful scenery of their neighborhood while we awaited their arrivals home from work:


As always, it was so, soooo good to see them. They, along with my cousins Adam and Lisa and my Aunt Joanie, are some of my MOST FAVORITE people on earth. I love them with all of my heart. Good, good people with huge hearts.

We also paid a visit to the nearby "cows, chickens, goats, and ponies" (Julian still talks about them, usually in that order, and sometimes follows his list up with "Candace" ;D)

We rounded out our trip with the glorious tradition of visiting Cap'n Frosty's with Uncle Jeff and Aunt Shelley. He always treats us to this amazing ice cream every time we're there! One weird thing is that MI has THE BEST ice cream. EVER. Why? Why does one of the chilliest places in the US have way better (and way more) local ice cream shops than does my home state of Florida? It does not make sense.


Julian LOVED getting to ride on the airplane and looking out the window. Many people around us commented after each of our flights on how great he did and that they didn't hear him during the flight! This boy is too much.

We had a GREAT trip! It was what I asked for for my birthday from my dad. I could have asked for a lot of other things. We could have gone to a much more seemingly exciting locale. But this meant more to me than anything else ever could have.