Mackinac Day

One of the less awesome aspects of our vacation is that both kids got pretty sick, especially Nathan.  He got a nasty, croupy cough that the doctors said was the beginnings of bronchitis.  We made several trips to urgent care that week. Sigh.  Thank goodness for antibiotics!

Nathan is always good at the doctor, but the fact that there was a restaurant around the corner that serves lunch in a car instead of on a plate made him even more willing to make the trip!

One of Nathan's big requests for his vacation up North was that he wanted to go across the Mackinac bridge.  We were only about 15 miles away from it, so one sunny afternoon after our first trip to urgent care, Todd, Nathan, Natalie and I decided to head up to the bridge.  What a beautiful piece of engineering!

Once we were there, we couldn't resist the allure of a ferry boat ride out to Mackinac Island.  I was clinging tightly to my offspring on the ferry ride with visions of the cold, deep water dancing in my head the whole time, so I only snapped one quick picture from the boat.  The kids loved the ride though, even if their mother was a little bit of a nervous wreck. :)

We wandered around Mackinac Island for a little bit.  Nathan's mind was completely blown by the fact that cars are not allowed.  "Dad, why DON'T they allow cars here? There are roads for them!"  He was slightly comforted by the fact that there is ONE ambulance on the Island. :)  Natalie was enamored with the horses everywhere, yelling "GIDDY-UP!" at all of them as they went by.

We stopped at a park at the end of the main street, and of course the kids immediately gravitated to a large rock in the middle of the park, and climbed right up it. 

Todd was only able to stay at the cottage for a few days because of limited vacation time.  Mom and Dad were awesome and babysat the kids on Todd's last night, and the two of us went to dinner at the famous Legg's Inn.  The Polish food was delicious and the restaurant itself was an artistic marvel on the inside and incredibly beautiful in the garden where we ate. 

It can be easy online to portray only the happy, wonderful moments of parenthood/childhood, so in the interest of keeping it real, here is a shot of a stop the kids and I made on the way from the cottage to Northport.  We were in the family restroom at Meijer--all three of us sleep-deprived and sick.  Natalie was throwing a tantrum on the floor because she didn't want to get out of the cart.  Nathan was standing in the corner, stubbornly refusing to pee, and I was holding back tears and decided to try and find the humor in the situation by taking a photo of the ridiculousness! :)