Michigan Adventure - Part Two

As soon as we arrived in the Detroit area, we headed over Mamaw & Papaw's house.  Much to our delight, Heidi was there with her little French Bulldog puppy!!  His name is Emmett and he is adorable.  Ryleigh and Daddy had so much fun playing with him.  It took Ryleigh a little bit to get used to his energy level and size compared to our Lucy's, but eventually she got the hang of it.  She's used to being able to boss Lucy around and telling her to "sit" and "stay", but little Emmett here has yet to master those commands.  Ryleigh spent lots of time pushing him away and getting attacked with puppy kisses.  She didn't seem to mind.  Neither did Daddy.

The next day we took some time to visit with some of the Elliott side of the family.  GGma and GGpa came down from Caseville to have lunch with us and then we all went over to visit with Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Charles.  We were happy to see when we arrived that Scott, Julie, Charlie and Mackenzie were all there too!  We hung out for a little while and Ryleigh got to play with some of her cousins.  We then spent the rest of the day with Gammy & Grandad.

On Wednesday, Daddy and Grandad went with Papaw to watch some golf.  Gammy, Mommy and Ryleigh spent the afternoon splashing around in the little pool and rolling around the backyard in the cozy coupe.  It was a nice relaxing day.



The next day we spent a very exciting morning at the Detroit Zoo.  Ryleigh had so much fun running around and watching all the animals.  She would point them out and make all their sounds when she saw them.  It was very fun for Mommy & Daddy to watch her and listen to her.  We spent about 4 hours at the zoo before Ryleigh decided it was time to go home for a nap.  She did very well considering the heat.  She was such a little trooper wanting to walk everywhere...my little Miss Independant : )

starting the morning off with some Bubble Guppies...that's "Oooper" or Mr. Grouper

Ryleigh loved watching these little "urtles" run around in their cage

"eers!"

"amels!"

Ryleigh enjoyed throwing all of Mommy's pennies into the fountain.  I hope she made lots of wishes!

with Mommy, Daddy and Grandad

with Mommy, Daddy and Gammy...she was feeling a little independant here.

Ryleigh liked watching the bears swimming in thier pool...she kept saying they were taking a bath and getting ready for night night.

"aroos" ...they "op op op" (well these ones weren't hop hop hoping very much).

Mommy & Ryleigh in the Prarie Dog tubes...on decided to sit right on our heads!

waiting to see some Polar Bears with Daddy

"I'm outta here!"

playing with Grandad's train set

That night Ryleigh stayed with Gammy and Grandad while Mommy & Daddy spent the night celebrating our 4 year anniversary.  We went down to the MGM casino in Detroit, spent the night and ate dinner at one of our favorites restaurants, Bourbon Steak.

Our room

The TV in the bathroom...because everyone needs one

Our h'ors d'oeuvres we got with our room

Duck Fat French Fries..mmmm.  I meant to take pictures of all of our food, but I got too excited when it arrived and forgot to before I started eating it : (

Wall of wine bottles

Friday was our last full day in Michigan.  We spent it hanging out with Gammy & Grandad and then we had a Birthday celebration for Daddy and Heidi.  Ryleigh had so much fun with her Grandparents and Great-Grandparents and of course, Emmett.  She also enjoyed the red velvet cupcake Heather and Heidi brought for her.

Emmett just showing Ryleigh some love

Emmett!!

Daddy getting in some last snuggles

Nothing gets a party going like a toddler dancing

Daddy's getting old ; )

We had such a good time while we were in Michigan!  We are so grateful to have such a wonderful family.  Of course you can't always see everyone you would like to when you travel, so hopefully next time we're in Michigan we can see those we weren't able to get together with this time.

Mommy was so happy that Ryleigh was able to enjoy the flight home from the luxury of her own seat.



Michigan Adventure - Part One

This past week we were up in Michigan spending some time with family.  Since we had yet to visit my In-Laws cottage up in Cadillac, MI, we agreed to start our trip out up there.  Luckily we were able to fly into Michigan this time considering Cadillac is 3 hours north of where we usually stay, which would have increased our driving time to 14 hours!!  Ryleigh barely makes it the 11 hours it normally takes!

She was very excited to go on the airplane and she did a wonderful job traveling.  We bought her little headphones and as soon as we could we popped those on and watched episodes of Olivia and Bubble Guppies.  She liked looking out the airplane window and putting the tray table up and down.  She sat nicely on Mommy or Daddy's lap and didn't really whine or cry at all.  She was a perfect little traveler : )

Once we arrived in Detroit we still had about a 4 hour drive to the cottage.  Needless to say we watched A LOT of episodes on the way until Ryleigh finally conked out at about 10pm.  We didn't arrive to the cottage until 11:30pm and for a baby who goes to bed at 6:30pm, this was a LATE night for her.  But she snuggled with Aunt Cristin and played a little with Tyler and Kylie once we got there.  She did not want to go back to bed knowing everyone was there, but she finally caved.

Ryleigh & Mommy on the plane

Ryleigh decided to record herself during her plane ride.

Zonked out after a loooooooong day of travel.  Almost to Gammy & Grandad's cottage!

The day was spent hanging out playing in the sand and catching up on some much needed sleep.  Daddy, Uncle Dave, Tyler, Kylie and Grandad all enjoyed riding around on the 4 wheelers for a little while.  That evening we made our way into Traverse City for dinner and to enjoy the Cherry Festival.  Ryleigh got to ride a couple rides, which made her very excited.  She attempted to eat some cherry desserts, but in the end she did not care too much for them.

Daddy & Kylie riding 4 wheelers

watching Daddy with Aunt Cristin

playing in the sand with Kylie

not yet old enough to ride, but old enough to sit on it for a while

Tyler reading books

mmmmm Lemons

Daddy & Uncle Dave enjoying their dinners

riding the train with Kylie at the Cherry Festival

riding the train with Kylie

watching the rides with Grandad

so cool in my sunglasses

Tyler letting Ryleigh play with one of his prizes

riding the carousel with Gammy

carousel with Gammy

clearly enjoying a stroll down Grand Traverse Bay

The next day was our last day with Uncle Dave, Aunt Cristin, Tyler and Kylie.  We hung out around the cottage while the boys rode 4 wheelers again.  Ryleigh got in some prime snuggle time with Aunt Cristin before she headed out though.  The rest of the day we spent in Traverse City again with Grandad and Gammy.  We visited a lighthouse and walked our way into some mucky situations.  We were able to splash around a little bit in Grand Traverse Bay before heading back for the night.

with Grandad, Tyler and Kylie

being silly while no one is watching

with Daddy walking along the water

Daddy washing his & Ryleigh's feet after getting stuck in the muck

Family photo in Grand Traverse bay

no more yucky feet for Ryleigh

smelling flowers

On our way home from the cottage we stopped in Frakenmuth, MI.  We went the the Cheese Haus and the Taffy Kitchen before heading over the Zehnders for some chicken.  Ryleigh really was not a fan of the taffy Mommy bought, but she did love the noodle soup at Zehnders!  After walking around Frankenmuth a little bit we headed over to Bronners to show Ryleigh all the Christmas displays.  She enjoyed running around looking at all the lights and moving displays.  She also enjoyed touching fragile items and giving Mommy a heart attack every couple of minutes!

with Grandad outside the Cheese Haus

we always have to stop and play with the water

The Bavarian Inn

Zehnders

Ryleigh enjoyed this Santa a whole lot more than the real one she visited at Christmastime!

After spending some time at Bronners we made our way south to the Detroit area where we had even more fun and got to spend time with even more people.  We'll have pictures and videos from that visit up soon!