Traverse City

Shame on me, I  didn't take any pictures while we were in Traverse City.  I kept forgetting my camera and poor R2 got left in my other purse.  Mom and I had a fabulous time at the resort.  The rooms were very nice and the hotel grounds, beach, etc were excellent.  The first day we checked in and went straight to the beach.....got a bit of sun.  Went shopping and out to dinner at Sleders.  The food was yummy.  back to the hotel for some card playing and lots of laughs.

Day 2 we headed down to the beach for about 3 hours, burnt my legs and face.  Oh well, it was worth every second we spent in the water.  Cleaned up and went shopping, it was super hot.  We were sweating, gross.  Tried to go to the mall, but the power was out.  Apparently, everyone turning on their air because of the heat caused 1/2 the city to loose power temporarily.  We had some pretty good Mexican food and headed back to the hotel.  We were pretty tired.  Rented a movie, then mom zonked out while I stayed up sketching.

Day 3 we packed up, checked out and headed to the Sleeping Bear sand dunes. That's a story for when I get home.  We went into Glen Arbor and checked out an art fair and walked around the town a bit but it was too hot.  We had to pack it in and get out of the heat.  Stopped at a fruit stand on the way back.  I made a new friend.....a chicken followed me around the whole time,  never a dull moment.

Put a bird on it.......Kerri

This post is for my wonderful friend Kerri who loves birds......but secretly loves cats.....meow.  As I was looking around the house I noticed that my mom has as unusual amount of birds.  They are everywhere.

On the back of the toilet

Wall in the bathroom

Top of cabinet in bathroom

Also on top of cabinet

Is it just me or is that too many birds in the bathroom.

Hutch in the dining room...I actually like these.  They are candle holders.  Bird on fire, lol.

I think the bird is the salt and the pear is the pepper.

Glass birds with houses

There is a whole set of these.

This bird sits in the kitchen window. 

Owls are birds......Kitchen counter.

Napkin holder

These are actually measuring cups

Recipe box

Love birds

Dirly birds.....these freak me out.

This is on the same table as the dirly birds.

Coaster anyone?

I was cracking up taking these pictures.  My mom was like, what are you doing?  I said, My friend Kerri loves birds.  She said, Are you making fun of me because I have so many........ummmm maybe just a little.

Ahoy Mateys!

Today Mom, Ron, and I went into Bay City for the Tall Ship Celebration.  It was something Ron picked out for all of us to do together.  It was a bit toasty in the sun while admiring the ships but I had a great time.  The lines were too long so we didn't actually tour the inside of any of the boats but it was interesting to see all the different sizes, shapes and learn the stories about the ships and the crews that man the ships. Very interesting.

Sorlandet-Full-Rigged Ship

We got this passport that told a bit about each ship.

Ron made mom and I take a picture with these lovely pirates.

These guys must have been so hot!

Ron and I sweating

 In my opinion this guy could not be making enough money.  He had to be sweating buckets in this black outfit.  I bet his feet were hurting from walking on those stilts.  But, he had a smile on his face and he was juggling away.

Peacemaker-Barquentine

You find the Kingdom of God everywhere.  This boat is run by a group called the Twelve Tribes.  They live, work, teach there children together, eat meals together , and worship together.  They love Jesus.  It was interesting to read about them.  www.peacemakermarine.com

Pride of Baltimore II-Square Topsail Schooner

Mom and I sweating.

We stopped for lunch at this diner. Enough said.

Then we went to the best Antique Mall I have ever been to in my whole life.  It was a whole city block! Absolutely incredible, I had so much fun.  I didn't even get to see the whole place.

I wanted to buy all of these!

And all of these....

There were drawers of these, I spent a long time trying to dig out some letters.  I was disappointed that I couldn't find a large A :( But I had so much fun looking through them and picking some out.

Then we went to the best coffee house ever!  Beatles and Beans! 

 Absolutely every inch of the place was covered in Beatles memorabilia. I only got to be in there for a few minutes because we were on our way to get the shuttle back to the car.  Definitely will have to come back here next year.

All in all we had a good day.  Sorry Kerri that R2 did not make an appearance.  I got my hands so dirty with ink at the Antique shop I couldn't get him out of my purse.

Ahhh......68 degrees, I LOVE Michigan!

I began this lovely journey at 5 a.m. on Thursday morning.  Why 5 a.m.?  Lets see...went to bed, fell asleep around 11 p.m., woke up at 1 a.m., tossed and turned, went to the bathroom at 4 a.m......WIDE AWAKE...this makes Amy cranky.  I say forget it, shower, load up, on the road by 4:55 a.m. I spent a lovely 16 hours in the car, well, a lovely 10 hrs, a tired 3 hrs, butt aching 2 hrs, and a final "I am over it" hr.  Totally worth it to see the smile on my moms face as I got a nice big hug.

Slept in this morning :)

Sat on the porch, 68 degrees, loving it.

Went grocery shopping.

Ate dinner out @ 2:30...I win the old people eating hour contest :)

Mom and I started a puzzle.

We are going to Bay City tomorrow.  Ron wants to see some sailboat thing that's happening there.

Blogs with pics to follow in the days to come:
Why Amy likes chachkies. (This ones for Bekah)
Puzzles:to frame or not to frame? (This ones for Patti)
Wheres R2D2?. (For Kerri)

I'm tired.  Love to all of you!!!