Hello all!! Sorry we have been away for awhile, but we were busy enjoying family and Fall back in Michigan! We were gone almost a full month, and it was a wonderful and much needed vacation! It was a whirlwind of family and activities, and as great as it was we are glad to have some downtime now and to get back to our home routine before the craziness of the holiday season begins!
Here is a recap of our first part of our Michigan trip:
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| Hadley is packed and ready to go! |
To say I was nervous to travel halfway around the world with an 8 month old would be an understatement. Hadley had been kind of fussy in the couple of weeks before we left (I think this was due in part to teething/wanting to crawl and not being able to), and I was worried this would continue on the flights. Furthermore, all of our flights from Kwaj to Michigan were red eye flights and I was concerned that she may not be able to sleep on the plane. Fortunately, we were able to get Hadley her own seat on all of our flights and that made a world of difference.
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| Hadley's sweet plane set up...all the flight attendants complimented us on our makeshift bed ;) |
Hadley is not a cuddly baby and really prefers to be laid down and be left alone to sleep when she is tired. We tried holding her and rocking her to sleep a few different times, but aside from little 30 minute catnaps, she couldn't sleep with us holding her. We found out pretty quickly that Hadley is not a great plane sleeper. She was awake almost the whole flight from Kwaj to Honolulu (6:30pm-3am flight), and she only slept for about three hours on our eight hour flight from Honolulu to Chicago. I think there was too many new things around and too much going on for her to relax and sleep. On the plus side, she handled being awake like a pro and was very content to just quietly play with toys or lay down and relax even if she didn't sleep. Sadly, this did mean that Johnathon and I didn't get to sleep very much on any of the flights so we were more that excited to finally land in Michigan, and catch up on some sleep.
The first week in Michigan was spent trying to recover from jet lag, eating at restaurants we hadn't been to in months, and getting ready for Johnathon's brother Brad's wedding that Saturday. Hadley also enjoyed lots of love from her Michigan family!
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| Hadley and Grandma :) |
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| Hadley and Uncle Paul |
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| Hadley and Papa |
We also met up with our friends Ryan and Jen so we could catch up and meet their baby Colin who was born in May of this year! We had lunch with them, then went to their house so Hadley could play with Colin!
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| Hadley showing Colin her sweet new phone |
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| Hadley also got some loving from Ryan and Jen's puppies |
Saturday was Brad and Deanna's wedding. I didn't bring my camera to Brad and Deanna's wedding, but it was beautiful and I'm so glad we made it back for the wedding!
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| I mean...that's one gorgeous couple right there! |
Funny side note: Johnathon was Brad's best man so he was dressed in a suit almost identical to Brad's. Johnathon and Brad look so much alike that people at the wedding kept coming up to Johnathon and congratulating him, and thanking him for inviting them to his wedding! lol Those McClellan genes are strong!
My family flew into town the night of the wedding, and we got to see them bright and early Sunday morning! My mom, dad, and sister were very excited to see Hadley.
Monday evening, my mother in law hosted an early Thanksgiving for our Michigan and Texas families since we will be back on Kwaj in November for true Thanksgiving. It's been several years since we were home for Thanksgiving so it was really fun to celebrate with both sets of families.
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| Love the full house for Thanksgiving! |
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And of course, it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without some football...
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| Our nephew Ethan, my Father in Law, and my dad tossing the ball around |
That afternoon the Horton side of the family piled in the car and we drove about 30 minutes North of Johnathon's parents house to Westview Pumpkin Patch. This was Hadley's first trip to a Pumpkin Patch, and we were excited to get our hands on some cider and doughnuts!
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| How cute is this apple orchard?? |
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| Hadster's first pumpkin patch |
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| The original Horton clan + Hadley |
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| My sister and I picking out pumpkins |
That Tuesday, my family, Johnathon, Hadley and I jumped in the car and drove up North to Mackinac Island. This is the second time I've been to Mackinac Island. If you remember, we went to Mackinac right before we moved to Kwaj. You can read about our first trip to Mackinac
here. Our first trip to Mackinac was in August at the peak of their tourist season and the weather was great. It was cool, and sunny and we biked all around the island. We were excited to go this time around in the Fall, drink a hot toddy on the porch of the Grand Hotel, and enjoy the island in the Fall.
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| Sailing in to Mackinac from the ferry- That's the Grand Hotel on the far left |
The Mackinac ferry docks in the middle of downtown Mackinac and we had the option of either walking to our hotel or riding in the horse drawn buggy since there are no cars on Mackinac. It was a gorgeous Fall day so we opted to walk through town on our way to the hotel.
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| It was a brisk Fall day...perfect for walking around town |
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| I loved this festive front porch |
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| Walking around town |
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| Hadley was a happy camper all bundled in her stroller |
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| love all the cute bed and breakfast hotels all over |
And of course we had to stop in first thing to get some Mackinac fudge:
We finally got to the hotel to check in, and we were so excited to find out that we got a free upgraded room! The receptionist at the front desk informed us that we would be staying in the "Hunt Suite." We asked if it was nice, and she just kind of smiled and said "Oh, yes!" So needless to say we were excited when they handed us a real, heavy duty key and sent us on our way. We were very pleased when we opened our door and saw this...
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| I case your wondering, Hadley is a loud sleeper so she and her crib got moved to the closet. lol We're good parents ;) |
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| Our beautiful view |
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| Hadley was loving it! |
I mean...we were pretty pumped! We may or may not have jumped on the bed like we were kids! After checking in and properly taking in our amazing room, we all opted for a low key dinner at the hotel and calling it an early night since we knew we were going to hit the ground running the next day!
Stayed tuned for our second day at Mackinac as well as pictures and stories from the rest of our vacation!
