Mackinac City

Hi everyone! Hope you've had a good week so far. Still hot and dry in our neck of the woods. How about yours?

After our family reunion in lower MI, we decided to take a few days and head north. Five more hours north! We drove to Mackinac City, spent the night and headed to Mackinac Island the next day.

Here's a beautiful hotel by the water there.Gorgeous flowers everywhere.

And--of course lots & lots of boats. MI has over 11,000 lakes . The scenery is beautiful at this time of year.

Check out the huge Coast Guard Ship.

The evening we arrived in Mackinac City we decided to drive across the Mackinac Bridge to St. Ignace. It is the world's third longest suspension bridge at 5 miles long. It sways in windy weather and the sides are not very high. They've had a couple of cars go over the side.

Here we go! My sister won't open her eyes the entire time she's on it. lol

Whew! We made it!

I told you they had lots of boats!!

It's getting dark and time to head back across the bridge. Look at the sunset on the water. Isn't it pretty!

Back in Mackinac City we stayed at a Best Western on the water. They had some nice touches.
Isn't the swan on the bed cute!

Check out the toilet paper fan.

After breakfast the next day, we were off to Mackinac Island. The Island's only modes of transportation are by "hoofing it", bicycle, horseback (another form of hoofing it) lol or horse and carriage. NO CARS! It's like going back in time. In fact, "Somewhere in Time", with Christopher Reeve & Jane Seymour was filmed there.

It's an amazing experience to walk around this beautiful island!

They ferry you over every half hour or hour, depending on which ferry you take. Check out that rooster tail!

There she is in all her spendor---The Grand Hotel!

She boasts the longest porch in the world with great white pillars. She has been named one of the top 100 hotels in the world.

Thanks for coming by today!
I always enjoy your visits!

I'll be posting more pics of Mackinac soon!

Rooster Party

Bella Vista is hosting, Show your Rooster Party on Friday. Be sure to pop over and see all the Rooster collections that are being displayed.

We had company over today for a casual lunch. It was a good time to pull out my Rooster dishes and use them.

Here's the big guy--center of attention!

All of the dishes came from Home Goods. Silverware from Tuesday Morning.

Napkins from Pennys and napkin rings from Pottery Barn.

Monogramed coasters.

Cute salt & pepper shakers from Ross.

A large serving bowl.

Oval platter that was great for transporting the food from the grill.

Love this cute little dish-just perfect for the butter.

A vignette on my pass through counter.

I'm linking to Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday hosted by Susan.

Be sure to visit all the beautiful tables at her blog.

Enjoying the Outdoors

After being gone on a long trip away from home things needed trimming, deadheading and some plants needed to be replaced.

We've finished doing just that-right in time for Outdoor Wednesday hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer. Please pop over for lots of inspiration.


This is our patio and backyard. It's been so hot, we can only use it in the mornings and maybe lunch. (Depending on the humidity ).

We bought new urns after returning home and put in plants that don't need as much attention. No pinching, shedding, etc. Frankly, I was done with that. lol

Our Bistro table set.

When we added this patio a few years ago I designed it curving out. Just right for a little table.

We put a Gazebo at one end to have a shaded area to sit under.

It's been a great place to host birthdays, graduations and family get togethers.

My new pots.

We redid the front landscaping this Spring with new, smaller plants and everything is growing and doing well, despite the intense heat.

I changed this urn recently and put in Purslane. They are really heat tolerant.

How would you like to be asked to water this neighbor's flowers while they vacationed! lol

You would surely need a tall ladder.

My ferns have done great with all the humidity! Pretty soon I won't be able to get in the front door.

I hope you and your plants are surviving this heat wave. Thanks for your visit!

Until next time---Stay Safe!

Michigan Part II

I warned you guys that I had lots of pictures of our trip. I only have a zillion to go. lol
Not really, but close!
These are my children, nieces and nephews. I thought it was a cute idea and the photographer captured better pics than I did. They had so much fun being together.We had to get their children into the act as well. Four of them are my grandchildren. Emma on the left, the two on the right end and the baby riding piggy back. She had lots of fun being center of attention.

Hubby and his two sons-in-law.

Hubs couldn't wait to take the gang fishing down at the pond. Kris caught the largest fish and the only Bass.

Andrea caught a Sun Fish.

The little girls were so excited because some of them had never caught a fish before. Great job Alex!

Here's one for little Erin.

And Olivia a.k.a Miss O. She caught the only Cat Fish.

Emma finally got one.

Hey, look it's me and my brother on the "mule". We went joy riding around the property and look what we found.

A wagon full of hay stashed back by the woods. You know what that means......

A Hay Ride! The kids were so excited. Thanks honey for going, getting and pitching 22 bales of hay up on that old wagon!!!

We had lots of fun singing camp songs, church songs and patriotic songs.

Thanks, Alan for driving and hosting a wonderful reunion! Poor Alan got stung while driving out in those woods. Ouch!!

Thanks for letting me share with you today. I'm looking forward to visiting your blogs.