Hana's First Trip to The U.P. and Grandma's House

Last weekend we traveled about 5 hours north to visit my family in the Upper Peninsula. My Mom, Grandma, one of my brothers and his family all live up there. Usually we only go up there in the summer due to the ever changing weather conditions of a Michigan winter, but we decided to brave it and take the kids up for a quick visit. None of our children remember being up at Grandma's in the winter....mostly because most of them have never been there!! =) Only our oldest two have visited there during the winter and they were pretty young at the time, so of course they have no memory of it.

Since Hana had never seen anything like the "Winter Wonderland" that Michigan's U.P. can be this time of year, we decided to introduce her to the outdoor playground that one can only find in the far regions of the North!

Here is just a sampling of the good times that were had by all:

Haylie snowboarding

Hana snowboarding

Taking a break at the bottom of the hill....and having a snowball fight??

Point Iroquois Lighthouse

Bay Mills, MI

~Group shot taken out in the bay~

Back row: Jake, Brenda and Kora

Middle row: Hannah, Hana, Haylie, Reece and Nathaniel

Front: Chloe

(Kora and Reece~cousins)

Jake and Kora standing out in the bay in front of a frozen wave.

There are tons of little caves and crevices all along the lakeshore.

~Jake eating icicles~

Hannah and Chloe under a frozen wave

Chloe, Jake, Kora and Nathaniel in an ice cave

Haylie and Hana in an ice crevice

Kora in back, Hana, Jake, Brenda and Nathaniel

Standing in an ice crevice

Everyone looking down under the ice, watching for fish

Snowmobiling

A BIG thank you to Randy and Jo Ellen Pesola for letting us use their snowmobiles!

We had a Super-de-dooper time!!

Haylie and Hana

Nathaniel

Hana taking a turn driving

~Haylie a bit nervous~

Todd going over some jumps

Hana with a huge smile

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and no one wanted to hear that it was time to load up and head for home. But reality was creeping back in and play time was over, so we said good-bye to the cousins and Grandmas and made the long journey back home. Now all that we are left with are wonderful memories.......and......tons of laundry!!

Don't forget to make some winter memories because spring is just around the corner!! =)

Have a great day!

Wendy