Whew!

It's so nice to be home! We had a GREAT little vacation, but nothing beats your own home! The weekend was pretty busy. We drove 6+ hrs on Fri. up to Drummond Island - off the Upper Penninsula of Michigan. Nothing but woods and.....woods!!! Kyle just LOVES it up there. We are so so grateful to Beth and Jeff for allowing us to tag along with them up there!!! It really is a super time. Unfortunately on Sunday Jordyn (Beth's third child) must have grabbed some hot part on the generator and got 2nd degree burns on her hand. Poor girl was in some serious pain. There is nothing worse than watching a child writhe in pain and knowing there is NOTHING you can do. Well Drummond Island has NO medical center open on Sunday (I seriously doubt whether they are ever open really) so Beth had to make a trip all the way to Sault St. Marie (about an 1 1/2 hr trip with the ferry ride and all). She finally made it back at 6:30pm - she missed our great roast dinner that she started earlier in the day. :( Jordyn came back happy though which was GREAT to see! Anyway - On Monday (Memorial Day) we drove off the island and did a little out of the way trip to Oswald's Bear Ranch in Newberry, MI. It was really cool. We got up close and personal to some giant bears. The kids also got up close and personal to a cute little bear cub! Braelyn says that was the highlight of her vacation when I asked her! So I guess it was worth the extra stressful ride. The other fun thing was that on the way to Mackinaw we took Highway 2 in the U.P. and it has BREATHTAKING views. I seriously was in awe that we were in Michigan! So awesome! And as we rolled on over the Mighty Mac there was a very faint rainbow. God is Good. We got to our hotel in Mackinaw City and got all settled in and the kids got to swim at the indoor water park. They crashed that night! On Tue. morning after breakfast we took the ferry across to Mackinac Island - it was CHILLY chilly! When we got there Beth had to go to the Medical Center on the island for her older daughter who got bit by something (they think a black fly?), and her face and eyes were all swollen. So the med center gave her some steroids and sent her on her way. Poor Beth just thought she would see every med center in the U.P.! After walking around the shops for a bit we had lunch. 4 adults and 6 kids makes for a bit of stress at meal time! I think people thought we were nuts! Against our better judgement we decided to go on the EXPENSIVE carriage tour with everyone. It was great at first. Selah fell asleep in my lap and then we got to a half way point where we needed to get off one carriage and get on a bigger one (also a potty break). Selah woke up after too short of a nap and SCREAMED for about 10-15 minutes. Like inconsolible scream. It was a total trainwreck! I was FURIOUS and didn't know how to handle the situation. There was no where to take her no way to get off. I just knew that the 25 other people were just totally unable to enjoy their expensive tour. No picture of Arch Rock - nothing. Ugh - I can't even believe I just relived that whole thing by writing it out. Really though, what could we have expected? 3 kids with 4 days of barely any naps and way less sleep at night - they were bound to lose it at some point! We were absolutely ready to leave the island and I know for sure that I will not be going back there ANY time soon. I think those types of vacations are not my thing. I'm the odd type of person that HATED Nantucket when we visited too - just too touristy to me. Anyway - Wed. morning was spent doing breakfast at the hotel, packing up, playing, and then meeting another couple that came up and all did lunch together. Beth and Jeff and Matt and Mindy all headed back up to Drummond. The cabin is just too small to have too many families in it so it worked out to do it this way. We do hope to go as just adults in the fall if it is possible! Once a year with kiddos is quite enough, even though the girls LOVED it! Again - Thanks Beth and Jeff - we really did have a SUPER time. The good far outweighs the bad!!!

I am totally still recovering though. We stayed up late every night hanging out and still got up fairly early in the morning. I have come down with some sort of cold too - seems to be going around here in Michigan. I went back to work today, which was kind of nice! Cassie came today and helped out because Kyle's Mom (our usual Thur. babysitter) was at the hospital with Grandpa Hains. He has been having problems with his Bile Duct, and being jaundice. The Dr. at first thought he had melignant tumor(s?) on his liver, but today has said that there were no tumors shown on the CatScan. Kyle's Grandpa is a retired Reformed Church of America Reverand and he is just one of the greatest men I know. He is a great singer and he is just so knowledgable. He is 88 yrs old I believe and is just a ROCK. Kyle went to visit without me and the girls tonight b/c he had just gotten out of a procedure he had done to drain his Bile Duct. Any prayers for Papa Hains would be great!

Braelyn is done with school! I am excited to have her back at home on my days off. I know the summer will fly and we will be doing the same thing as this year - Tue./Fri. morning classes. Our June is super busy with gymnastics, Vacation Bible School, and swimming lessons. Poor Selah and Gracyn will just get dragged along to everything.

I think that should bring us all up to speed right? Oh wait. When we got back from vacation we had 8 messages on our machine. 4 new prospective house buyers. We will be showing our house nearly all day on Sat.!!! one couple will be coming thru for the 2nd time! So if you could also say a prayer for that too that would be great! We are really open to whatever God has for us - if he wants us to stay put we will be content with that, if he is ready for us to move on he will provide a buyer - I am at an amazing peace and not anxious at all about it. It is hard to not think of what if, but really it doesn't matter if I do think of what if b/c it is not in my control. Just exciting to see some interest though!

OK - really - I am done now - Hopefully I can post again soon with some pics and LO's!
MandaKay