Mackinac Island

Last Wednesday, Chris and I were blessed with the opportunity to join the Knights of Columbus on Mackinac Island for their yearly convention. For 3 days, Knights from all over the state of Michigan basically take over the island. The entire Grand Hotel is booked solid and so are many of the other hotels. We were fortunate enough to be able to stay at the Grand Hotel. We arrived on Wednesday so we could get settled in and start setting up the hospitality room for the diocease of Grand Rapids. We also had time to explore the hotel and walk around the grounds. On Thursday, the guys squeezed in a round of golf at the Grand Hotel golf course and the ladies had time for shopping. That afternoon, the men had to register for the convention and we finished setting up the hospitality room. After all of this, there was no more time for play. We had daily mass, the men had various meetings to attend, and there was also a program just for all of the ladies. Friday night we had the State Officers Banquet and every night there was time to visit all of the hospitality suits. For anyone not familiar with a hospitality suit, it is free food and free drinks (oh, and time to visit with other Knights!) We had many long days and very short nights, but we had a great time. We got home late on Saturday and definitely enjoyed being back in our own bed.

I couldn't pick just a few pictures to share with you, so I hope you enjoy all of the ones I did pick. I wanted to show everyone the beauty of the Grand Hotel. It is over 100 years old and incredibly beautiful. During the day, regular clothes are fine. However, in the evening you must be in a tie and jacket, dress or pant suit to dine in the hotel or to be on the parlor level after 5. Every room in the Grand Hotel looks very different and has a feel all its own. That's why I just couldn't share a couple of pictures with all of you. I hope you enjoy!

The Grand Hotel as seen from the ferry ride over.

Chris in his Color Corps regalia with me in my formal ready for the banquet.

Our room

These 2 pictures are of the Governor's sweet.

The above picture is one of the bedrooms.
The picture below are of the parlor area that joins the 2 bedrooms.

The movie "Somewhere in Time" was filmed at the Grand Hotel.

Below is a picture of the "Somewhere in Time" suite.

The following pictures are of various areas in the hotel.

The Mackinac Bridge at night.

The Grand Hotel at night.

The view of the hotel from the 7th hole on the golf course.

One of the special things the Color Corps did while we were at the convention was take part in a living rosary. The Knights staked out a rosary around the fountain and all of the Color Corps members stood around the fountain forming the beads on the rosary.

As each prayer was being said for the particular bead we were on, the Knight representing that bead was given a balloon to hold onto until we were finished praying the rosary. At the conclusion of the rosary, everyone holding a balloon released it representing our prayers being sent to heaven.

This picutre shows how many Knights of Columbus Color Corps assisted with the living rosary.

An Afternoon Out

Last Friday was another beautiful day, and I just couldn't stand the thought of staying inside one more minute. I told Chris to grab his camera, it was time for us to get out as a family and enjoy the afternoon. My hope was to go places where Chris could take some pictures for his business and Olivia would have a place to play. We sort of succeeded. Our first stop was a park near the Grand River. They did have some play equipment for Olivia to play on, but it wasn't too inspiring for pictures. There were a lot of great natural areas, but nothing was inspiring Chris.

Olivia just loves to swing! It seems every time we put her in one, she loves to lean back as you give her a push. What a little ham!

This park did have a boardwalk that went out into the pond (not really a lake) so people could fish. We did see tons of minnows and other fish, but no turtles or frogs. As we were leaving, more people had arrived to fish off the boardwalk.

Next we drove out to one of our favorite places...Grand Haven.

This is a view from the end of the pier, looking back towards the shore.

While Chris went out on the pier to take pictures, Olivia and I played on the beach. She really loved the sand and considering how new she is to walking, she did a great job walking on the beach.

You can't go to the lake without sticking your toes in the water, no matter what time of year it is or what the temperature may be. Olivia really loved doing this!

We really had a great afternoon. When we told Olivia that it was time to go, she threw a huge fit! I guess I know where we will be spending a lot of time this summer. :)

FINALLY!!!!

I know everyone has told me to be patient. I know everyone has told me she will do it when she is ready. Well she has finally decided that she is ready!! Olivia started walking on her own on Sunday. She did it intermitently over the weekend, but really began taking off on Sunday. Each day she has gotten stronger and gained more confidence. Now she is practically walking all of the time unless she is unsure of a situation or she is being lazy. Whenever we see her being lazy, we pick her up off of her knees and tell her she knows how to walk and encourage her.

Today we took Olivia to a park to play in the beautiful sunshine we were experiencing. Chris took a lot of great pictures of Olivia that we wanted to share, but we also wanted to share the video of her walking with you. We are so proud of her!!

464th Quartermaster Company - "The Golden Griffins"

On Monday, April 6, I traveled with my parents to Lapeer, MI to see my sister off as she prepares to leave for Afghanistan. Anne is in the National Guard as a 2nd LT. She volunteered to go overseas with this company to gain experience and due her duty as a soldier. The 464th Quartermaster Company will be providing laundry, shower, and clothing repair support for a Brigade Combat Team. The community of Lapeer had a send off party for the troops. What a moving experience. These first 3 pictures were taken at the high school where the community donated food for a dinner for the soldiers and their families. I was moved at how many people were there. And what I really wished was that I got a picture of the enterance. As we walked down the sidewalk outside to enter the high school, there were veterans lined up holding flags showing there support for the soldiers. I wanted to cry before I even got into the cafeteria. Then when I did get inside, my eyes really did tear up.

After dinner was finished, everyone was asked to head into the gym. There was going to be a brief ceremony for the soldiers and their families.

Here is my dad, my mom, and Anne.

Anne and I

This is Anne with her husband Walter.

When the ceremony started, all of the soldiers marched in and fell into line. I had to take 2 pictures in order to show how big the company was.

Once the ceremony was finished (it only lasted 40 minutes), the soldiers headed out to the waiting buses. The buses then took all of the soldiers to the armory where family could meet up with them once again. (Anne is the 3rd one back.)

The following pictures show you how full the armory was. Time for more tears! Words cannot describe how it felt to be there. It was great that there was so much family time. I think that was important for the families who were there to say good-bye and for the soldiers. People could stay as long as they wanted. Many stayed until it was time for the soldiers to get on the bus to begin their journey. They were headed to WI that night for a month. In WI they will have more training and sometime at the end of April or the beginning of May, they will head over to Afghanistan for about a year (or so).

God Speed Lieutenent Anne Scott. We love you and will miss you. Stay safe.

Visiting Family

I am sorry that our posts have been so few and far between lately. As you are aware, there has been a lot of stress around our house and Olivia has really been keeping us on our toes. She wants to walk everywhere, yet she won't do it on her own. Therefore, at the end of the day I am exhausted and spend just a little bit of time with Chris before I crash for the night. Needless to say, I haven't had the energy to create a new post. I am sorry about that.

We did take a trip to Lansing about a week ago to visit family. It was a wonderful visit and they took us to a local park so we could get out and enjoy the day. We thought we would share those pictures with you.

These first few pictures are of Hawk Island Park. It is really big! There is a boardwalk near the lake to walk on and there is also an asphalt trail in the woods (great for strollers!). They also have a dog park nearby.

This is a picture of a water play area that is open in the warmer months. All of the colorful things you see squirt water in one way or another. The white poles are for tarps to create shade area. It looks like tons of fun!!

This is the play area for the kids. We didn't get to this until the end of our walk and Olivia was getting cranky by this time (nap time!), so we didn't take her there to play. Maybe next time.

We began our walk on the boardwalk around the lake. The lake was a bit flooded, so it came right up to the bottom of the boardwalk. Here everyone stopped to jump on the boards to make the water come up.

This shows you how high the lake level really was!

Even though we had the stroller, Liv insisted on walking as much as she could.

We stopped on one of the fishing decks to take a look out at the lake. Aunt Nan was showing Liv how to throw sticks into the lake.

Not wanting to stay in one spot too long, Olivia took off to explore the rest of the fishing deck.

And we're off again!