Road Trip North

Recently, the kids and I returned from a trip to Michigan to visit G & G Estle in Traverse City. AJ had to go to San Francisco (poor thing!) to work on his book gig, so it was a perfect chance for me to try a solo trip for the first time. Thankfully, we were able to break up the 7.5 hour trip with visits to G & G Rader in Bremen and a couple Michigan friends too. I was extremely anxious about the long car ride, but both kids did remarkably well. God protected my sanity by causing them to sleep more than usual in the car.

I am so thankful our children can see their grandparents as often as they do- its such a special relationship. Visiting grandpa and grandma is like Christmas and birthday all rolled into one exciting package. And its such a joy for us to watch our parents interacting with the kids. They like being grandparents more than they liked parenting. At least thats what they tell us. And it makes sense-all the fun without having to discipline or clean up vomit.:) Im remembering Luci all snuggled in with Gramie on the big chair before bed, Jonas learning bad football watching habits from my dad, and learning how to drive a "big Big" tractor with Grandpa Rader. These are moments to cherish. (By the way, I posted some more pictures of the trip in the web albums.)

While we were in Traverse City, we were able to celebrate the ground breaking of my parents new house. Its been a long time coming, so this was an exciting event. Jonas especially liked the cement pumping machine and the piles of sand and dirt. The house will overlook Lake Leelenau and is close to the western coast of Lake Michigan. We're excited to sit on the big porch and to bike over to the nearby vineyards. A peaceful place indeed.

And G & G Raders farm is ALWAYS exciting. On this visit there were three baby cows and one to feed with a bottle. We visited Rader Equiptment (AJ's father's business) where Jonas sat on every lawn mower and then got to ride on one of the larger farm tractors with Grandpa. Great-grandpa Rader was there greeting customers as is routine, and he got a kick out of Jonas' reaction to it all. We shared a meal with Uncle Marc and Aunt Allie and the "girl cousins", Emma, Lily, and Maggie too. By the time we got home, we were exhausted to say the least.