Pure Michigan 2015

Well, you can see some past Michigan trips here and here, but this one really took the cake. And here's why: we had our own log cabin with our own private fishing dock, and that really made for the whole trip.

We fed some ducks and then started casting.

But before the day began, Pax made sure mom's face would be completely protected from the sun... for the next three weeks.

Not long after, this happened...

And then Mae hit to casting and a little later on... jackpot!

Last was our buddy Pax. He was enjoying a little fishing fun when he felt a tug...

Boom! Three for three.

This pictures sums up the fishing nicely.

We also made sure to hit up some berry picking, as late August in Michigan is the perfect time and place for that.  As is the tradition, we bunked with Ana and Sid and their mom and dad, and had ourselves a blueberry pick for the ages.

At one point, we decided to start measuring each other. Sid is three but gaining on Mabel quickly.

And this is Dee. She owned the blueberry farm and was one of the sweetest ol' gals you'll meet.

On top of blueberry picking, the beach was a hot spot for us on Saturday morning. The ideal day from a weather perspective - 82 and sunny - and with really warm lake water to boot, the beach treated everyone well.

On our last morning we decided we had never been raspberry or blackberry picking and so we made sure to stop and got in a nice pick right before the rain.

This last pic is our "Goodbye Michigan" pic, but we'll see you next year, without a doubt.

Chip and ScottsDale: Part II

Okay, so remember when I wrote Part I to this post back in March and said there would be Part II coming shortly? Well, shortly turned into one month.

There are some really good pictures from the trip that were on Nana's camera and my Editor finally got them (it's about time, dude) so off we go:

I'll start off with a couple shots of Mom and me

I had a lot of fun with the waitress at the restaurant Papa took us to the first night

Nana and I colored on the back pavilion of the hotel one morning

And we also spent some time in the pool, first waiting for Dad to come down the slide...

And then hanging out with these ducks that thought the pool was their personal pond (alliteration is key to a successful blogger). One of them told me his name was Vincent and he was Reggie's cousin, if you remember Reggie from Part I.

Catching up on the Thomas Friedman book I started on the plane ride out.

Okay, enough reading on vacation, back to the pool where the food was exquisite.

Ten minutes after finishing my grilled cheese (I don't play by that old "have to wait a half hour after eating" shenanigan), here's me getting ready to take my first dive into the pool...

Greg Lougainis, I am not, but the judges liked my personality so I got 10s across the board (even got one from the Slovakia judge, who hadn't given out a 10 in diving since the '64 Olympics.

And then I went riding on a dolphin... oh wait, nevermind.

And this was the last night we were there. There was a big business dinner of Papa's that he took us to. The rest of the folks were mingling while I, as usual, was waiting in anticipation for the food.

Now you're probably thinking, "Wait, did Mabel even make the trip?" Yes, she did, but she was only six weeks old so she couldn't swim, read, talk to the waitress, go to the business dinner, or any of the other jazz I did. I'll tell ya what she could do, though, and that was sleep outside by the pool, and by day two she had that move down.

Duck, Duck, Mother's Day

Mom and I often take walks down by the lake where we live. It starts out at home with a "Finley, do you wanna go feed the ducks?" and then I start hyperventilating and we're off to the Lakefront. So on Mother's Day we set out for a picnic down by the ducks and we took Dad along (we only brought him along so he could take pictures but I haven't told him that yet).
Whoa! Here come my friends... only thing missing is the goose.
At first glance you will probably think that is Maverick from Top Gun, but if you look really closely you'll see that it's just my Mom.
Then we hit the lawn by the Shedd Aquarium and opened up our lunch on a blanket; it started to drizzle so we busted out the umbrella.
Rihanna's got nothin on me.
And one last one for good measure.
All in all, a fantastic Mother's Day for my Mom and me.