Vacation at Grammy and Grampy's

Over Labor Day weekend we made the long trip (in two days) up to Upper Michigan to visit my parents in their new home. They moved from Maine to Laurium, Michigan to be closer to my 87 year old grandfather. It was great to see their new house and to introduce Fiona to some of the fun places I visited as a child. Here are some photos chronicling our trip.

Sunday, after Mass we drove to Eagle River where they have a nice sandy beach. The weather was unseasonable warm (lower 80's) so nice weather for going to the beach. Although it was cooler by the water, and Lake Superior is ALWAYS cold, it didn't stop Fiona from plunging right in.

Fiona's first experience with wading in Lake Superior (or any large body of water).

Unfortunately she did fall a few times due to the waves and was done wading after that.

She was fascinated by the sand and liked digging in it with her shovels.

Family photo

Playing with Daddy. I can lift this heavy bucket of water! Luckily she didn't pour it all over Jeff.

On Wednesday we went to visit my Grandpa at the nursing home. The week my parents moved to Michigan, he fell and fractured his pelvis. So, he's been in a nursing home since then recovering and doing physical therapy to strengthen up so he can go back home.

Four generations: Grandpa (Steve) 87, Mom (Theresa) 61, Me (Jen) 35 and Fiona 15 months. Fiona wasn't sure what to make of him and is at a stage where she does NOT want to sit still so getting a good group photo was difficult. This was the best of the bunch! She did enjoy helping push his wheelchair around.

Playing with Grampy.

The highlight of Fiona's trip was walking around the block. Usually it involved Benny, my grandpa's poodle. Fiona just loved helping hold the leash and a couple times a day she would go out on their porch, grab the leash and bring it to us indicating she was ready to take Benny for walk. However, my mom picked up a doll stroller for her and Fiona had a lot of fun pushing that around as well. All in all it was a great vacation (exceping the fact I came back with an awful cold/ear infection). We can't wait to go back up to spend more time in such a beautiful area.

We got a chance to go to Swedetown (ski area) to hike. My parents picked wild blackberries while Jeff, Fiona and I took Mollie for a walk. We got to use one of Fiona's birthday presents, a backpack carrier from my mom's sister. Fiona loved being in it. I think that she liked being up so high! Mollie liked that she got to run and stretch her legs (and that Jeff threw sticks for her!).