Mackinac Island/Chx Venetian Trip, Part II

Naptime was over and Brian's conference was done for the day.

His corporate group was eating dinner at one of the restaurants and he felt he should be there. I could have gone too, but my plate would have been $$$ and I didn't feel like wrangling the kids at a fancy buffet.

So Will, Barrett, and I headed down to the pool. The pool itself was unheated but the hot tubs were just warm enough for Will to stand in, very still, up to his calves, for the entire hour we were waiting for Daddy.

 Love my adventurous kid.

 When Brian was done, we were free! We headed off with the stroller to explore a bit.

  

This is what Will does when we tell him to 'put on a happy heart'. We've now started telling him to 'say cheese' and that looks much better.

Oh! Of course, he loved the myriad horses.

  

  

Tickling him to evoke a good smile.

Poor Barrett. He says, "Guess they forgot about me back here."

"Oh! Horses!"

"HI HORSES!"

Horses trot in front of the fort. 

  

  

We were surprised how uppity this place was! No casual clothes in the hotel past 6 PM, OR on the STREET owned by the hotel. We weren't kicked off. Huh. I'm guessing that's more of a way for folks to be able to identify the actual Grand Hotel guests who walk very finely attired up the street past us, the shabby bourgeoisie.

  

  

 Trust me, Barrett really was happy in there.  

The long walk to the Grand Hotel and back, along with a few wrong turns and sidetrails, made me hungry! We stopped back at one of the resort restaurants to pick up a burger and fries for me and Will. We took our food up to the room and ate it in front of the tube. The weather was pretty chilly by this point, the kiddos were tired, and we don't have cable at home, so it was actually a very relaxing dinner on the hotel bed.

The following day, Brian had conference until noon, so I took Will back to the hot tub to spend more time standing (Barrett rode along on my back). He did attempt to step further down into the water, but bailed halfway through his mission. Do I have pictures of this? Ha! Between being terrified that I would slip and fall in with Barrett on my back and being terrified that Will would fall in, I did not manage to get the camera out. Oh, vacation with little kids!

You know I love it.

After that, it was checkout time! Off to explore a bit more and then catch the ferry.

We chased seagulls on the Mission Point lawn for a while before heading back.

The weather was beautiful all week.

  

Chapel in front of the Fort

Park and harbor in front of the Fort

Inside the chapel

  

Tuckered out

Baby selfie!

Then Daddy grabbed the camera and got some adorable baby love.

  

  

  

I'll teach you to eat my face, mom. Here I come!

  

We wanted to make it back to Charlevoix in time for Night #1 of Venetian fireworks on Papa's boat. Our luggage was left behind on the dock when our ferry left from Mackinac. I stayed outwardly calm when it was missing, but remember how I overpacked? I packed everything in the world I thought I'd need... so now everything I thought I'd need was GONE!

Thankfully, it was only about 30 minutes behind us. Will and Brian played on the beach while we waited and I nursed Barrett in the car. Will walked into the water with his shoes on, of course.



Did William miss Mackinac Island? Not at all. Why? Because back at Nana and Papa's house was something so tremendous... so miraculous... so incredible...

TRACTORRR

  

Can you believe it? Better than an amusement park... a GIANT tractor just a couple of houses down the street. A tractor that had been there, according to Brian's mom, for months. A tractor, owned by the city, that wasn't in use once during the entire time we were there.

At first I wouldn't let Will climb on. It wasn't our tractor, I told him. Then a neighbor (on whose lawn the tractor was parked) popped out of his house. He told me to let Will climb all over it! I think everyone was sick of it being there.

Lake soaked it up! She loved Barrett and Barrett loved her!