Postcard from Upper Peninsula

After leaving Cilla's we headed North to Upper Peninsula, edging ever closer to the end of our trip.  We were so excited to visit Jo (Cilla's daughter) and her little family of three - soon to be four! ;)

It was so good to catch up with them - amazing infact!  Alfie loved Sonia.  And we're pretty sure Sonia loved Alfie too!  She was happy to take him under her wing, allowing him to share her toys, games and hugs.

There was a great place for Alfie to play and despite all there was for him, he only really had eyes for the diggers and trucks!  We also noticed something new that Alfie was trying out..... a 'concentration face' which included his tongue sticking out to the side of his mouth at almost every point.  As usual, he made us smile at every chance.....

Or at least that was the case until an unexpected return of croup visited Alfie again - and as usual, he was NOT impressed.  Not impressed at all.......

Our time with Jo, Jack and Sonia came to an abrupt end as we spent an evening in hospital making sure Alfie would be okay to travel the six hour journey to Chicago which we had decided last minute to include in our travels.  Despite needing another hospital trip the following day when his symptoms worsened, it wasn't long before Alfie became his funny old self again.  We were so proud of our little man!

To Jay - from Sonia!!  A certain likeness??? :D

Kate

x

Postcard at Christmas

Merry Christmas from Midland!!!!.....

....... in August......

We weren't quite sure what to expect when Cilla told us she wanted to take us to an all year round Christmas store not far from where she lives.  hahahaha!!!  No other Christmas store will ever match this one.  

All those baubles!

Plenty of shoes, if that's the kind of thing you like on your tree

(Yes please!)

Or diggers!

(Yes please - if you're anything like Alfie!)

Or anything musical!

(And I literally mean ANYthing in this store!)

Maybe frogs are more your thing!

(Or maybe not!)

Fishing?

(No?)

So what about travel themed ones?

{{{breakout smile}}}

Well..... we might have caved in at this point and bought this one to remind us of all the motels we had stayed in during our holidays in America......

.....and maybe even this one too, to remind us of the hundreds of diners we had also eaten in.......

Yep!  We bought this one too!!!

Only in America......

and we love it!!!

Postcard from Midland

Jay has known Cilla from his childhood.  His Mum and her became good friends after giving birth to their children on the same day.  This friendship has also lasted, despite becoming a long distance one when Cilla and her family moved to Midland, Michigan around thirty years ago.  Jay visited here when he was fifteen and always promised that he would one day return.
And here we were, fulfilling that promise!
Four things really stood out here:
- The Farmer's Market: Our first day here saw us mingle with the locals at the market place.  Everything looked so fresh and colourful.  Nobody seemed to mind us wandering and taking pictures.
- The 'Tridge':  A three way bridge that met over the middle of a river and another opportunity to take some more pictures!
- Dow Gardens:  Some of the prettiest gardens I ever saw!  And that was after visiting the gardens in Windsor just a few days before.  Here, we were able to take our time peacefully, watching Alfie run around freely and just soaking up time spent together as a family.
- Hot Air Balloons: Sadly, we were not in it!  On our last evening at Cilla's though, whilst sitting together eating dinner, we could sense some commotion outside against the backdrop of a noise that was unfamiliar.  As we approached the driveway and looked up we were completely taken aback to find a hot air balloon travelling very low, above the house.  Close enough to make eye contact with the couple inside the basket, we waved enthusiastically to them and watched in awe as Alfie looked up to this unfamiliar sight.  As we looked around, we could see that it was not the only one in the sky.  It was a spectacular sight to see.  What a way to finish up our time in Midland.
We loved it here and we loved spending time with Cilla who had so kindly opened up her home to us.

Thank you Midland!  We are SO glad we came!

Kate x

Postcard from Windsor, Canada

Tyler and Jessica live in one of the most beautiful places that we saw during our entire road trip.  Due to Tyler's busy work schedule it was up to Jessica to show us around and we must have gasped our loud when she took the three of us to Windsor Gardens.  The word 'Windsor' always makes me think of the royal family - and posh old ladies! - but when we saw how beautiful it was here, I couldn't help but think that even the queen would be jealous of this lovely place.  She may have a castle in Windsor back home, but this place was stunning!

The great thing about this place was that Alfie could run around to his heart's content.  It was so enclosed and quiet here for him and you could see the delight of freedom written all over his face.
We are also pretty sure that he fell in love with Jessica too.  He adored her company and constantly wandered around, checking that she wasn't too far away.  We were so grateful that she patiently watched him, taking a heartfelt interest in every flower, blade of grass or tiny stone that he found.  He wanted to show her everything.  She was so kind and gentle with him, you could practically see the shape of his eyes change into love-hearts........

So it came as no real surprise to me that he was unimpressed when I whisked him away briefly to have a photograph taken with him against a backdrop of beautiful flowers.

 Yep.  He was pretty much unimpressed.......

 Like - really unimpressed.

So much so, that my little buddy had quite the meltdown.......

Somebody could have warned me that true love waits for no-one.

Especially toddlers!

~~~