The Quilted Turtle

Proud Mama

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:27:00 +0000

The other day as I was working in my sewing room I heard, "Mama, can I sew with you today?"

"Of course you can," I answered, "what would you like to make?"

"Can I make a horse?"

I found some leftover material and a quilting hoop, she drew a picture of a horse on the fabric, and I showed her how to stitch around her drawing. (She didn't notice that the horse has six legs until after she was done.) I threw her finished piece into a Dollar Store frame I had laying around and we had a masterpiece. Mama wanted to keep it - after all it was her first sewing project, but she was adamant about giving it away.

She insisted, "I want to give it to Lorma."

"OK, but I'm curious - why Lorma?" I really was curious. There are lots of adults she adores and I wondered why Lorma got to be the lucky one.

"Because Mama," she said, "Lorma knows how to sew. She'll know how hard I worked to make this for her." How could I argue with that?

So a few days later we went over to Lorma's house to give her the horse. Our timing was perfect - when we walked into the house we found her sitting at her sewing table; the prefect place to get her gift. It now hangs in her entry way.

At first I was disappointed that K wanted to give her creation away, but now I am thrilled. Sure, she could have kept it and hung it in her bedroom, where she (and I) would have enjoyed it. But giving it away made Lorma feel loved and helped K learn how wonderful it feels to give of one's self. Not to mention that wonky, lime green, six-legged horse puts a smile on everyone's face who walks in and gives it that "why-is-that-hung there" look, because they get to hear the story of why K wanted Lorma to have it.

Growing Frustration

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 13:04:00 +0000

My daughter is down right desperate for the Tooth Fairy to pay her a visit. Her brother has lost several teeth lately, while she has only lost one - ever. She wants quarters. Now.

You can imagine her dismay when she started complaining, "My gums feel funny. Mama will you look in my mouth?"

"Sure," I said, "Go get the flashlight and I'll check." She dutifully went and got her father's flashlight, turned it on, and handed it to me. I pointed it into her mouth to see what was bothering her and was surprised to find a new tooth growing in the "wrong" spot. The tooth in front of it isn't even wiggly.

"It's a tooth," I said.

"What?! Let me see!" I took the picture and then showed her the screen on my DSLR.

She giggled and then yelled, "Papa! Get the pliers. I need you to get this tooth out!" She was not happy when he explained that since the tooth wasn't wiggly, him pulling it out wasn't really an option.

Guess those quarters are going to have to wait...

I Scream, You Scream...

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 19:12:00 +0000

...we all scream for Mackinac Island's newest ice cream parlor - Sadie's. It's located on the East end of the Grand Hotel - where Margaret's Garden flower shop use to be.

We popped in for their grand opening the other day.

The Governor was there to help the Musser family, Mayor Doud, and two of the Hoezee Brothers (their company makes the ice cream) cut the ribbon.

The atmosphere at Sadie's is lovely and the Hudsonville ice cream is delicious. I may have to pop in there later on in the summer when I am desperate for a pecan ball!

The Morning Commute

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Fri, 24 May 2013 00:53:00 +0000

It's been raining on Mackinac Island for the past four days. We've had light rain, heavy downpours, and rains that have lasted all day and all night.

This morning I rode to work in a light rain; more than a sprinkle but not much. As I rode I noticed what looked like small twigs all over the road. Lots and lots of little twigs. It must have rained pretty hard, I thought. But then I looked closer. They weren't twigs.

My entire one mile bike ride to work was like that - worms everywhere: long ones, short ones, skinny ones, fat ones, and squished ones - lots and lots of squished ones. And riding around them wasn't really an option.

By the time I left school at about 4:00, they were gone. We must have some of the best fed birds in the entire state of Michigan...

Mother's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Sun, 12 May 2013 22:10:00 +0000

We had a lovely lunch today for Mother's Day

Can you tell where we went?

Grandpa took us all out to Grand Hotel for a lovely lunch. Outside the dining room all the diners were greeted with glasses of champagne, and then as Grandpa went up to the desk to pay, the hostess asked, "Do you have any mothers with you today?"

"Yes. We have two;" he gestured to my mom and I.

"There is no charge for them today," said the hostess, "Happy Mother's Day from Grand Hotel." Such an unexpected surprise...

Of course the food was wonderful (as was the spending the afternoon with my parents.) And while they never have pecan balls on the lunch buffet, the desert table was fully stocked with all my other favorites: cheesecake, pecan pie, and gigantic super-sweet chocolate-covered strawberries. My mom says she thinks we should make this a family tradition, and I must say - I have to agree.

Does your family have any Mother's Day traditions?

Spring Break: River Tubing, Falmouth, Jamaica

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Thu, 09 May 2013 01:02:00 +0000

Our third and final stop on the cruise was Falmouth, Jamaica. We spent the day with the good folks at Chukka on the old Good Hope sugar plantation.

Many visitors chose to see the grounds of the plantation by horse drawn carriage, but we had something else in mind.

We spent the morning tubing

down the Martha Brae River.

It was just the lazy day we needed.

We didn't know it, but spring is the dry season in Jamaica, so the often fast-flowing river was very quiet. So quiet that our tubes were tied together and the guide had to paddle us down the river. At several of the shallower parts of the river our guide yelled, "Butts up!" We'd lift our hind ends so the tubes could more easily scrape across the rocks on the bottom of the river.

When we arrived we were expecting a faster river and individual tubes, but we still had a great day.

My daughter wasn't feeling well and a lazy float down the river was just the thing she needed after several very busy days.

And, there was room in the schedule for lizard hunting, which was just what my son needed. After watching these little guys running around, my son would have been furious if we hadn't had enough time for him to try and catch a few.

Spring Break: Cayman Turtle Farm, Cayman Islands

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 15:36:00 +0000

When you arrive at Grand Cayman by cruise ship, you are shuttled ashore on a small boat called a tender, since there is no dock there large enough to accommodate the huge cruise ships. Riding the tender was no big deal for my little ones who are use to regular trips on ferry boats, but they were in awe of just how blue the water was. And, of course, the pirate ship we passed. What six and eight year-olds wouldn't be in awe of a "real live pirate ship?"

We had decided to spend the day at the Cayman Turtle Farm. I didn't know it until we got home, but the farm doesn't just raise turtles to release back into the wild; they also raise turtles for their meat and other parts. The Cayman Islands were originally dubbed Las Tortugas (The Turtles) by Columbus in the early 1500s due to the turtles found swimming around the islands. In fact, for many years ships would stop there to fish for fresh turtle meat to feed their crews. So much so that eventually the green sea turtles in that area had all but disappeared.

The Turtle Farm originally opened in 1968 to do just that - farm turtles. That continues today, but the farm is now also a research / education center and attracts over a half a million tourists each year. The place is huge! Our time constraints only allowed us to see some of the attractions, and my husband and I decided that some day, we'd like to back to Grand Cayman. Perhaps rent a house on the beach for a week. I know it won't happen until I retire and braces and college are paid for, but a girl can dream...

Our first stop was the breeding pond. It was huge; full of turtles ready to mate and then crawl up onto the beach area to lay their eggs. Workers then collect the eggs and move them into a building where they control the turtle's development. Keeping the temperature below 85 degrees F (about 30 degrees C) creates mostly male turtles, while warmer temperatures produces predominantly female turtles.

The oldest turtle at the farm is "Sparky." (She's the one in the bottom right of the photo above.) She is 65 years-old, has been at the farm since it opened, and is still going strong. We couldn't touch the big turtles,

or this guy. He posed so nicely for me on top of that pedestal, but as soon as my son made his move (to try to grab him,) the iguana bolted and hid in the shrubbery.

We could, however, get up close and personal with the younger turtles. They were so cute and stronger than you'd think. They've got a lot of power in those two front flippers.

Our guide told us the secret to keeping them calm is to rub them under their chin.When they would get excited and stare flapping those feet, a few little strokes was all it took to calm them down again. Just to be safe, we had to hold them over the tanks - in case one of them managed to wriggle away.

Even Grandma managed to catch one!

After we had our turtley fun, it was time to swim. At the farm they have a very large swimming / snorkeling area filled with many different species of fish, conchs, and sea turtles. Swim with sea turtles? We didn't have to ask the kids twice!

My son was much more confident this time and didn't hesitate to get into the water. Of course, little Miss K was off and exploring before I even managed to get my mask on...

We ate conch fritters, calamari, plantains, and jerk chicken for lunch before heading back to the ship. Along the way we were very glad that we had booked our shore excursion through the ship and not on our own. (When you book through the ship, they'll wait for you if there is a breakdown. Otherwise you may be left behind when the ship leaves port.)

As we rode along the highway, sitting in air conditioned comfort and reminiscing about our day, all of a sudden we heard an incredibly loud "bang," and then a repeated "thudding" and the back of the bus. (So loud that my ears rang for a long time afterward.) Just as we all turned in shock to see what happened, smoke started pouring out from under the seat on the back right side of the bus. The poor girl sitting there, who looked about 15, shot straight up and literally flew into her dad's lap a row or two ahead of her.

Our driver assured us that he'd called for another bus to come pick us up and that we shouldn't have to wait long. I asked if I could take a few pictures of the wheel, which I did, but I would have loved a picture of the bus at the side of the road. Unfortunately, there was just too much traffic on the highway and it didn't seem safe, so I had to settle for the the photo of the delaminated tire.

Several of the ladies on the bus started complaining about how the wait was eating into their shopping time, but we didn't wait there for more than about 15 minutes. Another bus drove up, we got on, and were back at the port in no time. I thought the driver handled the situation perfectly. In fact, we really appreciated all the people we met on Grand Cayman.

Once we were back to port area we had some time before we had to board our tender back to the ship so the kids wanted to do a little shopping. My son learned how to haggle very quickly and managed to find a few good bargains. It was fun watching him decide exactly how he wanted to spend his vacation money. Sometimes waiting for him to decide was painful, but it's such an important lesson, don't you think?

Then we hopped on a tender, rode quietly back to the ship, and collapsed until dinner. If you've ever taken a cruise then you know all about the unending food. On a cruise ship, at least for us, dinner in the dining room was an event not to be missed. But that's a post for another day...

Spring Break: Stingray Beach, Cozumel

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 23:17:00 +0000

We decided to play it safe and use only ship-sponsored shore excursions that we thought would really appeal to the kids. The trip to Stingray Beach looked perfect! When we arrived we secured our stuff, got our supplies,

and got a short lesson on stingrays and the basics of snorkeling. (See the stuffed ray he's holding? The kids decided to part with some of their vacation money so they could each bring one home.) Our guide also made sure to let us know that all the stingrays in their enclosure have had their stingers removed.

Then it was into the water! My little fish, I mean my daughter, took off like a rocket into the blue. No worries in her little head.

My, son on the other hand, needed a little encouragement to get into the water. Watching all those big gray spots moving around on the bottom was a bit unnerving, but once he put his face into the water he was hooked. Some of the rays were huge - easily three or four feet across. We learned later that the bigger ones were the females and that the smaller ones with the claspers at the base of their tails were the males.

We also spent some time in the shallows actually touching, feeding, and, if you wanted to, kissing the rays, but cameras weren't allowed during that portion of the day. Their photographer took pictures which they hoped you'd buy later. I understood because the majority of people don't have a waterproof camera and might have loved the opportunity to get a few pictures. But, I did have a waterproof camera and didn't think it was very nice when they asked me to put it away. However, they did ask me to put it away very politely, so I didn't argue.

Later on, when I was looking at the pictures they took, I just couldn't see paying $35 US dollars for one photograph. I think they would be better off doing what I saw in Egypt - sell people a photo pass - permission to take pictures. I would have paid $10.00 to take my own pictures and they would have been ahead, but I'm not going to complain because we had a fantastic day.

After we got out of the water and dried off, there was a little time to hang out on the beach. They had lots for the kids to do while the adults soaked up a bit of sun, had a complimentary soda or looked at the photos available for purchase.

There were animals to touch and hermit crabs to race.

While my son just wanted to watch, my daughter chose on of the smaller crabs and immediately named him "Silly." He started out strong but then started to loop around the inner circle instead of heading out toward the outside. None of the other crabs moved until the kids were told they had to cheer for their crabs if they wanted them to win.

Once K started cheering, "Go Silly, go!" that little crab took off and beat every other one to the finish line. Which in and of itself was very exciting, but my daughter just about flipped when she found out that the prize for first place was a bag of chips - what ever kind she choose. She thought she might be able to bring the little guy home, but sadly he had to stay at Stingray Beach...

Here's their promotional video from YouTube to give you and idea about our day. If you are ever in Cozumel, I recommend stopping by...

Spring Break: New Orleans

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 21:38:00 +0000

I'd never been to Louisiana, so I was pretty excited to find out our cruise departed from New Orleans. The only down side was that we were really only going to get part of a day to explore the city. Of course it wasn't even a fraction of enough time, but we made the best of it.

After checking into the Intercontinental Hotel, we set out to find dinner. My Husband had read about this place and we were not disappointed. I don't remember which sandwich I had, but it was great and the kids were thrilled about having pancakes and bacon for dinner! Afterward, most of the group was ready to go back to the hotel, but not me. Luckily my brother-in-law was up for a little exploring. We decided to head over to Bourbon St...

Crazy would be an understatement - and it wasn't even Mardi Gras. I was glad we sent the kids back to the hotel - I'm not sure how I would have explained the "Barely Legal" club to my eight year-old son, or why he couldn't go into a bar to dance to Gangham Style. My brother-in-law and I walked around for a while listening to the music and people watching, (we were especially amused by the couple who were pushing an infant in a stroller while wearing T-shirts that said, "Drunk #1" and "Drunk #2.") We walked until we found this nice little spot with live music and fresh baked goods.

We didn't stay long - just long enough to pick up a few beignets for breakfast. (After watching the Princess and the Frog - I had to try one.) As the night life on Bourbon Street started to wind up, we were winding down so we walked back to the hotel and crashed. Though, I had to stop to get some pictures of the gas lights on the street. They were beautiful...

In the morning the kids, Grandma and I were itching to get out and see a bit more of the city before we had to leave. Neither my children or I had ever seen the Mississippi River - or the, as my daughter put it, "strange looking" sea gulls.

The train was also fun to watch. New citing always have so many interesting things to look at!

However, the highlight of the morning's walk was finding the ship. The kids knew it was going to be big, but they hadn't grasped just how absolutely gigantic it was.

All we had time left to do was get back to the hotel, get in our taxis, and ride back to the terminal in time to board the ship at noon. The kids were all so excited; they knew our cruise aboard the Navigator of the Seas was going to be a trip to remember...

Photo Credit:

Photo of New Orleans: kla4067

Remember Me?

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 17:19:00 +0000

Hi there. I didn't mean to be away for so long, but as usual I got busy - very busy. But, I seem to have time to breathe again, so I thought I'd pop in to say hello.

Hello.

Part of the reason I was so busy was that we took a cruise. You heard me - a cruise! My husband's parents took the whole family on a trip to help them celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. Over the next week or so, I'll tell you all about it...

Happy Easter

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 11:28:00 +0000

Sorry about seeming to fall off the edge of the Earth this month. March tends to be incredibly busy for me between kids; March is Reading Month, preparing for parent-teacher conferences and report cards at work; and spring break - I just didn't have time (or the energy) to blog too.

Things will be winding down and after the first week in April I should have more time to spend here. Until then, I wish you and yours a very happy Easter!

Home Again... Finally!

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 22:38:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago all of Mackinac's elementary school teachers spent the weekend at the Michigan reading Association's annual conference down in Grand Rapids. The conference was great, but getting home didn't work out quite so well. (If you enlarge that photo above you can read the warning sign for the Mackinac Bridge.)

We'd heard it was foggy in the Straits, but when we hit the Mackinac Bridge we knew we weren't going anywhere.

It was so foggy we still couldn't fly

over to the island Monday morning.

Or Monday afternoon.

Or Monday night.

Or Tuesday morning.

(Thank goodness I packed extra undies!)

Finally, by mid-day on Tuesday, there was a break in the weather and we were able to hop on a plane to get back to the island. I've got to say, it never felt so good to be home!

To The Rescue

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 00:55:00 +0000

For the past few days there has been a freighter just sitting out in the ice in the Straits of Mackinac. It appeared to be stuck...

Then, this morning, there was some activity.

According to our Assistant Fire Chief, Jason St. Onge, the mother of one of the crew members died and the Coast Guard was unable to retrieve him so he could attend her funeral. (My understanding is they only retrieve you in life and death situations.)

Somehow the man got a hold of the Island Fire Department to ask for help. The officers conferred and decided they would be able to assist the man to shore. So they rallied the troops, prepared the ice / water rescue equipment and walked out the the ship.

Once there, the man was lowered down and they all walked to shore. Then, he hopped on a snowmobile and was driven up to the airport so he could get home.

It may have been risky but I'm glad they did it. That's just how the people on Mackinac are - if you need help, they're right there ready to lend a hand. That mind set is another reason I'm proud to call Mackinac Island my home.

Here's the piece from our local news:

All photos in this post courtesy of Clark Bloswick.

No Chuck E. Cheese - No Problem

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 18:42:00 +0000

Who needs Chuck E. Cheese's when you can

celebrate your birthday by having a sledding

party at Turtle Park instead.

To help our friend, L, celebrate we spent

the afternoon sledding,

tugging,

and munching.

But the best part of the party, in my daughter's opinion, was desert. She loves dinosaurs almost as much as the birthday girl and her jaw literally dropped when she saw the gigantic box of homemade dinosaur cookies. Having a zillion cookies instead of a cake was genius - I'm going to have to file that little idea away. So much less mess with cookies than with a cake, and moving a cake on Mackinac Island can be tricky...

Fishy Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 22:41:00 +0000

The kids and Papa have been spending time recently out on the Grand Hotel pond. It's the perfect place to get outside and have a little winter fun.

OK, maybe the fun wasn't quite so little after all. Given all the fertilizer we assume they use the course during the summer we don't eat any of the fish from the pond, but they're still fun to catch and release. Who says there's nothing fun to do on Mackinac Island in the winter time...

Only on Mackinac

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 11:33:00 +0000

I think Mackinac Island might be the only place you'll see a man on a snowmobile walking a horse.

Well, he's actually not a horse, he's a sweet little pony named Ricky - heading off the Island for the rest of the winter. (But not across the ice! They took him off on the last boat.)

I Wonder...

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 21:58:00 +0000

I took this picture after school one day last week while the kids and I watched an otter play out on the edge of the ice. Of course he disappeared under the ice as soon as I managed to get my camera out, but looking at the ice got me wondering. Some days it looks so blue.

But then, on other days, it doesn't look blue at all. (This picture is from several years ago.) I've tried to notice whether there is a relationship between the color and the sun, but as of yet, I haven't found a pattern. My current theory is that the color has something to do with the thickness of the ice.

Of all the photos of Straits ice I've taken over the years, this one is, by far, my favorite. I took it back in 2008 - The Quilted Turtle hadn't even had its first birthday yet. As I worked on this post I had fun looking back at my old ice photos;

I never really thought about how different the ice is from year to year...

Homemade Character Valentines

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 22:55:00 +0000

It's February, so I guess it's time to start thinking about Valentine's Day. Personally, I love homemade valentines. For the past couple of years, I've done things with the kids' faces on them, but this year the kids wanted cards with characters. I thought about just buying them at the store, but I knew there just had to be a better way. There had to be a way to create personalized cards that still had the kids' favorite characters.

My first thought was to make them in Photoshop. So, I put this cute photo of Lego R2 D2 on a white background, added some cheesy text, and my son thought it would be perfect for the girls in his class.

Too girly? Really? How can Star Wars be too girly? But, you know, it's important to portray the right image in second grade, so it was back to the drawing board. As I searched for images I could use, I came across this site. It was perfect! Large images - often with lots of space for text. I got to work and came up with card number two:

Of course, as a teacher, I needed valentines too! The Muppet fan in me fell in love with this picture of Oscar:

My daughter is all about My Little Pony these days. So after viewing all the MLP backgrounds she settled on the one below.

Just in case you happen to have a little girl at home who loves My Little Pony, here is the same card without my daughter's name. You can download the font for free here. (You can find the fonts I used in the R2D2 card here and the Darth Vader card here - both also free.) Then just use your favorite graphics editing software and add in your child's name. (Or skip that step and have her sign with a silver sharpie.) I cropped the image to be 4 by 6 - just perfect to upload to Snapfish to get printed for nine cents each. I suppose you could do it at home, but I always seem to run out of ink at the most inopportune moments, so for me, Snapfish was easier.

Please feel free to download these cards and use them. Just be aware that you can't sell them - the characters are all trademarked, or is it copyrighted? I'm not sure, but either way selling them is a big no no.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Attempted

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 23:11:00 +0000

Today was the day. It was cold, still and beautiful, and the ice had been freezing all weekend. All weekend...

72 hours...

Less than that really, but it was there...

Calling to them...

"Cross me."

It scares me just thinking about it. I think it scared them too, at least a little bit, because they left their snowmobiles behind and crossed on foot. I heard, through Mackinac's active rumor mill, they flew back to the island. Apparently when the Coast Guard Cutter came through to break up the channel between the Island and Mackinaw City, it caused the ice to pull away from shore and made a return trip impossible.

I'm glad they made it home safely. And extra extra glad my husband doesn't even think about doing things like that. If he did, I'd be so worried I couldn't think straight.

Just Kidding

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 14:05:00 +0000

Apparently that last boat wasn't really the last boat. It was supposed to be, but then they started running again. Now we're just all wondering how long they'll keep running.

It's been cold and the Straits of Mackinac are getting icy. Hopefully that means we'll get an ice bridge this year...

The End

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 02:23:00 +0000

Today was the day; the last day.

The last day of boats.

It's s good thing that many, many island residents (myself included) used today to stock up on groceries. It will most likely be a month before I leave the island for supplies again. It's a good thing my pantry is now very well stocked...

The Dinner Fairy

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 19:56:00 +0000

I don't know about you, but when I get home from work, I'm done; exhausted. I want to sit down put my feet up and have the Dinner Fairy make dinner magically appear, which, of course, never seems to happen. So today I decided to try my hand at being the Dinner Fairy...

In just under three and a half hours I managed to make six casseroles to freeze and then pop into the oven when I get home from work next week. Two lasagnas, this, this, this and this are now safely tucked away in the basement freezer, just waiting for their turn at the dinner table.

The only down side is,

now I have this to clean up...

Halloween 2012: Doom Kitty

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 00:16:00 +0000

This year my daughter wanted to be Doom Kitty from Ruby Gloom. (I love it when the kids pick simple costumes! It's so much easier when I can start out with a sweat suit.) All I had to do was add the ears, the tail and the red around the neck and I was done. I offered to paint her face so she could have Doom Kitty's big eyes, but my daughter said no. And even though Doom Kitty's ears are all black, K decided she liked them better with the red inside.

You might have noticed how my daughter is swimming in her costume in the photo above. I always make them big enough for the kids to wear a coat underneath - this far north it's usually pretty darn cold on Halloween night. Plus, with them on the big side, the kids can use them for dress up for a while. It's been almost two years and my son still regularly plays with this one.

My daughter tells me that next year she wants to be a flying unicorn for Halloween. I'm hoping she changes her mind on that one because I have absolutely no idea how I'll whip that up!

Break

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 22:32:00 +0000

Our Christmas break this year was absolutely delightful. (Well, except for the part when everyone got sick.) It was so nice to visit family, do a little shopping, and read. Despite the wonderful times I have off the island, I'm always ready to come home. I guess I am just a home body at heart. I am quite content to be puttering around the house in my jammies all day long. How about you - would you rather be in or out?

Saturday I did take some time to go out and get some pictures of the fort. I just love how she looks all covered in snow. Right now, as I sit and listen to the wind howling outside, I can't even imagine what it must have been like for the soldiers stationed there in the late 1700s. I might have very different feelings about living on Mackinac Island if I had to deal with that!

Winter Tourists

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 22:48:00 +0000

We love them, but they make us giggle. Only tourists have coats and snow pants that match their snowmobiles. (Sometimes they even have matching helmets.) Usually we only get snowmobile tourists after we have an ice bridge, but this year we've has a few bring their machines over on the boat.

This gentleman, Hank, was very gracious. He let me take his picture even though when he asked why I wanted to take his picture I giggled and told him I didn't want to tell him until after I took it. He smiled, posed, and then chuckled as I pointed out how not one of the islanders driving down the street matched their snowmobile. My husband is now trying to figure out how hard it would be to get his snowmobile painted Carhartt brown...