Mothers

My mother in law, myself and my mom on Christmas Eve

Christmas morning

We spent Christmas morning with Grandma and Grandpa G and this was Austin's BIG gift!He was so excited to see it!

"Is this my house?"

Toledo Zoo Lights

We took Austin to the Toledo Zoo to see the Christmas lights. He loved the lights that danced along with the music!

Pistons!

Danielle, Rob, Drew and I went to the Pistons game on Wednesday. Thanks Gma and Gpa G for watching Austin. The lost, but all and all it was a great night.

When we first got there we were greated by somesort of Star Wars person!

The boys at the game.

And the girls...

Oh, and we saw Kid Rock! Look very closely, but he has the plaid hat on with all black on, between the "40 and BING" on the court!

its the little things 11/3

1. a very encouraging talk with my MIL

2. lunch with my husband and no high chair

3. Austin having fun at the sitters

4. Being able to bless a family with my coupon crazy freebies

5. getting a lot done on class reunion planning

its the little things 11/2

1. a new upgraded sweet ipod touch and got back 50cents! haha

2. the best apple customer service EVER

3. time to get tons of errands done

4. getting to say hello to work friends with Austin

5. Seeing Aunt Chelle and Austin not "completely" melting down.

its the little things 11/1

1. Having a wonderful women at church pray with me

2. Day lights saving time not messing with us TOO much

3. sun!

4. Walgreens run with AUstin

5. Free HH cinnamon bread- thank you entertainment book.

Austin Cleans

BIG THING

Now I know everyone is used to reading my little things, but this is a BIG thing in the Holt house. We took on the project of buying and installing our own storm door and it turned out great! Only one mistake, no fights and it is wonderful!

I swear the door is not crooked, must be the photographer!

its the little things catch up

1. my mom being so awesome and flexible and helping us out when I am on call...What a life saver!

2. my dad being such a trooper and managing to survive without my mother pampering him for a whole weekend

3. Starbucks challenge/samples and coupons

4. Time to still go shopping and have IHOP while on call

5. Mom's group- a babysitter and time to talk and vent

6. sunshine today (will leave out the 50 mph winds)

7. a great 163rd game of the season, hey, its one more game than the majority of the league got to play.

8. Watching Austin show me where his toes are and my nose (ok the nose might have just been a fluke)

9. talking to Michelle via gmail messenger

10. 129 days to St. Lucia

11. the chance to check out a new bible study tonight

12. chocolate chip banana muffins fresh out of the oven!

All this for $5.32?

Gotta love Kmart doubles!

its the little things 9/28 & 9/29 combo

wow...it sure is easy to get behind on these- i guess i'll just start fresh

1. apple pie and tea on a cool fall evening

2. lots of TV to watch

3. getting fall decorations up

4. Dr. Popp being so excited to see me

5. a CVS exchange that ended up with be getting a jumbo pack of dipes for 1.00!

its the little things 9/20

1. UM winning yesterday

2. CMU winning yesterday, 48-0!

3. getting to see drew in his work uniform when he stopped home for a second

4. austin loving his friends in the tot room at church

5. 1.5 hours of no yelling! (that you church volunteers!)

its the little things 9/21

1. being able to buy lots of goodies to send to michelle with all my coupon money

2. the car cart at kroger occupying austin while i picked up a few things

3. brownie ice cream with cookie crumbs on top

4. looking forward to dinner with mom tomorrow

5. andrew sternly telling austin he had to go back to bed at 4.30am and him sleeping until 8.30!

its the little things 9/22

1. meeting mom for dinner and hang out time!

2. awesome craigslist deal that looks like this

3. a walk with the family

4. getting odds and ends done

5. making delicious meatballs for pasta at lunch

A funny

This just made me laugh!

its the little things 9/17

1. making it through small group without being called back to work

2. although i missed them, being at small group alone without having to chase Austin all over!~

3. even though i got called in later, we got cancelled and i got paid 2 hours OT for only being there 20 minutes.

4. leaving work on time

5. home made goodies at small group!

its the little things 9/18

1. Mongolian BBQ!

2. a perfect night for walking around Ann Arbor with the fam

3. not having to stay late at work

4. making it through the day after getting called in the night before

5. early bed time! and drew dealing with austin when he throw a 1.00am fit so i could catch up on sleep.

its the little things 9/19

1. so much fun at anna grace's birthday party

2. watching austin fit in so well even though all the older kids were oblivious to him

3. austin being ok after he calmed down from the bee sting

4. austins 3 hour nap and being able to watch football with drew

5. heading to bed early.

its the little things 9/16

1. my birthday present coming in the mail!

2. a new sweet old english "D" for my car and my love of the Tigers

3. Danielles famous cookies arriving in the mail today, just for me and lots of them

4. a 3 hour afternoon nap

5. time to read a WHOLE book

its the little things 9/15

1. my usual once a week errand running without a sweet, yet loud, one year old demanding my attention!

2. free cold stone birthday treat

3. biggest loser season starting

4. its not there there were not many other little great things, i am just drawing a blank right now.

its the little things 9/8

1. Lunch at Ruby Tuesday's all by myself

2. checking out the Saline library- very impressive!

3. time for a run with little man

4. a trip to kroger without my little helper

5. selling Drew's Keens on Craigslist

its the little things 9/9

1. laughing as i watch my neighboor play some sort of sword/star wars game with pool noodles in his driveway with his 2 boys

2. dairy barn for dinner

3. a nice family lunch together cooked on the grill

4. not driving anywhere today, but still going to cvs parking lot (dont ask!), the market, dairy barn, mom's group and the library. sometimes this small town is kinda nice

5. it not raining so we could get the above done!

its the little things 9/6

1. my friend Kristin giving me the heads up that the Dollar Tree had Ipod Touch cases, yes Griffin and Belkin for ONE DOLLAR!!!!
2. Austin and Anthony playing at the splash zone today
3. Hanging out with Falsetta 3 and Sloots!
4. Austin going right to bed after a weird nap day and 30 minute nap at 7.00
5. surviving a napless morning with trips to Target, CVS and Meijer

N. Gemini Lake Campground

We spent 3 nights in the Pictured Rocks area and stayed at North Gemini Lake. We had the BEST campsite. It was a rustic campground which basically means it has an outhouse and old school pump for water and thats it.

Our site had a section set back for the tents surrounded by water. We called it our little penisula.

Look closely through the trees to see the tents.

Our only kayak picture. We kayaked the Sturgeon white rapid river. Haha. It is the fastest river in Michigan and it sure gave us a challenge. They told us the tip rate was 80% and we all kinda laughed doubting anyone would tip. Boy, were we wrong.

Our rate= 125% (haha, DQ went in twice!)

I lost the glasses and shirt I am wearing in the pic below.

Not pictured: the water bottle that I lost too!

More falls in Pictured Rocks

The boys standing under the above fall

"Rock Climbing"

fake backdrop

For some reason, I think these first two pics look like a fake back drop that you would pose in front of.

This is one of the many falls we saw at Pictured Rocks.

Campfire

Who doesn't love a great campfire?

Rob, Danielle and Drew

How not to make a pizza pie

Tahquamenon falls

Such a daredevil...

Tahquamenon falls-2

Tahquamenon falls are in the UP about 75 miles from the bridge. We spent 2 nights at the Lower Falls TF State Park which is a quick walk to the actual falls.

On Monday we took the 4 miles hike (8 miles RT) to the Upper Falls- Yes we could have just took the 5 minute drive, but instead we hiked our way to beauty. This was just the start of our adventure filled vacation.

Mac Island

Don't these look like senior photos?

On the way to Mackinaw Island

On the Island

Rob, Danielle, Drew and I

Mac Island Part 2

Grand Island

On Wednesday we headed over to Grand Island. GI is just off the Pictured Rocks coast line and you have to take a ferry (aka pontoon boat) to get there. There is absolutely nothing on the island (expect the most breathtaking views of Lake S. and beautiful cliffs and miles of woods and nature). We brought our bikes with us and chose to do the longest ride which was 23 miles of mountain biking around the perimeter of the island.

Lunch on the beach

What is it with Drew and very high trees hanging over cliffs?

All was going great until mile 9...