Leland

Every year my dad's family heads to Leland, Michigan for a week vacation. We (Andrew & I) try to go as often as we can, this was our 5th visit, and it never gets old. This year was a little bittersweet as my grandparents were not there due to my grandfather's health. We had a great time but missed them dearly.

Leland is small town in Michigan where my Grandmother (dad's mom) spent her summers growing up. When she was married with children, she brought them there and now her grandchildren and great grand children come to visit.

Leland is filled with family history (old and new)...

This is the shanty village of Fishtown and this water way leads to the great Lake Michigan.
This is the mercantile, "merc" as we know it. It's the local grocery store and it was owned by my Great Grandfather and my grandmother would spend her summers working here.
This is Van's garage for car repairs and the only gas station in Leland. Just past here is a walkway to "Van's Beach" on Lake Michigan.
Van's Beach. The water is extremely cold, at least for my comfort. I like to sit with the family and watch everyone else play in the water.

Rick's is our hangout for cocktails, beer, or a quick hamburger. Their signature drink is a chubby mary (click to see a pic), which is a bloody mary with a smoked chub (smoked fish). I have not dared to try, but my sister-in-law, Debbie did and ate the fish!
This is my favorite store in all of Leland, Tug Stuff. The tug is the unofficial logo of Leland (there's actually a few). All their items have a tug stitched or screen printed on them.
If you don't rent a home in the area, you have the option of staying in the Falling Waters Lodge. It's located right in Fishtown.
This restaurant is great for lunch or dinner (I think we all would recommend the pizza). It was also where many headed to watch the World Cup games.
The Cove is a bit nicer of a restaurant and is located above Rick's.
Usually you can run into family after dinner getting their nightly ice cream at the Harbor House. The Harbor House is on the same side of Main Street as the Merc, just the next corner. It's not just an ice cream store, you can buys clothes, jewelry, etc. here.
If you want a sandwich, most would direct you to the Village Cheese Shop. This year was the first year since Andrew started eating here that he didn't go every day. Apparently the pretzel bread they make the sandwiches on, is what makes the sandwich. If you're not sure which sandwich to purchase, go with the Northshore.
This a taste of Fishtown, the shanty village situated on the canal leading to Lake Michigan. The building in the bottom right is the Cheese Shop from above, the Tug shop is located here and if you turn left where the people are standing, you'll be headed to Rick's. If you look closely there is a two-story shanty (actually across the canal) where one of my grandmother's relatives still lives.
This beautiful house is the house my great-grandfather built for my great-grandmother. It situated diagonally across the street from Van's Garage. My Great-Grandfather actually built a home on Lake Michigan but my Great Grandmother didn't like the sound of the waves (are you crazy????) so he built this one...at least that's the story my Grandma told me. This is where she grew up and where my dad would stay when he came as a kid. It has since been sold and is out of the family, but I do think I heard that the family there is open to our family touring it if we'd like. By the way, this picture does not do it justice. The bushes are too high and there is alot of depth to the house that you can't see.
This is the house my parents rented for our family. It was beautiful! Each year Andrew and I have gone we have stayed in a different house and this one, by far, is my favorite.

That's a little bit of Leland in pictures. I'll post pictures of family and the time we spent in more posts.

World Cup

I'm not sure how it is at your house, but in ours it's World Cup madness. Soccer is on as is, so now it's the only thing on the T.V. (not really, but that's how it seems). We decided to host a party for the first USA game against England.

We got the house ready with a USA national team flag...
Landon and Andrew had USA jerseys and Libbie and I had on matching USA shirts.
If you've been in our house, you know that it's not the biggest and it would be a squeeze to have 20 some people stuffed in our family room, but we managed. We had intended for some people to watch in the basement but no one wanted to watch on the little TV, not even Landon. He found a spot on one of my girlfriend's husband's lap.
Then he found a spot on the couch to play with some other big guys!
This does not do the mass of people justice. This was at half-time, the only time most people moved to eat. Once the game started again, the empty spots filled in and the eating stopped.
It was great having friends and neighbors at the house and no one really cared to be squished. USA didn't win but we'll take the 1-1 tie!

Silly Bandz

Have you seen these things...They are all the craze. They are called silly bandz, and though they don't look like much more than elastic animals, they are bracelets. Silly bandz come in all shapes and colors and are all the rave with students. I recently got sucked into them from a few of my students and I have passed the addiction on to Landon.
He loves them! We had a rocky start because Landon only had one and wanted to take it off and on all the time. I told him it has to stay on his arm if he wanted to keep it. Once I had more for him, he became so proud and wanted to keep them on his wrist.
When Andrew came home, Landon sat with him an pulled them off one by one to let Daddy know what animals he had on his arm.
If you haven't seen them yet, get ready, they're coming to a town near you!

Libbie, Libbie, Libbie

I haven't been good about getting video of Libbie, but tonight I decided I should. She's moving all over the place. Libbie is crawling on all fours but still likes to slide around at times. She's pulling herself up on everything and she's even ventured to the stairs. Libbie is defintely our mover and shaker, much more active than Landon was at this age.