My Winter Family

Last Thursday my mom and I went up to Michigan to visit my winter family.
We stayed with my Aunt Jackie and Uncle Ron in the town my mom and her brother grew up in - Howard City.

But first, we landed in Chicago. And trying new and local foods is a must for me so we split a Chicago dog. It was very good and included peppers, relish and large chunks of tomato. I do recommend this delicious dog.





The reason for our trip was to be able to visit my grandpa who is 92 years old.
The first day we took him to a great place called The Depot. They had homemade pies among other things that looked incredibly delicious!



My uncle, mom and grandpa.

My mom also got to see her best friend Cheryl. They grew up across the street from each other. And...what do ya know, we have the same name ;)

I think they enjoyed catching up.


My uncle took us on his snow mobile. It was awesome! Here is my mom all bundled up.


This is right before he and I left. In my uncle's words - this was a "freaking blizzard!"

Here is the creek across the street from my grandparent's house. I know I have a lot of pictures but I have never been there in the snow!


Here is my grandparent's house. It is over 100 years old. This is impressive to me.

Me and mom.



My uncle has his address on a tree stump. He told me that he put it there because it was too difficult to move when he built the house!



We watched the birds every morning at breakfast. There were about 3 cardinals there every day.


This squirrel also reaped the benefits of the bird feeder.


Look what my aunt made us for breakfast our first morning. Wow is the only word I can think of. It was like blueberry french toast with cream cheese goodness in the middle and syrup on top. They picked the blueberries themselves.



My aunt and uncle's house covered in snow. So pretty.


This was the last day. We visited grandpa one more time. He had a picture of my cousin's boys in his pocket all afternoon...


On our way to the airport we stopped at The Corner Bar. It is a restaurant/bar in Rockford. If you eat 12 chili dogs you get your name on the wall. Husband did it last year and my dad did it 2 times over the years. So proud of our eaters!




And this is what the road looked like on our way back. It was quite nerve wracking for my mom. I guess she's been in the south for too long...us Florida girls just aren't used to being in the snow!


It was a wonderful trip. I am so glad I got to visit my grandpa. Thanks Uncle Ron and Aunt Jackie for everything!

The Florida Fair

The Florida State Fair is here folks! It will be here this week through next weekend and I do recommend getting yourself over there if you are anywhere near Tampa.

Husband and I decided to take his mother and grandmother to the fair on Saturday. There was so much to see, I think we could have spent a few days looking at everything they had to offer.




We saw a lot of animals but I think this giraffe was our favorite. Lots of kids were feeding him carrots and he just kept eating them one right after another.



We saw a lot of goats as well. Apparently there are many types of goats.


These little babies were snuggling together.


We saw a panther and a bear but I was unable to get a pic of the bear ;)



We went to Cracker Country which is a town of buildings that represent Old Florida. I believe some of the buildings are original but I need to check my facts.


The family in one of the stores.



We ate as much fried food as we could handle. This here is a fried ring ding. Pretty good!


This guy was having fun being taller than the rest of us.


And I insisted on attempting to win a fish.



Which I did!

We placed him right under our big fish - out of the way of Felix.



Unfortunately, Fish was found unresponsive this morning :( I guess I knew he probably wouldn't live long but....I was hoping a bit longer than 2 days. I think next time I need some drops to clean the water.
Hope you all are enjoying your week. Get to the fair if you can!

Gasparilla 2011

Well...this is long overdue.

Here are some photos of the Gasparilla boat parade.
We had so much fun watching this with our friends Matt and Sarah. The whole day was a blast actually.

First we watched the boats and then headed over to the main parade. We stayed there for a bit but headed back to Matt's before the traffic got bad.

And my camera died. But we had a great evening watching the sunset and eating delicious foods at Matt's house. Thanks again Matt and Sarah!

Everyone has A flag. But most have MANY flags :)


This is how you keep your beads on your boat (If you have one).

We saw lots of different classes of boats. I wouldn't mind getting to know the owner of this one.


This kids get involved. I love their skeleton on the front of their boat!



And then there is this lady...


This guy had a good array of flags.

Then the big pirate ship comes and there are lots of cannons and it's awesome!



And that's all I have because I am not smart enough to charge my camera. Have a great Wednesday everyone!