Mackinac is pronounced [ˈmækɪnɔ] (MACK-in-awe)

We recently had the opportunity to visit Mackinac Island, when Dave had a "Michigan State Miller's Association" meeting at that location! All members of the association are encouraged to invite their wives/families on this trip! There is actually only about 4 hours of meetings, and 2 evening dinners involved on the work side of things.

Mackinac Island is somewhere in between regular Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. It is only accessible by Ferry from either Mackinaw City, MI or St. Ignace. Once you get to the Island you have three options:
1. Take a horse/buggy
2. Ride a Bike
3. Walk

There are no motorized vehicles of any kind on the island! (Although, we did hear one morning that someone had seen a fire truck - apparently emergency vehicles are allowed.)

It is completely beautiful on Mackinac Island.... it is known for it's many, many lilac trees - and they were everywhere, and in full bloom! I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of them. It smelled beautiful.

We were lucky enough to be staying at "The Grand Hotel." Which only deserves to be referred to in quotation marks. "The Grand Hotel" has been the sight of a couple of feature films including: 1946 "This Time for Keeps" starring Esther Williams (and the pool is named after her.), and 1980 "Somewhere In Time" starring Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeves. The hotel itself becomes a little bit snooty at around 6pm. At this time you are not supposed to be seen anywhere in the hotel unless you have on a necktie and jacket (for the men), and dressed in your best (for the ladies.) If you are not dressed in this attire you are to head directly to the elevator and up to your room.

Dave's coworker, Bryan, accidentally got off of the elevator on the Main Dining Room level the first night.... his room was on "2", and he got off when the elevator opened. He then realized his mistake and was awkwardly waiting for the elevator in his shorts and t-shirt. As some fancily dressed folks waited next to him, he informed them of his mistake. The lady said in her best rich voice, "I was just telling my sister that I didn't think they would allow you to eat here in that attire." Anyway - quite funny.

I have a couple of pictures of our room in the slide-show... they called it "a small interior room." Which we just thought was funny, and poor marketing. ha. It was actually a very beautiful place to stay, and quite historic. It is a little pricey - but everyone should stay there at least one night if they visit, just for the experience.

During his four hours of meetings I took the opportunity to go down to "The Grand Hotel" spa to have a pedicure. It was the best pedicure I have ever had! .....so, I took a picture.

We had dinner with some folks from the conference - and those are the pictures with the equestrian caps. I, of course, insisted on pictures with everyone pretending to wear the caps -which actually had light bulbs in them and hung over the tables. (thus you couldn't actually place it on your head.) We all felt silly, which accounts for our silly smiles - except for the last guy. He loved the idea!

The picture with all of the mugs was inspired by our waiter that informed us that anyone could purchase their own mug to have permanently available and all to themselves....they only sell for $30,000. No big deal. ;)

We biked around the island, which is a total of 8miles - not too bad. It was a rather chilly day, even in June. Also, Fort Mackinac is located on the island - this Fort was fought over between the British and the Americans in the War of 1812.

Many shops downtown - we only purchased an ornament for our Christmas Tree, which is a tradition that my mom got me started doing.... oh yes - we also purchased "famous Mackinac Island fudge." There are tons of fudge shops - pretty tasty.

We had a GRAND time.

Learning to Spell

We took a quick trip to the grocery store last night. We are inviting a few of Dave's co-workers over on Thursday evening, they like to call themselves the MOP. (MOP's=Men of Procurement, not Mothers of Pre-Schoolers). We picked out some hot dogs and hamburgers to throw on the grill.

Ever since I had tossed the hot dogs into the cart, I couldn't get a certain jingle out of my head...."I wish I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener, that is what I'd really like to be...." So, as we were in the check-out line - I unknowingly began to whistle the tune. Now, I know I'm not a great whistler - but, when Dave didn't seem to notice, I inquired, "Do you know what I am whistling?" He didn't know... I then began to hum the tune, and he still didn't know - so I finally gave up and told him the tune, he then recognized it. When we got up to the pay area - the lady said, "You're going to have me singing Oscar Mayer all night." So - I felt a little bit better about my ability to carry even the slightest bit of a tune.

I was deep in thought on the drive home, and I said, "Do you know the bologna song?" He really didn't know that one. Of course, it is actually quite a good thing that he didn't watch much tv as a child..... but, I had to wonder - how did he learn to spell b-o-l-o-g-n-a?

He told me that he did it the old fashion way, and that he was too busy slaving away on the farm to be watching tv, anyway. And that was quite a chuckle - so - I wanted to share with everyone that had the pleasure of enjoying the song, and those that didn't - the ability to experience the jingle.




So - while we are discussing B-O-L-O-G-N-A... what exactly is it? I know we don't really want to know, kind of like how we don't want to know what is in the oscar mayer wiener either. I have to tell you though, that my brothers LOVED their bologna. I'm pretty sure to this day that I have never even sampled the stuff. It has a pretty wretched smell. But - they used to even enjoy frying it up in a skillet and putting cheese on it. I don't know - someone once told me that if you leave it sit outside in a paper bag for a few days that it turns to worms.

In conclusion, here's to my adorable twin brothers and their love for all things Oscar Mayer. They celebrated their birthday yesterday - they are pictured below - Joey on the left, Jamey on the right ---

JSUK Monday - Things that make you go Humm...

Well - after a short blogging break, I am back! Look for many posts to come! Today I have a couple of pictures, and a short educational piece:

This picture is taken out of the kitchen window.... do you see what I see (besides a plant that is desperate for a drink)? Let's zoom in:

Ahhh..yes, the beautiful and mysterious Hummingbird. He or She (I couldn't find out exactly what kind of hummingbird this is, but - I'm guessing female) is feeding on my hanging "Million Bells" plant. I'm sure it was in desperate need of pollination. I know our neighbors are envious that the hummingbird has been over to our house..... there is just some kind of fascination with them.

Side note, in Proverbs it says, "A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones." 14:30...... So, don't envy your neighbors or anyone else for that matter!

Here are some fascinating facts about Hummingbirds from Wikipedia:

*known for their ability to hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings 15–80 times per second

*Capable of sustained hovering, hummingbirds also have the ability to fly backward, being the only group of birds able to do so

*The bill, combined with an extendable, bifurcated tongue, allows the bird to feed upon nectar deep within flowers

*Hummingbirds feed on the nectar of plants and are important pollinators, especially of deep-throated, tubular flowers

Longest Breakfast Table in the World....

This weekend we attended the Battle Creek Cereal Day, which is known for having the longest breakfast table in the World. It was fun - I was hoping to have some Fruity Pebbles - however, the cereal tent that we stopped at did not have any Fruity Pebbles - so, I settled for the Apple Jacks. They were quite tasty!! We got there at 8:30am, and there were tons and tons of people.... quite surprising. It was a good time - and there were a lot of other activities going on as well. I have a few pictures from the festival:

After the Cereal Festival, one of Dave's co-workers was having a Flag Day/Birthday Party Cook-out, and he lives on a lake - so we took our boat over and enjoyed a fun afternoon of wakeboarding, skiing, and enjoying the sun. I only have one picture, Dave refuses to wear sunscreen because he is part "latino" as he likes to say - and any sun he gets turns immediately to tan...... but, he did get a little bit of sunburn yesterday:

How Sweet It is....

As I was flipping through our wedding proof album....... for those of you wondering, I still have not ordered any pictures from our photographer. It'll be 2 years this August, so I've been thinking and working on getting that accomplished. Let's just say it's been a busy time.

So, anyway, as I was flipping through the proofs album (which we own) - putting the finishing touches on my list - I found the below picture of Jodi & Chris, and groomsmen:

And now.........let's zoom in on that:How sweet it is...... we love you Jodi.

JSUK MONDAY

JSUK MONDAY!

At 211 degrees water is hot.
At 212 degrees, it boils. And with boiling water comes steam.
And with steam, you can power a locomotive.

Strive to be the one degree difference in everything you do!!!

We're Landitarian's!

What is a Landitarian, you might be asking....and who is we? The "we" is Snickers and Myself - but, in two different ways.

My friend Mindy came to visit me this weekend (Dave was gone to KS) and while out to dinner we were discussing my hatred for eating anything that comes from the Ocean. I said, "There must be a name for people that do not like to eat anything from the ocean." After all, you have a vegetarian, a vegan, an omnivore, etc.... what about someone like myself. Mindy said, "Maybe it is called Landitarian." And I have to admit, I like that!

......... I will not eat anything from the ocean (unless it's on a work trip, and it's necessary to be polite), I will not eat it in my house, I will not eat it with a mouse. I do not like foods from the ocean, I do not like them, I will make quite a commotion.

To all of you thinking - she's from the midwest, she's just never had good fish, lobster, etc.. Well, I have. My travels with T&L took me to Boston where I had mussels, lobster (tasted like fish sticks) - I've been to Mexico where I had fresh sushi (worse than fish sticks) - I've been to New Orleans, Miami, Rhode Island, Key Largo - everywhere I go, I hear the same thing, "Just try the fish here, it is fresh, you will like it." So, I do - I suffice, but I do not like it in any of those places either.

So - interestingly enough, our dog, Snickers, is a Landitarian also. For starters, I just switched his diet to a dog food that has salmon in it, and he doesn't seem to care for it as much as the chicken based. I can't say that I blame him. BUT - he is a Landitarian in another way as well - he HATES bodies of water. He refuses to step foot in the pool, and he also hates to get in the lake. It's become a mission to get him to enjoy these things. Our house that we bought last fall has a pool in the backyard...we've just opened it for the summer, and here is a short video that I took of "Snickers Encounters at the Pool." Warning: This may be boring to most of you.

JSUK - These children are looking for homes....

Just So you Know - There are kids in Vietnam that need your help, babies that haven't even been born yet that will need your help. My friends, Heather & Matt who are nearing the end of their adoption process, need your help! Here is Heather with her birthday present from us - a baby slng...or cat. :)

Please take part in the "A Child's Right Campaign for Vietnam" by calling your Congressman or Senator. This is the jist: The U.S. Department of State has expressed concerns related to corruptive practices associated with intercountry adoption between the U.S. and Vietnam. In response to their concerns, the Department of State will allow the functional closure of adoptions on September 1, 2008 and thereby end one of the most basic of human rights: the right to a safe, permanent and loving family.

Here is what you should do:

1. On June 2nd, 3rd, or 4th you need to call your Congressional Representatives and Congressman and ask them to support "A Child's Right Campaign for Vietnam." The Congressional Coalition on Adoption will draft a letter to Condoleeza Rice based on the recommendations of the campaign. Please ask the members of Congress you speak with to sign this letter.**You can find the phone numbers for you senator at http://www.senate.gov/ and your representative's phone number at http://www.house.gov/.

2. When you speak over the phone, include this statement:“I/we urge the Senator/Congressperson to join the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Co-Chairs and sign their letter to Secretary Condoleeza Rice in support of the recommendations found in Joint Council’s A Child’s Right Campaign for Vietnam.”**If they have not heard about the Campaign, ask them to contact the Congressional Coalition for Adoption Institute at 202-544-8500 or Joint Council on International Children’s Services at 703-535-8045.