Fun in Traverse City!

This weekend, we had the pleasure and fortunate opportunity to travel north to Traverse City!  Since my Grandma won't be able to make it downstate for our shower next weekend, we were really excited to be able to see her and Grandpa and spend some quality time with them.

We decided to call this our "BabyMoon," which has become a popular thing to do for people about to become parents - take a short vacation as "just the two of us" before baby arrives!  We got a great room at the Comfort Inn - king size bed and a jacuzzi bathtub for 2 right in the room!  Having temperature control meant this mommy-to-be could relax and unwind in safety - and boy, was it fabulous!  We were thankful that the drive up North was clear and smooth, but it still felt great to soak for a while before bed on Friday night.

Saturday, we gorged ourselves on the really amazing breakfast - scrambled eggs, sausage, biscuits & gravy, waffles, pastries, toast & English muffins, yogurt, hard-boiled eggs, cereal, fresh ruby red grapefruit and oranges...  No, we didn't eat everything on the buffet, but we were definitely stuffed when we left!!!  After, we went to visit Betty and Quinuts Stulz, a.k.a. Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa.  We spent about 2.5 hours just chatting and visiting.  It was wonderful!

From there, all four of us traveled a few miles down the road to Aunt Linda and Uncle Glenn's house to visit with the entire Harker clan - the senior Harkers; my cousin Rick, his wife Amber, and their daughter Ava; and my cousin Jim, his wife Melanie, and their 13-day old daughter Lilia ("Lil'").  It was precious to see Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Stulz, in their 80's, with such a precious new baby.  We hope Baby K can meet them this summer! (sniffle sniffle!)

Afterward, the youngest Harker decided she had had it for the day and we parted ways.  Mike and I went to Rick and Amber's house in town to hang out, eat pizza, and take some pregnant belly photos.  This was something I hadn't really thought about, but Amber is a fantastic photographer (check out her blog at fantasmo.blogspot.com) and asked if I wanted to do some.  So we set up an impromptu studio in her living room and went nuts.  I'll post some of them as soon as I have them!

Sunday, we traveled up the Leelanau Peninsula to Northport and beyond, making it all the way to the Grand Traverse Lighthouse at the tip of the peninsula.  Very pretty, built in 1859 or something, but the wind was biting coming right off the lake so we didn't stay very long.

We took the scenic route back, stopping at 45N Vineyard along the way, which literally straddles the 45th Parallel.  This is the line of latitude that marks halfway between the Equator and the North Pole.  Seeing as it was flipping freezing, it certainly looked and felt closer to the North Pole!!!  But it was gorgeous and we got some great wines - at least, they smelled great to me!  Mike did the tasting and he really did the buying.  We're going to uncork one the night we bring Baby K home from the hospital (I know what you're thinking...but hey, you can always "pump & dump!").

Finally, we drove out to Grawn, which is just down the road from Interlochen and just outside Traverse City, to visit Jim, Melanie, and Lilia some more.  Funny how much family is alike - we have the same shower curtain and same crib!  Their house is adorable and they just seemed so happy!  Even their pets seem to be excited about the baby!  We left about 3 p.m. and made our way home across the state taking some really beautiful "roads less traveled."  Thankfully, they had been traveled enough, though, that they weren't covered in snow!

All in all, it was a fabulous BabyMoon weekend, full of love, laughter, and family.  We are truly blessed.