Color Tour!

Last Weekend we took advantage of the amazing summerlike weather by hiking up north on a color tour. We took off about 4 PM Friday afternoon and got to see lots and lots of color before the sun went down. It is so amazing and absoutely beautiful to see God's wonderful creation, especially this time of year! We were constantly ohhhing and ahhhhing about all the shades! The bright red trees are my favorite!

We arrived in Mackinaw City about 9 PM and found a really cool resturant called The Dixie Saloon to eat at. The restaurant was really neat!

After dinner we crossed the Mackinaw Bridge to St. Ignace and checked in to our hotel. It wasn't the Hilton by any means but the price was right! :)

Saturday morning we got up, grabbed some breakfast at the hotel, and drove about 45 minutes west to the GarLyn Zoo. My first impression was that it was kind of cheesy but after we started getting further into the outer zoo we got to see some pretty neat animals! Here are just a few of my favorites!

A Porcupine if you can't see.....

We stopped along side the highway to take a walk down to the lake.

Then we headed back to St. Ignace to catch a ride to the Island!

On the shuttle over......

Grand Hotel from the water......

There was a wedding taking place!

We took a hike up the hills to see some of the Island's "hot spots"

I really wanted to take a horse & buggy carriage ride but I figured I could use the excercise more and it was such a beautiful day!

The Fort

This is a picture out our window one morning. I got to give credit to the husband on this one! We had a room right on the main level so it was nice to be able to get right outside by the water!

Saturday night we met up with some friends of ours that were also up there for dinner. Sunday morning we packed up and started our trip home. We took many scenic routes home and tried to ride along the water as much as possible. It sure was amazing! We got to Charlevoix and they happened to be having a Apple Fest so we checked it out and grabbed some lunch for a little deli. We sure had a great weekend and couldn't have asked for a better weekend. Sure seems like the weather has decided to become "fall" since we got home which means many nights will be spent raking our yard so it was a nice time to get away before that all starts!

Hope everyone is enjoying the fall weather and gets a chance to take a ride and see the awesome colors we are so spoiled with in Michigan!

FIREPROOF your marriage today

Just thought I would let everyone know I recommend EVERYONE going to see the movie Fireproof. It's currently showing at the Star Theatre. Here's a link to the site that tells about the movie. http://www.fireproofthemovie.com/ It's just such a true picture of how selfish we are sometimes in a marriage and how our focus, time, and energy get put into the wrong things sometimes. I think everyone at any age can take something away from this movie.

FIREPROOF your marriage today!

Fall fun!

This past weekend we stayed very busy welcoming fall. Well I don't know if boating is considered welcoming fall but none-the-less......

Friday night we put in my dad's 2 dingy boats in at New Richmond boat launch and rode up the Kalamazoo River with my parents. It sure was beautiful to be on the water seeing some of the leaves changing already! Not often is the water level high enough to ride up the river so we thought we should take advantage of all this rain! It was so peaceful and relaxing! We rode all the way up to Silver Lake to Grandpa and Grandma Brink's cottage and parked them there and then walked back to our house by road.

Saturday was work for the both of us in the morning and then Saturday night we headed to the Kalamazoo Raceway to the "Night of Destruction." If any of you have been there you know it's a good time and a night full of laughs watching things be destroyed! My parents , my brother Michael, and Daris' parents Ken & Christy came along so it was a great night shared with family. Daris's 2 brothers were also out there as well so we sure did support the raceway but it was defintely worth it!

Sunday was church and then we had Daris's grandma over for lunch which was really nice to catch up with her. Then we went back to church at night to hear Pastor Paul's sermon on Hebrews. After church Daris' brother Kenny invited us over for brats on the grill and to see his house remodel he's got going on.

Monday night I started a new bible study group at Central which I am really excited about. It is about discovering your spiritual gifts and kind of a self evaluation class which of course can't hurt anybody so I'm looking forward to hopefully learning more about myself and personality and hopefully becoming a better Christian as well! Daris is also taking a class called Men's Fraternity which he is really enjoying as well. Sure is nice to be involved with such a fun caring group of people and getting to know new people has been great as well.