The kids were the stars of the weekend–here’s Maggie, Margaux and Max! A trio of shockingly well-behaved wee ones. And you know how I don’t have kids? I did awesome on this trip. Heh. I’m so good with kids! Ha!

Seriously!

I had a great time–thanks to Rebecca for driving and to Heather and Ryan for the hospitality.

We stayed with Dale’s brother’s family on Christmas Eve! They had an adorable Christmas tree all lit up! I thought it was adorable.

Lauren was up and ready to open her gifts! She was excited; can you tell?

Ian was also eager!

Lauren and Ian opening a joint present–Twister! They were so cute. When they got a “shared” present they each took a side and politely ripped open their end of the box.

And each time a present was opened, thank yous were voiced all around and hugs given freely. Even when they gave presents to each other. Here they are thanking each other for their mutual gifts! So cute!

The kids made hand print garden stones for mom and dad.

In the midst of unwrapping–it was quite a scene!

Daddy Wayne gets to thank Ian for his hand print garden stone.

Lauren and Ian love to play sports and they both were very excited with their new gloves and balls.
Ian opens another present! He was so cute. He loved to open presents!

Dale posted a gallery of images from Christmas morning! You can see them by clicking here.

We stopped in South Haven and had ice cream.

The have a cute beach and nice little waterfront community.

Dale took a couple of photos, of course.

Then we headed a few miles up the road to Saugatuck–a very cute little town on the Kalamazoo River. We went for a walk along the boardwalk and stopped in a few shops.

We also went to the beach and enjoyed a little walk on the shore. Dale took some photos (below) and I took a photo of Dale taking photos…

Dale was enamored with this sweet vintage Mini Cooper.

He also enjoyed taking pictures of the partially deserted beach.

We wrapped up our day with dinner in Douglas (right next door to Saugatuck) at the Wild Dog Grille. It was an unusually mild October day and we sat on the little side patio that buts up against an adorable little shop.

After the sun set the restaurant set up this little fire pit to keep us all toasty.

At the aforementioned adorable little shop, I picked up a set of these candle holders. I love them!

UPDATE: Figured out how to email myself from my phone. Super cute photo of Heather and Mags below…

And now the rest…

The remainder of the weekend we spent staying at Doug’s house in Petoskey. We got to go to Ozone, the club Doug manages–that was a hoot! Lots of loud music and a dude that was given quite a piece of performance art.

Sadly, it rained a great deal so we had to stay in most of the time. Dale got in two bike rides and a morning photography session, however. I got in one morning run (that’s right, I said “run” but it was more like a slow jog but whatever).

Northern Michigan landscape.

Barn in Mist. I like barns. I like barns.

Landscape near Petoskey.

Wild turkeys! We love wild animals.

This is Doug driving us to breakfast. I liked this picture. Dale sat in the backseat all weekend.

We had breakfast in Crooked Lake. At a neat little place–the kind you only find on random roads in rural areas. We also went to an awesome estate sale clearance center in the middle of NOWHERE. And I will never promote it because it’s the greatest place on earth for estate sale steals and I don’t need the competition.

And we drank a lot of coffee and played a couple of games of Chinese Checkers at a coffee shop. It was very exciting, obviously.

Actually, my favorite non-friendship thing of the weekend was the concrete statuary place, which you can see by clicking here.

Sarah and Betsy (with little Fern in front). The photos I had with Bryan turned out blurry!

Miss Sophie has gotten big! But she’s as charming and precocious as ever.

She’s also on the move. This one never stops once she gets going.

Owen is getting big, too! He tries to keep up with Sophie but as I said above, she’s a bit of a blur.

And this is the newest addition to the family: little baby Fern! Aww. She’s so sleepy. It’s exhausting being a new baby.

And finally this is Zoe. She’s the family’s slightly perturbed kitty. She is on a diet and is not at all amused by the fact that she can see her food but not eat it. Poor kitty!

An abandoned building. Abandoned buildings are almost always interesting to me; I don’t know why.

Lake Michigan from Charlevoix. Pretty!

and the boys (Oliver and Cole, pictured above).

Dale did everything he could to make it a nice birthday for me. It was great, actually, though this year is filled with painful “firsts” without my mom Dale made it really special and fun. Anyway, Dale had a bunch of people call me (he’s sneaky) and got me a new iPod. Sweet! And my friend Rebecca made me cupcakes for the road trip–she’s a sweetie!

While Dale was working, Doug & I drove to Charlevoix on Saturday to meet our friend Heather and her little girl Maggie for lunch. We also wandered about Charlevoix for a spell and got ice cream.

Heather is pregnant with baby #2 and is due in a couple of weeks! This is us in Charlevoix. Oh, and I’m wearing my new glasses! As one of the bosses at work told me, “very fashion-forward!” But I think that might have been an insult. Hee!

Maggie is a cutie! And she loves her glass, too, obviously! She lit up like the fourth of July when Heather gave her the sunglasses! Ha!

Then it was back to Petoskey. During the weekend we went to a few of our favorite spots including Roast & Toast (an adorable indie coffee shop/deli) that is situated right next to one of my favorite bookstores in the world: McLean & Eakin (I could live there). Also, we went to the greatest kitchen gadget store in Michigan: Cutler’s. It was a very happy trip!

We drove to Harbor Springs on Sunday and had breakfast at Mary Ellen’s Diner–an old-fashioned counter grill and ice cream spot.

Doug & I soaking up the atmosphere! We also saw Iron Man. Good times.

Dale and I took the long way home–we drove along Lake Michigan as much as we could and stopped for dinner in St. Joseph to eat on a restaurant patio and watch the sunset. Lovely weekend! It was great to see Heather & Doug! I wish we all lived closer.

Dale’s grandmothers! Grandma Cutcher and Grandma Murray (his mom’s mom and his dad’s mom). It was sweet of Grandma Murray to come to the party; Dale was excited to have both his grannies in one place.

Grandma Cutcher’s brood: (top) Beverly, Donnie, Genevieve, Jackie, John, (bottom) Darlene, and Grandma Cutcher.

Grandma’s portrait for the local paper…

Lauren (our niece, for those that don’t know) and Grandma.

Grandma Cutcher and her sister.

To see all of the pictures that Dale took, check out our gallery by clicking here.