Vacation to Mackinaw

Jesus figure on the Cross.

We packed a picnic for lunch

After the 6 hour trip that turned into a 9 hour trip we made it to our hotel: Aqua Grand Mackinaw Inn & Water park. We decided to stay at this sweet hotel that had a great kids water park! Anyways, we got there on Wednesday late afternoon and decided to walk the town, shop around, and eat fudge :)! We were all really tired so we crashed early. On Thursday morning we crossed the Mackinaw Bridge and went to Castle Rock. Castle Rock is a huge lookout over the lake that you have to climb to. After climbing half way with Riley and Lincoln I realized that I need to get back in shape. My legs were SO sore. We got all the way up there, walked across to the platform and stood on the huge rock to see over the highways. I’ve never been afraid of heights, not even a little bit. But since I’ve had kids I’ve become the most paranoid person I know :)! I kept thinking what if this “mini bridge” collapses? Or what if the wire that Riley is leaning against snaps and she goes down with it…YIKES! Anyways, we stayed long enough to get a few pictures of the area and of Paul Bunyon and his blue ox. We noticed that they have some sort of fetish with Paul Bunyon up north.

On top of Castle Rock

Riley had to walk all by herself, so Ty held her hand on the way down and I had Lincoln in the Baby Bjorn.

The fam at Castle Rock with Paul Bunyon and the Blue ox.

The rest of the day Thursday we walked around, ate more fudge, went to dinner at Pizza Palace and then took Riley to the indoor water park at our hotel. She was very apprehensive about it at first, but LOVED it and played for hours once she realized how fun it was. Here are a few pictures from the water park.

This was Riley’s favorite part in the water park.

She kept hugging this fountain.

“Mom, why can’t I go play with Riley??”

Family picture before bedtime!

We started driving to Alpena and Ty found this great spot to take a picture of the Mackinaw Bridge! Brings back memories of walking it every Labor Day :)!

I cannot believe how great the kids did on our trip; whether it was sitting for 6 hours, sleeping in the same room and having their schedules messed up. I was so proud of them, especially Riley. She had her moments, but all in all it was a success and we all had so much fun. It was great to get away for a few days. Although I never realized how much “work” a vacation is! Packing and getting 4 people ready sure it a chore, but it was all worth it.

Friday morning came all too quickly! We checked out and made the hour and a half drive to Alpena for my brother’s wedding on Saturday. (I’ll post about that in another post)