Addie Lu and the Soo

We had our first family vacation this weekend, we went to the Soo Locks with my Mom, Dad, my nephew, and my sister's family, oh! and the dogs of course! I packed entirely too much luggage, which I ALWAYS do!

We all left on Friday afternoon, Joel, Addie, the puppies, and I rode with my dad, and everyone else in another vehicle. It was a long trip, but Addie held up remarkably well, she is such a good baby!

It was my first time over the Mackinac Bridge, so I was really excited about it, I don't think I have ever been past Traverse City! What kind of Michigander am I, I guess. I was trying to take a bunch of good pictures of the bridge out the window, while Joel was telling me not to drop the camera... such trust! I wanted to go to a place where we could see the bridge, so I could get a good shot... but I don't think anyone else wanted too, oh well.

When we got there on Friday, we went to dinner and then checked out the locks... BUT we found out that you can't bring dogs in there! How crazy is that? So Mom and Joel had to stay behind the gates with the dogs.

Saturday we went to breakfast and met up with my aunt and uncle, and then we off to do some site seeing. The thing I wanted to see the most was the Tahquamenon Falls, so I was really excited about that. We decided to check out Monacle Lake before we went to the falls, because it is such a nice time of year. And my aunt and uncle always visit there, so we went to check it out. It was really pretty, I guess the water was REALLY low though, so that kinda stunk, but it was still really pretty, we got a lot of pictures taken.... Here are my aunt and uncle on their motorcycle:

Here is our fam in front of the lovely scenery, with Elsie taking a sip of the water:

Me and Miss Addie:

After taking all of these lovely pictures, we decided it was time to go.... one can only take SO many pictures in one place, right? And we were all eager to see the falls... so we all got everything loaded into the car, and started them up... and our car didn't start!!!! I think everyone tried to start it, as though one of us would have the magic touch. Nothing worked... we concluded the battery must be dead, but, of course, nobody had jumper cables! So Dad and Dave headed off in the Acadia to find a store and buy jumper cables. They promptly returned with the cheapest pair of jumper cables I think I have ever seen! Hooked them up, and.... nothing! Then we all discussd if we actually knew WHERE the batter WAS in the Acadia (it IS hiddend somewhere, we aren't that stupid) but concluded if was hooked up correctly.

Then, we decide to call OnStar, the Bravada did not have it, but the Acadia did! After much explanation about the car calling OnStar NOT being the one with the problem, they transferred us over to GM roadside assistance, who would send a tow truck, but first they would have to know where we are... and apparently the boat launch at Monacle Lake is inadequate!!

Finally they figured out where we were, and told us it would be a 45 minute wait... so we decided to make the best of it and wait... we took more pictures. And the kids threw rocks into the water. It was probably as good of a time as we could have had considering the circumstances, and we got a lot of pictures the we couldn't have taken had we not been stuck there. And Addie took a pretty good nap while we waited.

And Elsie even posed for pictures! She was really good too, we let her and Presley run around off their leashes a lot and they didn't run away!

After a few hours of waiting the natives started to get really restless, so Joel and I went with the DeJager bunch to see the Iroquois Lighthouse, which was just up the road. And my mom offered to keep Addie with her, so we thought we had better see SOMEthing! Joel and I went up to the top of the lighthouse with Ethan and Kristopher, and boy did my legs hurt!!!! It was a lot tinier up there than I expected, and it said only 5 people could go up at a time! And it was tight with the 4 of us! The stairs were really narrow and winding, so I was really nervous to go up with the kids, but they did well. Here is a picture I took form the top. It was really cool to be able to see that far away!

We weren't at the light house for too long, because we had to get back to the truck. The tow truck had found us, and the car still didn't start after trying to jump it again, with better cables! So we were going to have to have it towed elsewhere.

We had to towed, back to wherever the tow truck came from, my mom and dad rode in the tow truck with Presley and everyone else was in the Acadia, it was one cramped ride! Here they are loading up the Bravada...

On a sidenote, the weather was gorgeous, it was sunny and light jacket weather pretty much the whole time! What more could you ask for at the end of September in the UP?

When we got to the tow truck place, we took my dad and bought a new battery, because we really thought that was what the problem was, luckily there was an auto parts shop just down the road. The tow truck guy was nice enough to pop it in for us, and, low and behold the truck started! Yay! So we all went back the the hotel for dinner, we were STARVING!!!!!

After dinner we all went to the pool and hot tub. Joel played in the pool with the boys and I soaked in the hot tub, and played with Ella and all the bubbles the hot tub was making, she loved them. And Jennifer watched Addie next to the pool.

Since we all really still wanted to go to the Tahquamenon Falls, we decided to meet at 8 for breakfast on Sunday so we could make it there before we left. But first we had to do some pictures as the Soo Locks that we didn't get a chance to do the first day because Addie was sleeping.

Addie loves Grandma!!!

A ship coming in! We couldn't stay to see it in the locks though, we were on a time crunch!

Here we are in front of a big anchor, the ship coming in is in the background, but the tree is covering it in the picture :(

Almost done I promise, I really did not foresee this post being THIS long, or taking forever for me to write!

We finally made it to the falls, here are our favorite pictures:

I think for every picture we took of us, we did one with Elsie too!

This one is actually at the lower falls, it is in the background. I think this picture if funny because it looks like Addie is in one of those pictures with a fake background or her head is photoshopped in! This is one of my favorite pictures of the weekend.

Here we are at the upper falls! We had to walk down 98 (I think) steps to get there... let me tell you, I was not thinking of that when I walked down, but on the way up it really seemed like a long way! Having walked the light house the day before, my legs were hurting!

Addie made a new friend! I love her face in this picture! We have one with Elsie too, it is cute too, but I didn't have enough space for pictures, so you just get the Addie one!

We finally made it hope around 8 pm and it was one long ride home, since we were further up north, but we made it! One closeing picture, just because I think it is cute....

Super Addie, ready for bed!

Sorry this turned out to be SO long! Hope everyone had a good weekend, and has a great week! Next time you shouldn't have to clear your calendar to read an update!

Jennifer took some family pictures of us with her SLR, so I will post them once I get a chance, she hasn't sent them over to me yet.