Michigan..part III.

Every year as part of our Michigan Fall weekend, we enjoy the Apple Cider Century--- a bike ride through Michigan and Indiana, choosing amongst different mileage courses, everything from 15 miles to a century, or 100 miles.  Scott and I, along with my brother Brad and DeChantel, are the usual riders while my mom, Phil and the kids are our sag team, meeting us at the different rest stops to provide us support and any needed supplies. 

With Makenna riding a two wheeler proficiently, she was eager to come along for the ride so the 5 of us set out on the 15 miles course.  The route is always pretty hilly with rolling hills and we ride in the streets that aren't closed (allbeit country roads) so I wasn't sure how MC was really going to hold up but I figured she could at least make it to the rest stop at 10 miles. 

Before ride photos....Makenna was all smiles going out on the course, and obviously more enthralled with her Aunt and Uncle than her parents. LOL.

Well, she not only made it to the rest stop, but she made it all the way to the start the line, riding about 18 miles in total!  She conquered the hills with confidence, passing adults walking up with their bike beside them! The most wonderful thing was that she had the best positive attitude throughout the entire ride.  Here she is leading us to her finish line.

Way to go makenna claire!

Her brother was so very proud of her!

And so were we!

After taking a family portrait, and giving her the biggest high fives and congratulations, the four of us headed back out on the course and did a total of 55 miles.  Such a great day and another day leaving us with memories of good times.

Here's the PL layout from that week.

 And that's Michigan, with only one more layout to share to be all caught up on 2013. Woot.

Michigan part 2

Apple Picking is a highlight to our Michigan weekend necessitating buying bushels of the fresh picked fruit.  There's no wonder why we bring so many apples home since my kids each eat a couple of apples a day, no kidding. In fact they would consume more but the parental halt is used on a daily basis. 

 We had a beautiful albeit warm day with bright sunshine. Apples were in abundance and the kids were easily able to collect them off the trees.  Honeycrisps, Galas, Golden and Red Delicious, and Jonagolds were among the pickable variety.

 Of course one must try out those apples out in the fields.  I think we all consumed our lunch out there in apples. There is something to be said for fresh fruit.

Good times.  And yes, we brought all those apples home with us, and then some. Yum.

Pure Michigan fun

Each Fall our family escapes to the beautiful land of Michigan for a long weekend full of relaxation, laughs and a whole lot of fun.  We rent a refurbished farm house which has really become our home away from home since we have been to this home for many years now.  We spend a lot of time hanging around the house, enjoying the beautiful yard and the quaint house but always venture out to go apple picking or to the local pumpkin farm and ride our bikes in the Apple Cider Century. It's one of my favorite weekends and this year was no exception.

I'll share photos of Saturday and Sunday but today we'll talk about Monday where we all played hookie from the world, eating through our leftovers, staying in our pj's for as long as we desire and always finding ourselves playing something in the yard.  This year we played kickball, boys against girls, kicking the ball and running to our hand created dog dish bases.  The kids are getting old enough to understand and be able to play in a team sport...well, MC certainly is and we did have to break more than once to dry a few Rylan tears..but we all had a ton of fun.

MC and Ry love their stuffed friends and often carry them in their shirts so this look is not uncommon in the Case world but I love the next several captures.  Be still a momma's heart.

The girls were leading all the way although the boys did put up a nice fight in the last inning.

Such a great time. I know the kids will look back on their childhood and always remember their time spent in Michigan with a happy, grateful heart because this is what life is really all about..enjoying the time spent together creating happy, meaningful memories.  Be back soon with weekend stories!