Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Summer is flying by! Hard to believe Todd's been out of school for 5 weeks already! He's enjoying some downtime, and has picked up some tutoring to keep him semi-busy. We're also holding cross country practice 5 mornings a week. The turnout at these practices has been better than expected! We've had as many as 27 kids!

Chocolate Milk and Donuts awaited the team after their run on Thomas' Birthday! Thanks Odells!

We've enjoyed having more time to relax, hike, trail run, & see friends now that school and the track season are over. We spent a Sunday afternoon in Park City with friends of ours, Dave & Sherry Spence--ate brunch, checked out the Park Silly Farmer's Market, and hiked around the Park City Mountain Resort. We also hiked up to Desolation Lake with Jessie and Brian Strike.

View from hike in Park City

Beautiful Day for a hike!

Local food & music at Millcreek Venture Outside

Desolation Lake with Jessie Strike

The highlight of our summer so far was our 2 week trip back to the Midwest! We celebrated Grant and Allison's wedding on June 27th. The day was absolutely beautiful! We're so glad the weather cooperated. Welcome to the Mitchell family, Allison!

The beautiful couple

Todd gives his speech as Best Man

We were able to spend time with the extended family on Saturday after the wedding. It was nice to catch up with family we don't see very often! On Sunday, my parents met us for church & brunch. Then, we left with my parents for a road trip through northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Our first stop was Duluth. We spent the first night walking Park Point & watching ships go under the Aerial Lift Bridge. We skipped stones in the VERY cold Lake Superior and ate delicious Mexican food outside. On Monday, we hiked around Gooseberry falls and checked out Split Rock Lighthouse. On Tuesday, we made a quick stop at the Glensheen Estate before heading to Wisconsin.

Skipping Stones

Aerial Lift Bridge

Gooseberry Falls

Split Rock Lighthouse

Glensheen Estate gardens

The mansion we toured

On Tuesday, we spent some time walking around Bayfield, WI. We got ice cream and looked around in some bookstores & gift shops. We also explored the maritime museum. We took a sunset cruise around the Apostle Islands. The islands were really neat, but we were also very cold. The air temperature was in the 50s and it was quite windy! We really enjoyed Devil's Island with it's sea caves & lighthouse.

Bayfield, WI

We saw several Bald Eagles on our cruise

Devil's Island Lighthouse

Devil's Island Sea Caves

On Wednesday, we drove into Michigan. Our first destination in Michigan was the Porcupine Mountains. We hiked along the Escarpment Trail which overlooks the Lake of the Clouds. We spent the night in Houghton, MI and ate a great pizza place downtown.

Lake of the Clouds

Hiking along the Escarpment Trail

Pictured Rocks was our next destination. The water along the shoreline was so beautifully colored! We did a short hike to a lookout for Miner's Castle and then walked to Miner's Beach. The hike to Chapel Rock & Beach was much longer, but worth it! However, the bugs were bad for the 3 miles back to the car, and we hiked very quickly!

Miner's Castle

Bridal Veil Falls

Chapel Rock

Chapel Rock Beach

On Friday, we drove to Tahquamenon Falls. I was there once before when I was young, but didn't really remember it. The upper falls has the 2nd greatest volume of water (1st is Niagara Falls) east of the Mississippi River! We ate lunch and walked around on the beach at White Fish Point before driving over the bridge to the lower peninsula to stay the night in Mackinaw City. We sat on the shore of Lake Huron and watched the fireworks--we could be Mackinaw City, Mackinac Island, & St. Ignace fireworks all at once!

Upper Falls

White Fish Point

We lit Chinese Lanterns before the fireworks

Fireworks over Lake Huron

Saturday, our final day of our road trip, we took the ferry to Mackinac Island. We enjoyed walking around the Grand Hotel and past some beautiful cottages. We rented bikes and rode around the island. Todd and I were on a tandem! We also rode up the big hill by the Grand Hotel and came speeding back down :). We drove back to Grand Rapids that evening.

The Grand Hotel

Mom made a friend

Riding bikes around the island

We were able to spend 2 days in Grand Rapids before flying back to SLC. It was nice to my parents new house in the summer and see the work they've done so far. Dad has planted a lot of trees and Mom has a very large garden. We were able to see Uncle Bruce, Grandma, and Ben as well!

We're looking forward to a full week next week! We will be taking 20 athletes from the Olympus High School XC team to Park City for 3 days and 2 nights for a team camp. This is the first time doing something like this, so we're pretty excited! Then, Uncle Bruce is coming out to SLC for a long weekend! We're excited to do some hiking with him. And, on top of all that, Todd and I will likely become Aunt Anna & Uncle Todd next week!! Holly and Matt's baby will most likely be coming soon! We can't wait to meet our niece/nephew!