Mackinac Island

We returned today from our short vacation to Mackinac Island, Michigan. We had a blast! We got up to Mackinaw City on Wednesday and stayed the night there. We took a drive over the bridge and had dinner in the U.P. It was neat going over the bridge, I haven't done that in a long time, but this time I was the driver- I don't think I could have done that the last time.

Thursday morning we got up and took a ferry over to the island. We walked around quite a bit, looked at all of the shops, grabbed some lunch, and then decided to take a narrated carriage ride over the island. This was really fun and quite educational I must say! I haven't taken a carriage ride there since I was 8 years old, I couldn't ride my bike around because I had a bright pink cast from my fingers to just short of my shoulder on my left arm. (For those of you who know my history this was the 2nd time I broke that arm.) After the carriage ride we were able to check into our hotel. We stayed at the Chippewa, super cute hotel with a great location right on Main St. We shopped around a bit more, grabbed some dinner, and then called it a night.

Friday was a little more of an adventurous day! We rented bikes and took a LONG ride all over the island. We went all the way to the top and checked out all of the sights around it such as Arch Rock, Sugar Loaf, and Skull Cave. We took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up going down a thin and muddy trail called Juniper, needless to say, my shoes weren't as white after this little detour. We made our way down to the other side of the island and then took a ride around it. As we got to the other side, we decided to go back up. We looked at some of the neat houses, enjoyed the view, and then went back down again and rode around the other side that we didn't do the time before. I guess you could say we were a little soar after our 12 or so mile ride. We turned the bikes back in, rested up a little, and then Al treated us to a nice dinner. We ended the night with some shopping and of course getting some famous Mackinac Island fudge to bring back home and enjoy!

We got up early this morning, caught the first ferry back to "the mainland", and took the 7 hour drive back to Chicago.

We had a great time and we can't wait to go back again. Below are some pictures from the trip. Also, at the bottom is a link to the complete photo album. I'm learning how to do so many things with this new computer.

Mackinac Bridge, this connects the "mitten" of Michigan to the Upper Peninsula (U.P.).

Posing for a picture!

Arch Rock, there are some pictures of this from below in the photo album.

The 3 horses that took us around on our carriage ride.

The view of Main Street from above.

http://gallery.me.com/jslucter/100023

We also got an e-mail today to view our engagement pictures!! Yay!!!! We really like them. I will post those as soon as we get the disc in the mail, probably Wednesday or Thursday. I start my teacher work again on Monday. I can' t believe summer is over and I am beginning my 2nd year of teaching, boy how time flies!

I don't think I've spent this much time checking blogger and facebook in a long time! I'm beginning to get really bored! Thank goodness Alex and I leave tomorrow for a little vaca time. He is going to a Phish show tonight with LBC, Hank, and Brad. But, then we'll be up bright and early to begin our long drive to the UP.

I spent a good majority of the day yesterday buying things for my classroom. Last year everything was just super fast and I didn't have a lot of time to think about how I wanted to do things, so this year with a little experience and preparation time I've had time to think. I'm going to do a frog theme this year. I bought these cute name tags (for their desks) at the Dollar Tree and they have frogs on them, so that was my inspiration to go with a frog decor in my room. I got online to Carson and Dellosa and bought lots of frog things like the cut outs, "Hoppy Birthday" poster set, decorations, etc. I also went to the teacher store up here and bought a cursive alphabet (ohhh, awwww!) and a word families set.

As far as Alex goes, today was his last day of his externship. He's been working quite diligently on a paper for it for the last 3 weeks or so, I think he has one more round of editing and then it should be finished. He'll have a few days of a relaxing summer break and then its back to school.

Good luck to all of my Indiana teacher friends who start this week!

New Look

I was inspired by Rox to give our blog an updated look. WOW! Soooo many options, super fun, and totally addicting. Who knew? I hope to update it some more next week when we get our engagement pictures back, plus I like playing around on the new computer.

So, yesterday I declared my residency in Illinois... yep, I went and got my driver's license and new plates. I went last week and got the book so I could be a little prepared for the written test. It was pretty easy, but I am definitely glad that I studied a little. I'm a little sad that I will no longer have my Purdue plate though. :(

Alex and LBC just took off for an afternoon/ evening at LollaPalooza (the annual music fest here in Chicago). Crazy hot day for it today and tomorrow! Yikes! Its in the 90's and ridiculously humid! That kind of humidity when you walk outside it hits you in the face and just about takes your breathe away. My fellow L-towners know how that goes. Good ole' midwest weather, it doesn't get any better.

On the upside, we leave for Mackinac in just a few days! I can't wait. I've been looking at the weather and although its a little early to tell probably, they are calling for mid 70's and sun! Yay!

I'm thinking about running to Office Depot and buying an office chair, since right now I've been stealing Al's to sit at my desk. Just the beginning of a lifetime of sharing and compromises. :) I also need to get started on some planning and things for the upcoming school year. I've been enjoying my vacation, but I think I'll be glad to go back. I get a little stir crazy.

Enjoy your weekend!

Lots to blog about!

So, it has been forever since my last post and I feel like a lot has been going on since then.

During July I taught 2 weeks of summer school to 2nd graders, which was great since this is the age group I will be teaching all of next year. I'm super excited about this! I student taught in 3rd grade (which was awesome), so I think 2nd grade will be a better fit.

We've had lots of visitors up here, which is awesome and always welcome!

The Schlueter's came up here for a few days. We went to a Cubs game and then saw some sights around the city.

Brandy and Kelsi came up here to go to the Rascal Flatts show at Wrigley Field (1st country concert at Wrigley!) We had a blast.

The day after the concert I left for vacation with my parents and grandma. We went down to New Orleans, LA and Gulf Shores, AL. It was super fun going to somewhere new. We went on a bus tour of New Orleans that showed us the 9th Ward and different parts of the city. Gulf Shores was great, and it was nice to take a couple of days and just hang on the beach. I can't wait to go back down there!

Alex and I took our engagement picts around the city on Monday. We took them around the Field Museum, Navy Pier, and the beach. Our photographers were awesome and super friendly! We had a great time and they should be ready in 7-10 days.

I took the plunge yesterday and bought a Mac. (So this is my first blog on my new comp.) I love it so far, and I got a free iPod touch with it (awesome!) The iPod was a huge upgrade for me since my old one was about 4 years old, black and white, no album art, etc. Alex basically made me feel like I was living in the dark ages with it. haha

Next week, Al and I are heading up to Mackinac Island, MI for a few days. Super excited about this. After that.... summer is over and its back to work/ school for both of us! =(

Here are some picts of the last few weeks....

Alex, Jamie, Danielle, and I at the Cubs game.

Me, Brandy, Kelsi, and Alex and Rascal Flatts.

Cathedral in New Orleans.

Dad and I on the bus tour.

Look closely at the yellow/ brown lines on the house. Those are watermarks from where the water was standing after Hurricane Katrina. Water was standing in many of these houses for 3 weeks.

This is one of the "Brad Pitt houses". He is building houses in the 9th Ward, our tour guided said they generally cost around $250,000 and they are eco-friendly.

Bourbon Street