Grand Hotel

My Grandparent's 60th Anniversary was this year and there is no better occasion to celebrate than that, so we went to the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island for the night. So we packed up our stuff into our Vera Bradley bags and headed out!

The first thing we do once we get to Mackinac Island, and I mean every single time, is rent old-fashioned bikes and ride around the island. It's a really nice 8 mile ride, with a nice little stop to see Arch Rock. After that we eat lunch. We actually broke our tradition this year and ate at somewhere other than The Yankee Rebel.

Then we went up to the hotel and checked in. Peter got his and Brian's room key first, so we all decided to go up and check it out. We walked up the stairs and were confused when we couldn't find the room number. We casually asked the maid where "150" was and she pointed towards the President Suite. Okayyy... well the room key works. Ummm pretty sure this isn't our room. It was huge! There was a whole sitting area with a private porch and a bar and all we knew is that there must have been some mistake. So we quick took some pictures and got our fill of the gorgeous suite, and headed back down to the lobby.

Turns out, it was our room. But it was meant for Grandma and Grandpa. Now my standards are set when Jake and I get to our 60th...

After exploring the grounds, swimming in the pool, enjoying daquiris, tennis, bocce ball, and watching the sad ending to the World Cup, we got ready to go down to dinner. We met in the President's Suite for pre dinner cocktails and pictures.

Dinner was very nice and very tasty. Complete with Steven posing for pictures with everybody that we could purchase at the end of the night. Here he is with Grandpa - I don't really know what he's doing, maybe chopping off Grandpa's head?

Here are Jake and I opting for a normal picture...

and here are all the grandchildren with Grandma and Grandpa.

After that, we changed out of our nice clothes, and went out to the bar. We went to the Pink Pony where my Grandma Haverkate actually worked at a long time ago.

We ordered a Beer tower.

Allison, Laura, and I wanted to get something for Jake for being such a good photographer and for putting up with all our craziness, so we decided to give him a picture of the three of us!! (and we even let him be in the picture this time) Thanks Jake!

It really was a great trip to Mackinac and I'm glad so many of us could make it. We now have stayed at the Grand Hotel for the 50th and 60th anniversaries, and I can't wait for the 70th!!

...so began my love affair with water...

Summer is coming to an end - good thing I have cousins who take too many pictures so that I actually have something to look back on. And post to my blog. I started out my summer by asking Laura, Allison, and Caroline to be my bridesmaids and they said yes!! I gave them picture frames. It is very exciting and we have made several wedding plans already. Jake and I are very excited about the progress and looking forward to our special day! Our wedding site is www.mywedding.com/andreajake; feel free to check it out!!



Here is Jake and I on the dock one night at the Lodge in front of a gorgeous sunset.



Sevens was the card game of the summer. Originally, it had a different name, but we managed to change that very quickly. Here we are playing it on the deck in the sunshine.

Here we are playing it in the Barn at night. We were slightly obsessed.

At night, we often play Rock Band (but definitely not Eye of the Tiger anymore). Here's our all girl band consisting of Alli and Laura on Guitar/Bass, Margeaux on Drums, and Andrea on Lead Vocals. I'm sure we rocked.

The Lodge is the perfect place for dogs as well. Here are Duke (the chocolate lab), Britta (the brittany), and Splash (the little black puppy) playing very well together and, hopefully, wearing each other out.

But, of course, the Lodge usually revolves around water. The highlights of the summer being waterskiing, jetskiing, superj etting, swimming, kayaking, boat rides, and just laying out in the sun. We also tried windsurfing for the first time this summer, but I don't have a picture here. It was hard, but a lot of fun.

Here we are going down the Indian River.

We probably jumped off the back of the boat about 20 times before we got a good picture.

My next post will be about our Grand Hotel/Mackinac Island trip.