Detroit

On our way to the Tigers game we enjoyed the bumper to bumper traffic and took in the sites of Detroit.

The projects.  I had on the wrong lens, but there are a ton of huge apartment buildings like these in Hamtramick.

8 Mile, where Detroit turns really scary!

What's great about Detroit?  They keep their graffiti current with the box office hits.

I couldn't get a good shot from the moving car, but I LOVE buildings on the corner like these!

Cruising behind a police car is the ONLY way to roll in Detroit!

Pictures from our Tigers vs. Yankees game will be the next post!

Trip Up North

Mike wanted to go up north to see the Mackinaw Bridge an Lake Superior, so we did!  Yep, left the kids with Grandma and Grandpa and we took off together for most of the day.  It was awesome!

Mike humored me (literally he was making fun of me) for wanting to take his picture as we stopped at this "scenic overlook" place that just overlooked the freeway.

The bridge in the background while we were on the south side of it still.  I set the camera on a picnic table and knew it'd be safe to run into the shot since the Amish who were there were no threat to my camera! 

Lighthouses!  The one that I wanted to take a picture of is apparently 20 miles out into the lake, so we missed that one.

Crossing the bridge!

We had a late lunch early dinner here and it was fantastic!

The lighthouse on Lake Superior at Whitefish Point.

Yep, I had to get a little artsy with a couple of these.

Mike checking off seeing all 5 of the Great Lakes in his life now.

Rocks.  Yep, rocks.  We took a couple of them home for the girls.

The walkway out to the lake.  They always look so inviting!

More Flint

Big John Steak and Onion happens to be the world's greatest sandwhiches.  We HAD to stop there for lunch one day while we were visiting.

The Flint Public Library where many hours of my childhood were spent reading Family History books with my Dad, kids books and playing computer games while watching the hamsters run around, and magazines up on the second floor when I was older.

Flint Institute of Art was a great source of inspiration to me.  Visits there helped me to learn and enjoy art and the love of photography.

Our Flint Ward building.  It's bigger now than it once was.

All over the city of Flint they are closing schools and this was one of the best of them.  The indoor track, 3rd floor of foreign language classes, and the very extensive auto body shop and public radio station where all a part of this great school.  Now, it sits alone and empty.

The Vernors mural is difficult to photograph while cars are in the parking lot, but always fun to see.

The churches downtown are also very beautiful and rich in architectural details.

Flint loves painting on the side of buildings!

MLK and Malcom X painted randomly on the side of a closed down convience store.

LOTS of boarded up houses around the old stomping grounds.  It breaks my heart to see them and to see how those who are still around there are struggling.

McLaren, the hospital my Dad worked at for far too many years!  Ha ha.  Also, the place where my brothers and I were born.

It was also very sad for me to see what was once home to the HUGE AC plant (which made basically every spark plug for every car in the entire country at one point) a empty parking lot.  Literally, parking lot.  The enormous building was leveled a couple of years ago.  With everything that's changed around there and all of the crime and job loss, it is a very sad place to be for certain.

The people who are there still, like my parents and my brother John and his family are doing their best to stay positive and to take what they can from these experiences and learn and move forward.  I'm glad that I left, yet my hearts aches everyday for those I love who are still there.  Part of me will always call that place home though, no matter how bad it gets.

Visiting with the Grandparents

These aren't really in order and there will probably be some in the next post or two that happened before others of these.

Ian's shirts says it all.

Our room for the duration of our visit in Michigan.  It wasn't too bad.  On Memorial Day we were the hotel's ONLY guests.  I guess when it's a vacation day most people go AWAY from Flint and "up north."

We surprised my parents, who we had pretty convinced that we were coming at the end of August.  The surprised the kids with a few Christmas gifts and birthday presents.  Presents always win you points with little kids!  Good job Grandma and Grandpa!

My niece Emma was there with my brother John when we came over.  She squeezed into the picture on the left there.

Even with a great pool at the hotel, the kids really enjoyed playing in the little kid pool at Grandma's house.  It was so nice to have more yard to play in behind the house and NOT fenced in with the dogs.

Brooke really likes to snuggle!

Ahhhhhh, look at all that green!

Grandma set up some tents and we had a fire and some food with my best friend Kathleen and her folks.  Ian was confined to the ten.

Best part of having a ton of trees around you walking over and just picking up firewood without having to go far or do much work for it.

My Dad on the left and Elmer, Kat's Dad, on the right.

My Dad made some strawberry rhubarb pie for me and it was amazing!

Give that kid food and he'll sleep anywhere!  Ha ha.

My Mom, Kat's Mom Sandy, the girls, and then Kat all anxiously waiting for S'mores!

Ahhh, golden perfection.

My and my best friend!  I was going to stab her with a marshmallow.

She was going to get me back in this one!  Ha ha Eryn, we photo bombed you in this one!  (That's when the background people are more interesting than the foreground.)

Brooke is a chocolate monster!!!!!!

The kids enjoyed seeing the different birds at the feeders and Grandpa tapping on the window and scaring away the birds the food wasn't for.

The moment we've been waiting for!  The 3 kids with Grandma and Grandpa for the first time!