Michigan

We had a great time in Michigan. We enjoyed the snow as much as we could. With temperatures at a low of 11 degrees and a high of 24 degrees daily we could not get out in the snow as much as we would have liked. It did snow much of our visit though and Lily loved it.

The Nye family.

The Simpson family out snow shoeing.

All bundled up in her chariot, ready to snow shoe! She lasted maybe 20 minutes and the Colin and I carried her the rest of the way.

The chariot and the reindeer.

With many long car rides she handled everything like a champ! The first plane ride required that we get up at 3 am to leave the house by 3:50 am. She did manage to cry through most of that day, so as Kalie said, we did not make any new friends on those plane rides. The total travel time was 14 hours that day because there was a mini snow storm in MI when we arrived and it took us forever to drive to Howell. We woke up early the next morning and after breakfast we drove 3.5 hours to Gaylord. We all loved our time in Gaylord and we were sad to leave. We headed back down to Howell (3.5 hour drive) and spent the remainder of our trip there. We all got pretty sick so she had a much harder time in Howell. Lily never adjusted to sleeping in 2 different places so we were up every 1-2 hours throughout the entire trip hence not beating this cold. Our trip back to Oregon went much better than the trip to MI - a few highlights of course: minutes after take-off on the first flight Lily filled a giant stinky diaper. We all had to sit in the stench until the captain turned the seat belt sign off and then we had to wake the lady next to us so that we could get out of the aisle to go change her in the bathroom. She jumped and bounced most of the 2 flights. There was about 40 minutes total that she cried because she was too tired to fall asleep.....honestly not too bad in my opinion. We arrived home late Sunday night, Lily fell asleep in her crib in less than 30 seconds. Roxie was still at her friend Zoola's house and so Chevy yowled ALL night and morning long because Roxy was missing. Roxy came home this morning and Chev is finally happy. Lily is feeling much better and could not be happier to be home as for Colin and I we have to worst cold we have had in years. It was all worth it though so thanks to everyone back home who made so many sacrifices to see us, feed us and visit with us. Many more great pictures to come.