Last week, Chesh and I took off work and my parents drove all the way from Atlanta, Georgia to the Upper Peninsula for my birthday. Luke and Lydia were out of school, and it seemed like the perfect time for them to come up and see us.
We put them up in one of the cabins here at Cedar, with a lakeside view and a fireplace, and spent the week playing games together, watching movies, and going on hikes. Cedar Campus has a beautiful trail called the Narnia trail, and we hiked the whole thing.
(Left to right) Miracle eating snow, Mom trying to figure out where we are, Lydia pretending she cares where we are, Dad talking through trail grooming with Chesh, and Luke kicking snow and pretending he doesn’t know any of us.
After the hike we took the family to a local spot, The Les Cheneaux Distillery, which has awesome food, and even better drinks. I had the BBQ Apple Panini and potato mashers with their signature Green Goddess sauce (a blend of cucumber and avocado). YUM!
The girls got to spend an afternoon with my friend Callie, and make Earl Grey Lavender macarons, which were AMAZING to say the least. (I promise to have a post dedicated to macaroons sometime in March. The process is a little intimidating, but the result is decadent!)
I made a DIVINE Strawberry Lemon Thyme cake from a recipe I found on Pinterest, and it turned out amazing!!! Modified it a little, and made it a day early, but the end result was delicious!
On Saturday, (MA BURTHDAAAAY!) I got all dressed up and mom took my outfit photos, which turned out so dang cute! Then we went to one of my favorite Chinese buffets in the Soo with my family and some friends, and stuffed ourselves silly before heading home for cake and presents.
It was such a great birthday week, and having my family here was the cherry on top. I couldn’t have asked for a better golden birthday.
Thanks to all of you who wished me happy birthday, through text messages, facebook messages, and email. I appreciate the support even from so far away. It can get really hard living up here so far away from friends and family and support. Having the internet makes it a bit easier to keep in touch and especially feel all your love.
P.S. Could we ever have a Jones Family Journey without any snags? Apparently not. Our fridge decided to die at the beginning of the week, and our groceries spent the majority of the week in a plastic tub outside in the snow to keep them from going bad. We have a new one now, but it was really “grinding my gears” for a while there.
Also, the Mackinaw Bridge (the only way to get from the UP to the mitten without having to go through Wisconsin) was closed due to falling ice the day my parents left to drive home. Instead of waiting they decided to drive through Wisconsin, adding 4-5 hours to their two day trek. What an adventure!
Hannarchy 