Mackinac Island Weekend Getaway

So last week I kind of set the blog on auto-pilot and had some adventures! Our Mackinac Island Weekend getaway was perfect! Here is what went down….

Can you believe that Nate and I had not gotten away together since Layla was born? I mean, we have regular date nights and have gone on a few vacations, but nothing without her. So we decided to make this little trip up to the Mackinac Island area happen! We drove up to northern Michigan last Monday and Layla went down to Indiana to her grandparents.

 

It was fun to have a trip where we didn’t feel rushed and stopped and saw sights, got coffee, etc. as we went. This is at a rest stop overlook. Then we crossed the Mackinac bridge and checked into our hotel in St. Ignace. We took naps, then had dinner at a Mexican restaurant, and then headed to a dark sky viewing area for sunset and to watch the stars come out.

 

It was beautiful! And gave us lots of time to talk about a lot of random things and NOT about who was changing the next diaper. 😉 We also had a pretty long, creepy walk back in the dark.

The next morning we were up early and on the ferry to Mackinac Island! Nate had never been and it had been 12ish years since I was there. We explored the shops, did an island carriage tour, toured Fort Mackinac (and ate at the restaurant there operated by the Grand Hotel), and bought fudge! 

About halfway through our carriage tour it started sprinkling, then pouring rain. Nothing to do but make the best of it! We did get more personal interaction and no crowds at the fort so that was nice. Nate even got to hold an 1840s musket and we saw a cannon getting fired.

We were pretty cold and wet by the time we made it home so we ordered in an amazing pizza from Pizza Builders in St. Ignace and watched a movie in the hotel.

The next morning was our last, so we slept in and then left the hotel for good. We stopped at a few historic markers and viewing areas of the bridge. Mackinac area has such an interesting and varied history…well it is varied in the fact that so many nationalities and ethnicities have resided there, but similar in that they all primarily stay there only in the summer. The winters in the area are BRUTAL; but summer is magical.

Anyways, so then we went across the bridge back to the lower peninsula and visited the McGulpin Point lighthouse. It was free to tour and also had some trails around it so we hiked a half mile or so out to Lake Michigan from there. Then we ate lunch at a local diner, Darrows Family Restaurant, checked out a few shops in the touristy area of Mackinaw city, and then played a round of mini-golf before getting on the road for home.  

Overall, an awesome trip and a much-needed reconnection point for us as a couple. Not that anything was “bad”, it was just good to get out of our roles of “mom” and “dad” and make time for us to just be us. We will definitely be making time and room in our budget to do it again.

We got home late Wednesday night and the next morning I had our first MOPS meeting of the year which was a lot of fun! I’m super-excited about the table I’m at and getting to know more great women who are in the same stage of life.

By this point my mama-heart was about to explode from missing my baby girl! I had never spent a night away from her before so this was getting pretty long. I rushed home to pick up Nate, (we were planning on staying down at my parents for another day or two), but instead found a very sick guy. We thought his strep throat had relapsed, so I set out to get Layla on my own. She, of course, didn’t miss us at all. She was having too much fun at Grandma and Grandpa’s farm getting spoiled rotten!

So long story short, we decided to stay at my mom and dad’s until Nate had a chance to go to the doctor’s. Then we found out he had bronchitis. Ugh! Poor guy! Since we were worried about exposing Layla we decided to wait another day at my mom and dad’s so that Nate could get a couple rounds of antibiotics in him before we got home. Goodness!

This meant we were heading straight to my cousin’s wedding which I hadn’t packed for at all! So after a quick trip to Kohls, we were ready to go and had an amazing time at their beautiful wedding on Saturday. There were so many gorgeous and meaningful details and it was a wedding that definitely felt like “them”. And the food was fantastic.

After the reception, Layla and I finally headed home! It was amazing to be all back together as a family! We spent Sunday just hanging out together which was perfect.

I’m not 100% sure I’m ready for this week, but I did make time to create a meal plan and shop for groceries so at least we have food! I’m trying out some new recipes this week that I got from the Crock’d cookbook that came in my Ultimate Healthy Living Bundle (affiliate link). I also referenced Plan It Don’t Panic another great resource from the bundle on meal planning. It really helped me realize that I need to set some rhythms in our food (like chicken on Wednesdays, soup on Mondays, etc.) to help make meal planning easier. Overall some great tips, even if you’ve been meal planning for awhile. There is always something to tweak right?

Along with that, remember that if you want to get the Ultimate Healthy Living Bundle (affiliate link) today is THE LAST DAY to order it! Get it here now! Even if you are “experienced” with this healthy living stuff, it’s great to get a little reset and refresher as we get back into the routine of fall, don’t you think? I’ve really like the resources I’ve looked at like an Essential Oil cheat-sheet (what’s okay for kids, pregnancy, dilution strength, etc.), a bodyweight fitness e-course, smoothie recipe book and I’m just barely scratching the surface. There’s something for you in this bundle and the value at $29.99 is incredible! So get it today (affiliate link) while  it’s still here!

ALSO, a major shout-out to my big brother, Josh for completing a 5K this weekend without stopping at all!! Woohoo! Josh has lost 35 pounds over the summer and is looking (and feeling) awesome! Maybe he will consent to a guest post on his journey soon. 🙂

Well, I think this is officially one of my longest posts ever. If you made it all the way to the end…major props to you. 🙂 Have an awesome Monday!

When was the last vacation you took?

What is one thing you could tweak in your healthy living journey? 

Linking up to Her Heartland Soul & Healthy Diva Eats.