Michigan Summer to Indian Summer

We finally made it "Up North", or so the Michiganders like to call it. We drove up to Glen Arbor to camp at Sleeping Bear Dunes with some of Liz's family. It is a beautiful place on Lake Michigan with white sand and crystal clear water. This small town explodes with people during the summer but the lake is so big there was plenty of room at the beach.






Below is a picture of our sister-in-law Chelsea out on the paddle surf board. Petey the dog waits patiently at the shore for her return.
Liz out on the board, the water was clear but cold.




Liz's brother Nathan and his wife Chelsea.
The boy's school at Cranbrook.
The girl's school at Kingswood. We live on the 3rd floor on the left side of the chimney.
All the pictures below are of Cranbrook-Kingswood Campus where we live. It is a large campus with tons of trees that turn amazing colors during the fall.
The Kingswood Lake that separates the girl's school from the boy's side of campus. We have a view of this lake from our living room windows.
We live in the girl's dorm behind us.


The Oriental Garden next to our building.

Welcome to Hogwarts....I mean Cranbrook

Since it has been about 5 months, seems like time to update the blog...we would hate to break with tradition. So we are now living at Cranbrook in the second floor girls dorm adviser's apartment. Cranbrook is a private school in Detroit that sits on about about 300 acres. It is a huge campus that houses an elementary, middle and high school. Being a teacher/coach allows us to live on campus rent/utilities free plus we get free food!






This is where Ben lives as he studies for the STEP.

Temporary Summer Home.......and new car!

It has obviously been a while since our last post. Ben and I are now in America and enjoying every minute of it. I know people have been curious about where we live and things...so this post is just for that. We've made big improvements to our living conditions....take a peek.

Our new car!!!! I'm loving it. Luckily while we were figuring out how to purchase this my brother let us borrow his car during his honeymoon. Ben and I both commute to work and after a week of driving stick shift I swore it off forever. It didn't help that I was driving in Detroit traffic, pot holes, hadn't driven in a year and wasn't a pro at stick shift in the first place.
Great rear view!
Townhouse. Unfortunately only for the summer.
Kitchen....with dishwasher.
Living room with our new T.V.



Another angle of our living room.

Another angle of our kitchen with our own washer and dryer....people in Dominica will appreciate this!

Den on the left (more like storage). And our bedroom straight ahead.

Bedroom.
Walk-in closet.

We also have 1 1/2 bathrooms and a dinning room. But we had to put the kitchen table together so more to come.

Ben's Birthday!!!!!!!

Ben had a very special birthday this year! He turned 30 and I think it ended up being a lot better than he thought. A week before his birthday we rented a car (long story) and drove around the island. A good half of the island. It ended up being about 4 hours of driving!!! But we had a lot of fun. We were able to catch up on some places Ben hasn't seen.

My Babe!

Here we are on a hike. This guy ended up walking with us and would not leave us alone. We would be 15 feet in front of him and his was still having a conversation! Ben was not happy. Luckily, we found an awesome patch of raspberries.....they supposedly grow only in the mountains.

Red Rock.

Look! We're in southern Utah.

I'm trying to be funny or cute?


A cute picture of us!
On Ben's actual birthday we had a little dinner with some friends. We went to Ben's favorite Chinese place called Tulips. It was pretty yummy. Here is Ben blowing out his giant birthday cookie!

After we went up to De Champs for his surprise party!! Ben had no idea that I had planned it until we started walking up there. It ended up being a lot of fun.

The awesome pinata that my friend Chelsea and I made. It was indestructible! I've considered making and selling them on the island....if it didn't take more than 2 hours.


The awesome shirt I ordered and wore around all day. Ben laughed when he saw it at lunch. I think he liked it!

My Lover! I hope you had a great birthday!