Our fun, busy trip to Michigan

Our plane landed in San Diego around 1:00 yesterday afternoon, and within two minutes of being buckled into her car seat Isabelle did what all three of us felt like doing - fell fast asleep. We had a fun, but very busy, trip to Michigan. For those of you who are interested, we spent the last seven days as follows:

Friday, June 25 - We departed San Diego at 12:30 p.m., headed for Houston. Isabelle behaved wonderfully, in part because there were TVs in the back of each headrest and for $6, she was mesmerized by their "baby network." On a plane FULL of screaming kids, Isabelle was one of the few angels. By the time we got to Houston, however, she was becoming fussy from lack of sleep - plus it was extremely hot and humid in the airport, and our flight to Grand Rapids was delayed. We let her run all over the airport until she wore herself out, and by the time the plane was lifting into the air, she was sleeping so soundly she was snoring. We finally got to Grand Rapids around 12:30 a.m., and by the time we got our rental car and drove to Grand Haven, it was 2:00 a.m. Isabelle went to sleep at 3:00 a.m., and Jason and I didn't make it to bed until 4:00.

Saturday, June 26 - Luckily we had time to sleep in, and didn't have to get up until noon to start getting ready for Janine and Curt's wedding reception. My brother, sister, mom and dad arrived from the U.P., and Jason's mom came over. Between the five of them, Isabelle had an army of babysitters to play with while Jason and I spent the afternoon and evening in Grand Rapids!

Sunday, June 27 - We hosted a potluck-style get-together at our Grand Haven rental house, and probably had about 40 people over between noon and 4:00. Unfortunately it was rainy and so we couldn't utilize the private yard with the picnic table and play area for the kids, but the house was spacious enough and visitors staggered enough that it didn't feel too crammed. Isabelle got to play with some new friends, and Jason and I saw many friends and family - some of whom we hadn't seen in two or more years!

Monday, June 28 - Jason the birthday boy turned 33 on Monday, and got to spend time with some friends that evening while I had a "girls night out" with some girlfriends in Grand Rapids. Earlier in the day, my friends Michele and Chris came over with their two little girls, and we improvised a buffet lunch using all the leftovers from our party on Sunday. Michele had brought loads of bubbles for the kids, and they had a blast blowing bubbles (or "bub-oooos," as Isabelle calls them) in the backyard. I met Michele, Anne, Jessica and Janine for dinner at Bluewater Grill, and we closed the place down - by the time we realized it was creeping up on 10:30, staff were turning out the lights and trying to sweep around us...

Tuesday, June 29 - This was one of our free days. I had intended for Tuesday to be my beach day, but wouldn't you know it - the weather had changed from hot and humid to quite cool and breezy overnight. So the whole family and I slept in and went out for a late lunch at Morningstar Cafe, followed by a trip into downtown Grand Haven to do some shopping in their small downtown area.

When we returned, Jason and I decided to kill some time by heading over to the local Subaru dealership to test-drive some vehicles (we will probably need a new vehicle sometime this year, but have had difficulty finding time to test-drive any and figured we should take advantage of our babysitters!). We were intending to check out the Subaru Forester, and ended up taking the Subaru Tribeca for a spin, too. Love the Tribeca!

Finally, Tuesday evening we headed down to one of Grand Haven's tourist attractions, the musical fountain. We ate ice cream and sat along the boardwalk watching the fountains spray patterns against colored lights, set to music like "Eye of the Tiger." Isabelle even stood up and danced!

Wednesday, June 30 - Wednesday was family portrait day. The moms had booked a photographer to take family photos since it has been so long since we were all together, so we all headed to North Muskegon for our 11:00 photo shoot, dressed in jeans and white shirts. Unfortunately, Isabelle had woken up on the wrong side of the bed and was NOT in any mood to have her picture taken. Despite it being an interesting couple of hours with a cranky baby, we actually captured some good shots of the entire family; some individual shots of Isabelle; photos of me with Jason and Isabelle; photos of me and my siblings; shots with me, my mom, and my sister; etc.

Wednesday evening, Janine and Curt met us in Grand Haven and we had a nice dinner at the Kirby Grill downtown. It was nice to spend some time with them one-on-one, since they were so busy trying to talk to everyone at their wedding reception!

Thursday, July 1 - I took my mom to Grand Rapids so we could both get haircuts from my friend Smitty at her new salon in the Gaslight Village. I'm between stylists and was almost due for a haircut anyway, and it turns out my mom has been cutting her own hair for 18 months; needless to say, we both left the salon happy and my mom went back to the UP with a brand new look on Friday!

Friday, July 2 - Sadly, our vacation was over. We were up at 5:00 a.m. to finish packing and head for the airport.

The first leg of the trip, from Grand Rapids to Denver, was challening. Isabelle was tired and not in the mood to be restrained in one seat for several hours. She was actually pretty good for the first 2/3 of the trip, but the last third she cried and cried and cried....so we were "those parents" with the screaming baby in the back row. At this point my nerves were on edge and I was quite dreading the trip from Denver to San Diego. So when I heard our names paged overhead at our gate, I was expecting the worst. Lo and behold, thanks to Jason's Elite status with United, they upgraded him to an aisle seat in the exit row so he had a lot more leg room, and they upgraded me and Isabelle to first class!!

I had never flown first class, and I was very nervous about Isabelle's behavior. But she behaved beautifully! She was just as happy as I was with the roomy seats, and she enjoyed eating off my plate since I was one of the privileged few who had lunch served during the flight. She spent the entire two-hour flight giggling, playing peek-a-boo with me, and playing with some of her new toys, and I can't even tell you how happy and relieved I was...

I jokingly told Jason that Isabelle must have been crying during the first leg of the trip because she was so unhappy about having to sit in coach seating. Apparently we have a high-class little girl!!