Before having our girls, Andrew and I lived in Lansing, Michigan, for 2 years where he got his first job out of college. It's also where I began working for a dominant bank there called Fifth Third Bank (I know... funny name, huh?) which turned out to be the best career move even though I later walked away from a wonderful regional position to be at home with my girls. Anyway, I always say that Michigan was such a wonderful experience for our new marriage but I'm happy to be back closer to family especially now that we have one of our own. Every so often, I'm reminded of those good ol' Michigan days, though, and I wonder how it would be to raise our family there... and this weekend was definitely no exception.First, we received gifts in the mail for our girls from our old Michigan neighbors. They were the best and we miss them so much! Here's a picture of Adelyn sporting her personalized backpack that they sent her. Ella isn't big enough to sport her new outfit yet. Thanks again, Becki, Ben, Drew, Delaney, and Baby Daniel!
If you notice in the background of this picture, Andrew is a proud (re)owner of his old Jeep Wrangler that he recently sold to a guy who put tile down in our old house. Long story. Anyway, he's been fixing it up over the last couple weeks, refinishing the body work so it'll look spiffy on the road this summer. You should see the work he's done to it. He's never painted a vehicle in his life but decided to do it last week. (This is a guy who always has a new project in mind...) Here are a couple before/after shots:
Anyway, I took it out on a pretty day and you guessed it.... it reminded me of Michigan! You see.... that Jeep and I go way back. I used to drive it during some nasty Michigan winters. Andrew somehow talked me into driving a new Mach 1 Mustang as my primary driver since he had to use an SUV for work purposes. I ended up driving the Jeep more since the Mustang didn't fare well in Michigan weather. Yes, I was a sucker! Oh well.... I was having fun in my last few years without kids and didn't even know it! :)
I'm looking forward to having some hot days to go out in the boat. That's definitely something I miss from Michigan, too. There was always a lake nearby. The beautiful weather we've been having here lately is like July weather in MI. Those summers were almost worth those nasty winters driving the old Jeep!
