Back to Indiana - Shipshewana!

 Before leaving Stevensville, Michigan, where my sister lives, we stopped at "Bit of Swiss Pastry Shoppe," the world famous bakery for breakfast!  (It has been named the Bakery of the Year for 2012 by the Modern Baking Magazine.)  I had a yummy chocolate caramel bread pudding treat (third from the left on the bottom) and Carma had a lemon tart (second from the left on the bottom).  Mine might have looked the best but hers tasted the best!  Both were great though!  I wish we could have gone back again!  Everything looked so good!  We stopped at the beach to see the beautiful view while we enjoyed our goodies!  She is so lucky to live right around the corner from the beach!

 For lunch we stopped in South Bend and enjoyed some Japanese tempura - yum!  It was so good!

 After lunch we finally arrived at Shipshewana, the Mennonite and Amish community with a huge flea market.

 The deals at the flea market were unbelievable.  (Don't miss the horse and buggy in the background of the picture.)  Neither one of us knew what to expect.  We thought it would be like going to yard sales but almost everything was brand new.  Prices were unbelievably inexpensive!  We got some great deals!  The best purchase we made were 2 Thomas Kinkade pictures - 1 for me and 1 for her.  She got the famous Bridge of Faith and I got the Stairway to Paradise.  Both are beautiful.

At the end of the day we stopped at a Mennonite/Amish store and I was exhausted.  The rocking chair was a welcome relief.  We didn't purchase anything but it was interesting to look.  It was a great day and a fun day together!

The next day we spent at home the entire day working on the book Carma is writing about our childhood.  It was really nice to work on that together and help her.  We had so much fun creating memories.

Sights of Saugatuck on Marvelous Monday in Michigan!

 This was the cutest little place!  Another city on lovely Lake Michigan....

 So beautiful......  We had breakfast here.  Yummy cinnamon rolls!

 Saugatuck is in the top 10 prettiest painted places in America.

 We had a fun walk along the pier while we waited for the shops to open.  We tasted flavored olive oils and vinegars at one shop.  They were sooooo good!

 We climbed another sand dune.  This one was approximately 355 ft high!  I really got sore shins from this one!  (You can't see the top in this picture in case you think you can....)

The lovely view from the top of the sand dune.......  The trees were so beautiful this time of year with the leaves changing colors.  I really enjoyed the fall colors of Michigan!

Sunday's Sights in Michigan!

Lovely Lake Michigan with the beautiful beach!

  The sparkling water at St. Joseph's pier in the sunlight!

     It was a very windy day!  My sister Carma and her husband Kelly with the beautiful lake in the background!

     A view of St. Joseph, Michigan!

     My sister's family minus my nephew at college!  From left to right, my sister Carma, Derek, Kelly in back, Danielle in front, and Audrey.  (I missed seeing Tyler who is a freshman at BYU.)

   Carma and Kelly made four different kinds of pizza!  They were all delicious!

     I just loved my nieces and enjoyed spending time with them and my nephew!  Aren't they just cute as can be?

The Bar, the Beach, and the View (not)!

      After our fun morning in South Haven sampling the cranberries, we decided we didn't need lunch so we hurried to Coloma for cider and doughnuts!  Coloma has a cider bar where we could taste as many as 25 different flavors of cider (free) to decide what we wanted to buy.  Pomegranate cider was surprisingly one of my favorites so we got some of that and enjoyed it with our doughnuts.  I chose a cider doughnut but liked Carma's pumpkin doughnut better than mine.

      This place was called, Grandpa's Cellar.  Here we are at the bar sampling our cider! 

   We had quite the meals on Saturday!  After cider and doughnuts, we stopped for another taste of Sherman's ice cream!  Wow!  I loved that stuff!  We quickly realized that we could purchase a 3 scoop cup with a cone for $3 that we could share that was cheaper than 2 single scoops!  What a deal!  We were quite proud of ourselves for figuring that out!

      This is beautiful Silver Beach in St. Joseph, Michigan!  It is awesome - just like the ocean!  The sand is so clean and pure.  This is one of the best beaches in the world.

      They have a lovely carousel not far from the beach that is a replica of one that used to be at the beach years ago.  It was so fun to watch the kids on it having a fun time.

     For dinner, we stopped at Grande Mere Inn.  I had a delicious perch sandwich.  Advertisements for this place were a little misleading as they indicated there was a view of the lake - not really - but the food was great.  Then, it was the end of day 3 with my wonderful sister!  What a great time I had!

Harvesting the Cranberry Bog (South Haven, Michigan)

   The timing for my visit to Michigan was around a tour to this cranberry farm.  I wanted to see them harvest the cranberries.  This is a picture of one of many bogs.  The cranberries grow in these bogs that are filled with water when it is time to harvest.

      This tractor like machine drives up and down the bog while the rake like thing in the front knocks the cranberries off of the plants.  This cranberry farm sells approximately 1 million pounds of cranberries each year to Ocean Spray.

      A close-up look at the cranberries in the bog waiting to be suctioned into the truck.

      Look at the wheels and the front and back of this piece of machinery.  It is so different from anything I have ever seen.

      It is amazing that the cranberries float to the top of the water after they are knocked off of the plants.

      Pulling the cranberries into one corner of the bog....

      It was a chilly morning and rainy but I was happy and excited to be on the tour of the cranberry bog!

      After the cranberries are suctioned up out of the bog they are washed off.

     This is a picture of the cranberries back at the warehouse going in for packaging to be sold.  I love cranberries!  It was so fun to go there for the tour and to sample all the goodies made out of cranberries.  I brought home some cranberry preserves that I am excited to eat!  I'm so grateful that my sister took me here for this fun tour!

Holland, Michigan - The Dutch Town

  I was so excited to go to Holland so Carma took me there the day after I arrived.  We were both disappointed that the two dutch villages were closed for the winter but we still had fun checking out the town and surrounding areas.  Holland is right on Lake Michigan which looks just like the ocean.

     The water is so beautiful.  I just loved it.  We hiked up a sand dune that was 255 ft high.  That was quite a workout and a lovely view from the top.

     The weather was absolutely perfect!  The sun was shining brightly over the lake.

     I loved the views with all the boats.  It was just so peaceful and lovely.

     Even though the dutch villages were closed, we were able to get into one of them and take some pictures.  The dutch buildings were so cute.

     I love the children's slide in the picture above.  You can see the red slide to the left of the wooden shoe.  I was amazed at how big it was. 

     Of course, there was a cute windmill.  I loved the colors.

     Most of all, I loved these adorable dutch dolls.  I really, really wanted to buy them.

     This little boy doll is so cute.  He reminded me of one of my grandsons and I really wanted to buy him but I thought $30 was a bit too much.  I thought maybe I could find it cheaper somewhere else but I'm not sure that I can.  After looking online, I've decided that was a good price.  Those precious moments dolls are expensive!  So instead of buying a doll, I took a picture.  (Thanks to Charity for teaching me that!)

     The gift shop had lots of wooden shoes.  I bought taffy and some cookies for Carma's kids here!  I'll have to go back again when the villages are open.  My brother Gary wants to come also so it will be fun to look forward to that!

Arriving in South Bend, Indiana

     I just returned from a 10 day visit to Michigan to see my sister Carma.  She lives in the southwest corner of Michigan so I flew into and out of the South Bend, Indiana, airport.  I was so excited to see her and spend time together.  We are 7 years apart in age so she was just 9 years old when I left for college.  Since I married young, this was the first time as adults that we've had a chance to get together and have fun without having to watch our kids at the same time.  It was wonderful!

     After I arrived at 8:30 a.m. on October 10th, we went to the South Bend Chocolate Company to sample candy and buy some too!  It was so good and I enjoyed it so much that I didn't get a picture for my blog!  Oh, well - next time!

     After that, we went to Nappanee for a tour.  It is an Amish town.  The picture above and the one below were taken there.  It was beautiful.  I got some sassafras tea (herbal) which reminded me of the tea we drank growing up.  During the tour we saw lots of things that reminded us of the house and farm where we grew up.  It was quite interesting. 

     For lunch, we went to Niles, Michigan.  Niles is the city of 4 flags with flags from Europe flying near the river.  We had a fabulous lunch at the Paris Cafe.  Lunch came in these lunch boxes!  It was so fun - delicious sandwiches and chips!  We had delicious homemade root beer and Sherman's ice cream for dessert.

     After lunch we went to a Botanical Garden for some exercise.  It was so relaxing.  It was in the Buchanan, Michigan, area.  The picture above and the two below were taken there.  I think we walked more than 3 miles at this location.

     The weather was perfect for my visit.  Although it didn't rain, the clouds were just beautiful and the trees with the leaves turning colors also.  I really enjoyed our drives with such beautiful scenery.

     I was so excited to be in Michigan and see the sights!  It was great!

#1 Chocolatier in America - The Chocolate Garden

My sister took me to the Chocolate Garden in Coloma, Michigan for truffles!  Wow!  They were awesome!  It was definitely the best chocolate I've ever had!  They were expensive and I'm glad she insisted that I have some to experience while I was there!  They were worth every penny!  ($5.79 for 2 truffles)

Freeze Frame

          Nate was in Vancouver three days this week for training.  I was so excited that he invited me to join his training the first day.  We learned a technique that I need to use especially at work when I feel stressed.  "Freeze-Frame is a unique stress reduction technique that is unusually effective for reducing anxiety and improving performance. Unlike many other services and products that make similar claims, it has a solid scientific basis, and has been thoroughly tested in the workplace and other settings that have clearly demonstrated these benefits." -- Paul J. Rosch, M.D., F.A.C.P., President of the American Institute of Stress and Clinical Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry, New York Medical College.  Thanks Nate for sharing this valuable information with me!