Our Vacation *Warning: Long Post!!*

Eric and I went on vacation at the end of June. We went back to Illinois and had a great time visiting with friends and family, going up to the cabin in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and just spending time in our old romping ground. The trip was so much fun and we had a great time spending time with each other as well.

We got there on Friday, June 20th and stayed in town for the weekend. I was able to squeeze in a girls' night out with my college roommates. We had so much fun. I really miss those girls!

Danielle and Me

Michele, me and Lisa

The next week, Eric, his mom and I drove up to the UP. It is always so relaxing to go up there. Since Uncle John and his family were staying in the kids' cabin, Eric and I stayed in Grandma and Grandpa Fase's coach house. It's a bedroom and bathroom they built above their garage and it is so nice! I wish I'd taken a picture of it now. Grandma used a lighthouse theme in her decorating and it is just so cute!

While we were there, we enjoyed visiting with Grandma and Grandpa Fase during "wine time" every afternoon, our annual day trip on our anniversary to Marquette, MI and visiting all the local waterfalls. It was just a lovely visit.

The view of Steven's Lake from Grandpa Fase's deck while we played skipbo.

We stopped on the side of the road on our way to Marquette to go down to the beach

Isn't Lake Superior so beautiful? Here is the pier in Marquette. We just love this town and always go to the same restaurant when we are there, The Vierling.

Here are a few of the pictures of the waterfalls and other places we visited the next day.

Eric and me at Munising Falls

Here's the view of Miner's Castle on Lake Superior. It was SO pretty!

At the end of the week, we drove back down to Chicago and saw the Jersey Boys Broadway show with Eric's Mom and Dad. Now, Eric and I might have been a little young for the show, but it was still enjoyable and I couldn't believe I knew all but 2 songs! If you don't know about the show, it's the story behind Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and how the group was formed. It was such a fun show and we had "Walk Like a Man" and "Big Girls Don't Cry" stuck in our heads for days afterward.

Towards the end of the vacation, Eric's dad flew us down to Peoria, IL to go fishing. I'd been fishing many times before in my life, but I'd never caught a fish. It was so much fun! Eric's dad always fishes on some company property that was built to be a landfill but ended up not being used. So it's this beautiful land with a few lakes and tons of wildlife and now they let farmers graze their cows on it. And did I catch a fish? Umm...yes! Within a few minutes of being on the lake, I'd caught one! We fished for a few hours and I caught 9 fish! Eric's dad kept saying it was because he'd given me the special lure because he only caught one fish and Eric didn't catch any. On our way back, we chased some rain storms to wash the helicopter and then when we got back, Eric's cousins, Mike and Lizzie, wanted a ride with "Uncle Woger" so dad took them up. It was so fun to see Mike so excited. Below are some of the pictures from the fishing trip...

We had so much fun on our vacation and can't wait to go back to see everyone!