Although our girls have traveled the world, they don't remember many of the things that make home such a special place. With friends visiting the girls from Colombia and Russia, the timing was perfect to explore our own state.
Bright and early (at least in teenage girl time) I loaded four girls into the car and we headed from Grandma's house in Midland, to Mackinac Island. We had great views of Mackinac Bridge and a lighthouse from the ferry. The girls were enchanted with the quaint island where no motorized vehicles are allowed, only horses and bicycles. We rented some tandem bikes and tried to take off. The next few hours gave me some unique insight into my girls as they tried to navigate staying on a two person bicycle. I learned that Maddie is more of a leader and take charge person and her friend is laid back and willing to be on for the ride. Maddie worked best in the front so her friend never even gave it a try. Elena is very flexible, riding easily in the back but also wanting to try the front. This is probably the result of being the third born and having to be flexible. Her friend, on the other hand, is a first born and although she wanted to succeed in the back, she just has too much alf a type A personality. It was rather fun to watch the girls struggle through the riding a bike experience then hoping on my own single bike and taking off without a care in the world. We spent the night on the Island, enjoying the quiet after the last tourist boat has floated away. We spent a rather hazy sunset skipping stones in the Lake then swung on the swings until it was dark.
The girls found Sleeping Bear Dunes fun. They loved running and jumping in the sand. It was refreshing to see nature completely captivate the girls. We could have spent all day hiking and playing but we needed to move on.
Macwood Dune Rides were a bit of a disappointment to the girls. I think they were envisioning flying over the dunes at neck-breaking speed, but I enjoyed my hair whipping around my face as we flew up and downs the dunes. The evening found me free to watch the sunset over Lake Michigan with the light house adding to the scene.
We wrapped up our tour with a day at Michigan Adventure. The girls' third cousin from Finland was visiting America, so she joined us for the day. It was so fun to watch five girls with international experience connect. They were simply carefree teenagers for the day. Laughter and conversation filled the air. I don't think my girls would have done well in this situation if we didn't lead the life we do. They would have struggled with small talk and getting to know one another if they hadn't been the new kids so often or had no idea of what the rest of the world was like. This was clear in a conversation that happened shortly after we arrived. The girls were busy talking as we were standing in line for a roller coaster. The girl behind us asked our cousin where she was from.
"Finland" she replied.
"Your accent is so cool. I love it."
At this point the stranger's friend tried to jump into the conversation. "I'm Finish too." This was met with awkward silence. She was as Finish as I am–her grandparents probably also immigrated from Finland.
The conversation completely died at this point and my group went back to small talk and joking around as if they had known each other forever. These five girls saw no difference in one another and just had fun.
I felt so lucky showing my girls and their friends our amazing state. It was a fast and busy week, but what great memories this will provide when we are split up and in different countries this fall.
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