Frankenmuth: Michigan's Christmas Town

Frankenmuth's claim to fame is the largest Christmas store in the world!! And lucky us, Frankenmuth is a mere 1.5 hours away.  So of course we had to make a visit while we are living here.  The rest of the town is a cute touristy town, called Little Bavaria.  It has a lot of shops and bakeries with names like Cheese Haus, Candy Haus, and anything else ending in Haus.  The buildings are lined with gingerbread trim and have an old German feel.  It was worth the visit :)

We invited a few friends and some met up with us (minus their husbands and all of their kids) so we looked  like a polygamist family.  People were giving us some interesting looks.  I was glad Brody was actually able to come with us to something for once.  While we were there, we browsed the crazy, huge Christmas store.  It had every kind of ornament that you could dream of and everything else Christmas.  Then we ate lunch at the famous German restaurant and walked around town.  It was a fun day trip!! 

With friends Natalie and Seidi

Just a Little Trip to Our Future Home

Last week we were invited to take a short trip to Palo Alto to see the office where Brody has an offer to work after business school.  Brody wanted to meet everyone and get a chance to see if this is really where he wants to end up.  Well, I knew he would love it, because its Palo Alto after all.  And I was right.  He really liked all the people he would be working with and feels like he will have a lot of opportunities there.  So after some deliberation, (and trying to forget how much we will have to spend on rent) we have decided that the Bay Area is where we will call home!

I have some trepidation about the whole thing, because its not somewhere I really imagined us to be and I am a little disappointed that we will have to keep renting for quite awhile (spending ridiculous amounts of money for something tiny and old) but once I get over that I will be super excited.  I mean I LOVE California and I will be spending a great deal of time outdoors anyway.  Who needs a nice house there? Right?  I'll keep telling myself that :) 

Now to our trip--I'm sorry, you may want to stop reading, my 3 readers, now because I will probably complain too much.  The time change, sleeping in the same room as a baby and the flight were all just realy hard on me.  I didn't get much sleep so therefore I didn't enjoy it too much.  But I did enjoy some nice temps and sunshine!! Can't wait to spend my winters there! 

We attempted to trick or treat the first night, but Madeleine was way too tired for this activity.  I was sad because I was really looking forward to Halloween this year.  Oh well.  She was also sick so that ruined any other Halloween activities before and on the day anyway.  We did attempt to visit a few houses and Brody insisted that we go to the houses on the street where Steve Jobs once lived.  It was crazy.  Apparently everyone else in Palo Alto had the same idea because there were about 200 people in front of his house.  

My costume- a skeleton (I even wore it in California)

My baby Cinderella

We also got to eat some yummy food paid for by per diem and got to spend all of Saturday with Pam! Pam showed us around Half Moon Bay and Santana Row (shopping area) in San Jose.  I always enjoy getting to see Pam so that was a highlight! 

Pam, Madeleine and I walking in Half Moon Bay- enjoying our ocean view. 

More Visitors

This time Grandma Julie and Uncle Cache came to stay with us!  They flew in for a few day trip to experience fall in Ann Arbor and to help celebrate Madeleine's first birthday.  We had so much fun with them.  Too bad Brody had to take midterms and finals so he was too busy to hang out for most of the time.  That was ok because I had fun with his mom and brother without him.  Hopefully, Julie and Cache had fun!!

We were busy most of the time and did everything that I could think of in a 20 mile radius.  Of course, we dined in many of Ann Arbor's restaurants, and visited our usual spots, a.k.a campus, Dexter Cider Mill, Jenny's Farm Market and downtown. (we have taken all of our visitors to these places) We also visited the Arboretum (nature area with paths owned by U of M), a cool little train museum in Saline and the giant Salvation Army.  I did love having them visit- it was so nice to have their help with the baby and all the things around the house.  Madeleine and her Uncle have a cute relationship and I love watching them bond.  Brody was also able to spend some quality time with his brother at a U of M football game.  Julie took a ton of pictures-- here are a few.

Impromptu photo shoot

Arboretum 

At the cute train museum 

Campus- in front of the Law Building