Spring Break

This last week marked Spring Break for NMU. With a whole week and a half of freedom in front of us Rorie and I set out on an adventure. We drove the six hours to Great Lakes to spend our first weekend with Jake. We stayed at the base hotel that was only one building over from Jake's "ship". Because it was the weekend Jake had all day to spend with us during the weekend. He did however have a 9pm curfew. It was great to see him and to get our first taste of life on base. We visited the NEX (Navy Exchange) which is the on base grocery/department store. You can buy everything from Navy apparel, to diapers. We also visited the USO with its in house theatres and kids room, and attended Jake's ward on Sunday. My sister Ashley and her boyfriend Joe also went down to Chicago to visit friends that they had in the area. We met up with them in down town Chicago for a little bit of shopping and site seeing. The site seeing portion was cut out when it started snowing and when we realized it would cost us about 25 dollars to re-park our car. Next time we will have to remember to take the train!

After Church I had Jake and Rorie pose in their matching sailor outfits, SO CUTE!

Right about here it started snowing...if you look closely you can see the little white specs on Rorie and Jake.

After shopping down town we visited the malls super cool food court. When you go in you are actually seated at a table by a hostess and are then given plastic cards that serve as your money while you are there. You would simply charge all of your food to the card and then when you left you payed off the cards. We couldn't quite figure out the reason for it, but we guessed it was to encourage people to spend more. It is a lot easier to spend fake plastic money than the real thing. The picture is of Jake enjoying his yummy but very overpriced burger.

Before we left we had Ashley snap a picture of our little family. It is super cute of Rorie and I but Jake is sporting his "killer clown" face. It is very hard to get him to smile normally in pictures.

On Monday Rorie and I left Chicago and headed to Clio to spend a few days with my brother Ethan and his family. It was great to see them and the cousins were so excited to have Rorie to play with. Our first day there we went to Frankenmuth, a town about 10miles North of Clio. Frankenmuth is one of those crazy touristy towns were everything, right down to the local McDonalds is styled to look as though it is set in a different country. In this case the whole town is Bavarian themed and made to look like a small German town. Even the people who staff the various shops and restaurants where traditional Bavarian garb. Our first stop was at Brommers, which is by far the coolest store ever. Imagine a huge Super Walmart, and then imagine every inch filled to the brim with Christmas decorations. There are endless tree ornaments from the traditional (santa, angels)to the bizarre (African tribal flags and intricately frosted cupcakes). Rooms full of fake trees, Christmas villages and life size Reindeer. You could easily spend a full day in there and not see everything. We also visited a Cheese Haus (and no that is not a typo) and several toy shops.

That evening we headed to the local mall so that the grownups could do a little shopping, and the kids could play. Rorie had a great time running around and climbing over the various toy statues.

My Niece Anna patiently allowed me to snap a quick picture

Rorie and Ben taking a bath. The two cousins are exactly 1 month apart and we always have a blast getting them together.

Thursday afternoon Rorie and I left for Marquette and after 8 exhausting hours we were finally (and safely) home. It was a wonderful week, but it was great to finally sleep in our own beds! With Jake so far away I guess I should just get used to the long hours on the road...

Love,
The Kenisons