Going into the summer we planned more time in Michigan, but somehow it hasn’t felt that way and now we are close to leaving. Several summer trips, time with family and friends, and a little down time sums it up for Summer 2025.

We left Florida in early May and stopped in North Carolina, Virginia Beach, VA, and Maryland.

Nice to get together with sibling in Virginia Beach, with Karen and Cathy joining us from Michigan.

The three younger granddaughters in NC & MD are growing fast and are lots of fun. We went to a Durham Bulls game in NC and our Maryland visit lined up with the Blue Angels performance at the Naval Academy graduation celebration.

On to Michigan in early June; loved our time with Dan, Christie, Faye and Anna. With Faye entering her senior year, it was nice to attend the marching band camp performance and a Saline football game. With another year passing, we realized both Michigan granddaughters are now young adults (very responsible and fun to be around!) – where did that time go?

We packed in a quick trip to Colorado (flying from Detroit) to attend a couple of concerts at our favorite venue, Red Rock Amphitheater near Golden. We saw Sheryl Crow, but the highlight was a bucket list item seeing James Taylor in concert there. His performance was excellent.

In early July we traveled with the motor home back to NC to stay with Ellie and Norah while Darren and Cheryl took a trip to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary.

All went well and we were reminded of the demands on working parents with young children; not always easy, but they do a great job. We managed the girls’ busy schedule with lots of help from the other grandparents, and Beth & Kevin. Cheryl & Darren had a great trip.

Back in Michigan we went north to Mackinaw Island in early August with Dan, Christie, Anna, Megan, Beth, Kevin, and Gemma. Our only previous trip to the island was a day trip over 40 years ago, so it was nice to spend a few days there.

We enjoyed our stay at Mission Point Resort and took in all the popular sites, including a short hike to Arch Rock, and my favorite, breakfast at the Grand Hotel.

Heading west next; Colorado (again) to enjoy the Fall colors and New Mexico for the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta in early October, before returning to Florida.

Time keeps speeding by and we are at year EIGHT already.