An Honorary Michigander

Well, we're back from Michigan.

The trip was a blast. We had a great time seeing friends and family. Molly got to meet her great-grandparents, great aunts and uncle.

Here's Molly with her great-grandfather Pa and great-grandmother Ceelee. In addition to meeting her great-grandparents, Molly also was able to hear stories about her name-sake, her great-grandmother's sister Mariel. While Molly may be a tad too young to remember these stories in the years to come, both my mom and I were able to capture them on our phones (technology is pretty impressive).

Four generations of Hoagland women (two by marriage, two by birth). By this point in the photo shoot Molly had had enough of looking at the camera. Apparently something on the floor was much more interesting.

We were also able to catch up with some friends from home. The above shot is from Dean and Tricia's house with their two little angels Owen (you can just see the tuff of blond hair behind Katie) and Sophie. It was great not only to see them, but also to talk with some people who have already made it through our current stage of parenthood and survived.

While visiting, we made sure to stop in at the local baby boutique, Sweet Pea. Owned by two friends of mine from high school, this is where we purchased Molly's first outfit back in November (we'd just found out we were having a girl)! We love the store and encourage anyone who may be passing through Northern Michigan to check it out.

Being that we were in the Great Lakes State, Molly also had her first experience with "swimming".

Here she is all decked out in her surfer-girl attire.

At first she was a little skeptical...

...but you can see from the smile on her face that she definitely liked it.

These shots are from her foray into West Grand Traverse Bay off my parents beach. Later on in our trip she went "swimming" again in Glen Lake at my grandparents house. So now she's been officially "baptized" in Michigan waters.

The trip also gave us a chance to remember why we both love Michigan and Traverse City in particular. The above picture was taken from my parents deck at about 9:30 - 10pm.