We arrrived!

Michigan! It is hard to believe, but it is even more beautiful than we remembered! At the same time, it is exactly the same as we remembered. We are so happy to be here! On our very first day, we were met by both sets of parents, several siblings and nieces and nephews (cousins) at the airport. Traverse City airport is a pretty small place and we just let our kids run ahead of us, through the crowd to their family and the family let up a great big cheer. All the other folks walking through the airport gave us happy glances. Everyone settled us into our cabin on Elk Lake and then my parents had us and Doug's folks and all of the rest of my family over for a big cookout that same evening. The next morning we woke up to cousins dropping by the cabin and bringing extra boats and playing with us. As Aidan says, "so far, zero disappointments!" Other accomplishments so far: breakfast at the local diner, visiting friends from previous jobs, Doug had dinner with his old Rotary club, a lovely trip to the village library where Maggie got her library card, lots of American foods (raisin bran! english muffins! pretzels! klondike bars!), a bonfire on the beach with s'mores and swimming in the lake. Can you believe we have only been here three days??? Actually, not quite three days??!!