My Memorial Day Weekend

Such a clever title, right? I bet you can't tell what this post is going to be about.

Clearly, it was about my memorial weekend that just occurred. It was one the best weekends I've had in a long time. My boyf and I decided a while ago we wanted to head to northern Michigan to visit my dad and my step-mom. We like to visit a few times during the summer but since we are both done with school and are now both working full time jobs, we have to go when we can.

We packed up the car after work, Friday night and headed up I-75 towards Traverse City, Michigan. My parents don't live in Traverse though, they actually live about 45 minutes south of it, in a small town that people from Michigan have never even heard of. We arrived around 11 that night (we made a few stops on the way) and hung around my parents, my sister and my soon to be brother-in-law for a few hours and then headed off to bed. A very fun-filled evening, if you couldn't tell.

Two of the baby chicks. 

This is Tildy - she's a fluffy chicken

                                                                                               

We started off Saturday by heading to the gym and getting in a pretty good workout and then back home for some shower time. Exciting I know. My step-mom recently purchased some chickens - 16 to be exact. Currently, 13 of them are outside in their chicken coop and 3 (the newest addition and the babies of the group) are still inside under the heat lamp. I swear, most of our weekend was spent watching these crazy chickens run around the yard, learning their personalities and trying to guess which ones were actually roosters.

This is Malie (May-Lee), one of our dogs but really, she's my dad's.

This is Tugger, he's 15 and yes, he's wearing a diaper. 

The day was nothing special, just relaxing around the house not doing much. We have a tradition though, every time Josh and I go visit we all watch a scary movie. And so, we had to keep tradition alive and we picked out Sinister. I really enjoyed it. Josh jumped like a girl and I accidently smacked him in the face once, but the movie was what I enjoy - eerie, suspense and thought-provoking.

Sunday, we split up - Josh went with my dad to hit some golf balls and I hung out with my step-mom for the afternoon. Not gonna lie, I was a little worried at first but they had a good time. I got to see a newborn Alpaca. After being born 2 hours prior, he was already walking around and nursing! Later we had a few errands to run in TC, came back home before everything closed and had another delicious dinner with the family. Yet another, uneventful but still fantastic day.

The baby alpaca is in the middle.

Monday was my favorite though. We headed over to Frankfort, where we walked barefoot along the beach and talked about our future. Not one of those conversations like, "where do you see this going", but more of what we both want, where we would want to live, how we want to live and all that good stuff. It is one of the first times in the three years we've been dating that we have ever talked like that. We both know we want to be together, but it was nice to have a casual conversation and learn that we both would like a very similar future. My favorite part of the trip <3

We headed back to my parents house but not before stopping to get more pie for Josh. There's a place downtown that makes the best pies! We had a strawberry rhubarb pie the first time around and Josh picked up a plain rhubarb the second (that boy loves his pies) and we headed on back home. We've already planned another trip for July and it will be much more adventurous. We are starting in Mackinaw and making our way back down. It will be a joint family/anniversary trip. I can't wait! I will have better pictures then.

My step-mom's herb garden. Deliciousness grows here. 

Piper, the head rooster.

Bella, one of the sweetest chickens. 

I just wanted to add one more thing. My parents have lived in norther Michigan for majority of my life. I love it there and I have an appreciation for it that most probably don't. I've also have the privilege of learning how other people live. When I was growing up my mother and step-father were able to give us kids a life of comfort and of less struggles, but unfortunately my step-mom and real dad did not have the same fortune.

Because of the differences, I learned a lot about life and the different ways of life. You can be poor and just as happy as someone with more money. But this weekend when I was visiting the alpaca farm a woman that wasn't from the area had some big balls and if I was there I would've slapped her right then and there. The lady at the farm had delivered a baby alpaca, so of course she wasn't dressed up or to the nines and she was nice enough to open her shop for some people that day when they aren't typically open on Sundays. She apologized for the way she was dressed and told the people about the baby alpaca and the visit said, "you live in northern Michigan, why bother ever dressing up, there's no point." This wasn't exactly what she said, but it was similar.

The reason I'm bringing this up is because no matter how much money you have, or where you are from, no one has the right to talk down to you just because of where you live or how your dressed. You don't know their struggle, what they do or how they live. You know nothing about that person and if you have the audacity to say something like this to someone, you're parents didn't do a very good job of raising you. Have some manners people. Be kind to one another and count your blessings. And don't look down on a person you know nothing about.