North of the Tension Line

There's a sign in a local cafe' in Houghton Lake that says, "North of the Tension Line", and that's just how it feels when we head up there to visit Joann and Brent and the girls. We headed up last Sunday afternoon and stayed a couple of days, relaxing and playing. Well, most of it was relaxing. We had a pontoon ride that surely could have qualified us for an episode of "I Shouldn't Be Alive" (ok, I'm REALLY exaggerating. The story's way too long to post, so I'll spare you the details.)

Anyhoo, here's a few pics of our tension-free activities:


Pizza always relieves tension.


Chase loves playing nerf guns at Aunt Joann and Uncle Brent's cuz he can shoot over the staircase.


A nice relaxing game of ladder-ball.

The night was cool and the mosquitoes were almost non-existant, perfect for a bonfire and s'mores.


Look, even Natty's relaxing. Of course, since her month-long stay there while we were out west, the Cryderman's place has become Natty's home-away-from-home.



Finally, pictures of Joann and me...now that doesn't happen very often.


This picture was a lot easier to take when the kids were little. We almost broke the slide.


They clean up pretty well don't they?