Monday Adventures

It's Thursday already but I thought I'd share some photos from the fantastic day that we had on Monday. We had a ton of errands to run and since we live out in the woods away from everything, it's simplest to run all the errands at once. We stopped at my husband's bank and then at my bank (no, we don't have one account!) and then at the Meijer to stock up on groceries and diapers. We were using cloth diapers for a while (maybe a cloth diaper post later) but have recently been using disposables for days when we are travelling around. I just can't take the stinky diaper in the car thing when it's so hot out. Sorry environment!
Our next stop was way more fun. Our friends Boyd and Julie have a shop called Mystic Beads and Earthwear in Niles, Michigan. It is totally the coolest - lots of beads, lots of pretty rocks, lots of smelly-good hippie stuff. Plus Boyd and Julie are seriously the nicest folks ever. Julian tried out some drums.

Watching Papa show him how to do it.

Doing some drumming himself!

Awesome!
Then we got a sandwich and a tasty wheatberry salad from the local Martin's grocery store and had picnic by the St. Joseph River. Julian just played with the spoon though. He'd already eaten at Boyd and Julie's.

Finally we had to go pick up a lawnmower part at the HFS Tractor in Baroda, Michigan. We stopped at the Apple Valley in Berrien Springs on the way because Eric had to pee and my finger accidentally got closed in the window on the way out of the car! Ouch! Since we were already at Apple Valley, I went in and got a package of peas to hold on it for a while and then rubbed in a little arnica gel from their sample section. That stuff is like a miracle. My finger (which was THROBBING) immediately felt so much better. Tender, but much much better. So much better that we went peach picking after getting the lawnmower part!
We went to Shafer Orchards because Eric knows Tom Shafer and wanted to say hi. Their orchard is on one of the highest hills in SW Michigan and it's gorgeous.

 Julian tried his first peach! His two little teeth are enough to scrape a little bit of peach off.

Peach Bliss!

 Just as we were getting started, Tom's son Randy showed up. He's hoping to start a local brewery so he and Eric talked about brewing/winemaking stuff. And then he and his super-nice partner showed us their gorgeous garden and gave us a ton of hot peppers, sweet peppers and cucumbers. Score!

What a great day!

We drove home along backroads and decided to stop in to see our friends Brett and Lily. I didn't get any photos there but they are wonderful people. Lily made us a delicious smoked salmon, goat cheese and fresh tomato sandwich, made with salmon smoked by Pat from Local. Too good for words. Brett made us a great mix-cd for the ride home too!
I was totally exhausted when we got home but it was so worth it. I love connected with old friends and meeting new people. Southwest Michigan rocks.