Michigan Vacation Part 4

I love my cousins!  I got to see a lot of them on this trip.  Thursday - Sunday we stayed at my Aunt M's house.  Her daughter lives there right now with her husband and two children.  On Saturday, Aunt M's son came over with his wife and two of his children (pictured left...they are not actually children anymore!)  All 12 of us drove out to a Cider Mill.  It was really beautiful there.  A few of us got in a long line for cider and donuts.  It was a fairly warm (75 degrees and sunny) day, so instead of my usual hot cider beverage of choice, I got a cider slush.  It was delicious! I hadn't ever had one before.  I would have liked to have walked around a bit and taken some more pictures, but the bees were pretty intense.  We kept getting them in our hair, and every few seconds someone would shriek and jump/run from another one.  I suppose it was a bit comical, but at the time it was just annoying.  After we finished eating and drinking, we loaded up and got out of there.  We tried to go to another cider mill, but it was PACKED, so we ended up just going back to Aunt M's.


While we were all hanging out, my cousin found a large praying mantis, and made friends with it. She is clearly much braver than I.  She let that thing climb all over arm and back and touch her face and get in her hair.  *Shudder*  I must admit though that it was pretty cool.

For dinner that night, we had a meal called Snow on the Mountain.  I'd never heard of it before, but it was fun.  You take a pile of rice, and then start stacking chicken cooked in cream of chicken soup, veggies, nuts, a bit of fruit and some cheese.  Then you top your "mountain" with a sprinkle of shredded coconut for the snow.  I left the coconut off of mine as I'm not a huge fan, but the rest of it was yummy.  I think I'll make it sometime when I need to feed a group.