Merry Christmas in August!

David, Karen and Georgie

This morning we said goodbye to Karen, George and Georgie.  We had such a wonderful visit and we thank them for opening their home to us.  I only wished we lived closer to see one another on a more regular basis.  


We headed to Frankenmuth, Michigan and the home of the world's largest Christmas store, Bronners' Christmas Wonderland.   To help make the drive go by faster we played the Alphabet game looking for words on billboards that begin with the letters of the alphabet.  Karen's nanny, Sue, reminded us of this game before we left this morning.


 I think at the beginning I was the only person in the vehicle who could think of shopping for Christmas in August and the heat, but the rest of the crew came into the store to look at all the displays and items for sale.

That is one huge Santa

The place was amazing - there were huge Santa Claus and Snowmen decorations in the parking lot area as well as beautiful life size Nativity Scenes with signs saying Keep Christ in Christmas.  There were 10 different sections to the store and there were every type of ornament imaginable.  The Christmas music was playing and before I knew it Natalie and Andrea were humming along to the tunes.  

Snowmen in August

Natalie loved the quote

It took us over 1 hour to go through the store - there were different sections such as Advent, Ornaments, Christmas Trees etc.  I must admit it did get overwhelming after awhile, but the staff was very helpful and if you asked for a certain type of ornament they would point you in the right direction.  They also packed all of your ornaments carefully in tissue papers and boxes to ensure nothing gets broken.  I really appreciated the extra customer service.


Next we headed into the town of Frankenmuth, which is dubbed as Michigan's Little Bavaria.  Everything in the town is designed for a German village.  It was very quaint and looked like it would be an interesting village to stay for an evening or two.  

The happy shoppers

We purchased a few groceries at Krogers and made our way to the town park - the kids were excited to see the huge play structures created like small castles, but were very disappointed to discover lots of wasps flying around.  We ate our lunch in the shade as it was another hot summer day - the temperature gauge said 35 degrees, but it felt so humid too - I not sure what the humidity factor would have been.

A few purchases were made at the Christmas Store!

Our next stop was Birch Run Factory Outlet Stores where there is over 220 outlet stores - the place was crazy - almost every store imaginable was there.  We didn't last too long shopping as the kids were not interested in walking in and out of stores.  We shopped at a few stores and then my patience was wearing thin, I said that is enough!  So I left without seeing a few of the stores I wanted to see, but on the bright side my children are still alive and uninjured.


We stopped in Flint at the JC Penney and I went shopping for 30 minutes by myself.  I probably could have used more time at the store, but then again I would have spent more money - so it was probably a win-win situation for our finances.


We made our way to the Canadian border with David asking every few miles if we were in Canada yet. We finally arrived on the outskirts of Port Huron to a huge line-up of cars and trucks.  We forgot about the Civic Holiday in Canada and how busy the border would be with all the Canadians returning home after their long week-end.   We waited about 45 minutes in the line-up, which wasn't too bad considering the amount of vehicles.  The Canadian Border Service Agent was very friendly although he questioned why we did not have a license plate on the front of our vehicle.  We explained it wasn't required, but I told Francois that I wouldn't be surprised if this doesn't change in the future.  The agent asked about our vacation, inquired about our favorite state and then welcomed us back to Canada.  


We headed toward London, Ontario and David kept commenting about all the Ontario license plates he kept seeing.  We had to remind him that we were back in Ontario and there would be lot of those plates on all the vehicles.  


We found a campsite for the evening and the kids were great to help us set up the tent.  They have their routine worked out.  If only they were this quick to help us pack up the campsite in the morning.


Francois is now getting a campfire ready and I am looking forward to just unwinding.  It is nice to be back in our own country.  United States is a beautiful place to visit, but there is no place like home.


We are heading to Niagara Falls tomorrow morning - we are all looking forward to this portion of our journey.  Natalie, Andrea and David have made the request to see Niagara Falls before we left PEI.  I have never been to this popular Canadian attraction.  


Take Care
Tanya