28 Weeks!

As I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that I'm pregnant at all, I realized this morning that I'm just shy of 30 weeks! Holy cow. 30 weeks. That means I only have 10 weeks left. And if you've noticed that the title of this post is 28 weeks, and I'm saying I'm 30 weeks, then you'll realize that I've made about as much progress on my blog as Kevin and I have made on the preparations for baby. Meaning we've done pretty much nothing lately. Well, not exactly nothing. We've had a few weekends that would have been perfect for working on the nursery. So we didn't. Instead we took a Babymoon to Traverse City! Okay, it's not exactly the tropical vacation I had been envisioning, but apparently neither Kevin nor I have the gumption (this is fancy-talk for we're both really lazy) to plan something so extravagant (meaning it involves an airplane). At the same time, my deadline due date is looming, so we figured we really needed to take a vacation quickly. After all, I've been told (oddly enough by both sets of grandparents, over and over and over) that it's easier to find a sitter for one 18-month old than it is to find a sitter for one 18-month old + one newborn. On top of that issue, suddenly and without warning (okay, I may have knew it was coming, I just didn't pay attention), I was in my 3rd trimester. While we could have still planned our quick tropical getaway, the thought of something happening and me delivering Baby Girl in a Jamaican hospital was enough to scrap any ideas we had. Being crammed on a plane didn't exactly sound too enticing either. So we did what every other Michigander does when it's time to go on vacation. We headed Up North!


Luckily Kevin's parents were able to watch Greyden at the last minute or else our Babymoon would have turned into the Hockenberry Family Vacation, which, while it sounds fun, was NOT the intent of this little endeavor. (The actual intent was for Kevin and I to get away ALONE and have wild and crazy sleep, but that's beside the point.) We dropped Junior off at Nana and Papa's and headed toward Traverse for the weekend. Of course the drive up there took us a little while longer than normal, since my dear husband had to stop at Every. Single. Seasonal. Road along the way. This would have been fine had we been in his Jeep and not my Expedition. This was one of the wider roads he found:

I sucked it up quite nicely if I do say so myself. Meaning I only bitched a little. The slight detours were totally worth it though, when we'd get to the end of one of the roads and come out on these views of Lake Michigan and the sand dunes:

Or, better yet, this view:

*Sigh* I love light houses. I definitely live in the right state.


Once we had hit every seasonal road on the Northwest side of the state, we finally rolled into Traverse. Kevin had booked us at the Tamarack Lodge, which is a condo resort. He also booked the Penthouse. Only the best for me he said. Here are some views of our room.

And the view from our balcony:

Have I mentioned how much I love Michigan???


In my opinion, early Spring is the perfect time to visit Traverse City. Yes, it's still a bit cold, but none of the touristy stuff is open yet and it's pretty dead. Perfect. Our first morning there we got up early to watch the sunset and get a jump on our day. HAHAHA! Okay, who am I kidding? We slept in until 9. It was heaven. But after that, we jumped into the car and drove up Old Mission peninsula. It was a gorgeous drive with this little gem at the end of it:

The view from the lighthouse:

On our way back down the peninsula, we happened upon this other little gem:

Yes, that's a winery. Yes, I'm pregnant. My excuse is that it had a stunning view that I just had to see for myself.

And of course you can't just drive into a winery without doing a wine tasting. It would be rude! So we tasted. Unfortunately all I got was the first tiny sip. Kevin got to polish off the goods. Did you know there are 7 wineries on the peninsula? How convenient. We might have done more than one tasting on our little trip. Okay, fine. We did 3. And yes, I got some really weird looks from the employees and other tasters alike. But when it comes to wine, you suck it up and do what you have to do.

Kevin at Black Star Farms winery.

Me holding Kevin's glass at Black Star Farms. I like to pretend.

Both of us pretending to know what we're doing when performing a wine tasting.

After our jaunt around Old Mission, we headed West to the Leelanau Peninsula. Our first stop? Art's Tavern in Glen Arbor for lunch. I had the best burger ever. Morel burger? Yes, please!

After that, we (Kevin) found some more seasonal roads. Again, with views like this, I can't complain.

And with a wife like THIS, Kevin can't complain:

And who'd have guessed it? There are about 50 more wineries around the Leelanau Peninsula! Oh darn. We were good though, I only made Kevin stop at Leelanau Cellars, since I adore their Winter White. And, bonus, they just happened to give unlimited tastings.

So that wraps up my weekend of sin. Yes, that's what Kevin calls it. All because of a couple  four lousy wine tastings. In one day. And a burger that was cooked only to medium. And possibly because we sat in the hot tub in the room both nights too. I'm pretty sure those are both in the Pregnancy No-No manual.


Since the belly shot of me on the beach doesn't exactly count (since you can't see the true size of my fatness, and isn't that the point?), here are a couple more that were taken the day after we got home. Yes, it's a Monday and I'm actually dressed. I mean, I'm actually dressed up. I had to accompany my dad to his cousin's funeral.

Maybe by the time I'm 35 weeks, I'll get those 30 week shots up too. But I wouldn't hold your breath. We'll probably be too busy *coughcough* working on the nursery to take them.