Weekend of Firsts

We were excited to experience quite a few firsts last weekend...

Jason's first time staying up on water skis,

meeting baby cousin Oliver,

Jack standing on his own, and...

 We were soooo excited that Jack finally took his first steps!  Not only did he take a step, he walked all the way across the floor.  I had a hunch that he could do it for quite awhile but was just too chicken to try.

Hannah wanted to go to the beach so badly, but just as we were packing up to go, we heard thunder.  The sky looked all right, so we headed down anyway.  Looking at the sky once we got down there, we only let her stay in the water a few minutes before we headed back to the cottage.

That smile did not last long when we told her she had to get out of the water.

Aunt Courtney gave Jack his 2nd hair cut ever.

He did a great job sitting still.

Such a big boy!

With the iffy weather, we let the girls play in the sprinkler instead of chancing it at the lake.

Later in the evening when the ski had cleared, Jason and I took the kids (and dog) back down to the lake.  Jack's first time playing in (and eating) the sand at the beach.

Hannah had to show him the ropes.

Love that tongue!

Our beach girl.

HOT!

With temps well into the mid-90's, with the heat index over 100 last week, we pretty much stayed in the air conditioning to seek relief.  However, after being couped up for a few days, we finally dragged out the water table to cool down. 

Cooling down brother.

Cooling down herself.

Even with the cold water, it was just plain HOT!

Summertime in Western Michigan

We spent last weekend around home, visiting some old and new favorite places in West Michigan.

This is how we started off Saturday morning - raspberry pancakes with homemade raspberry sauce.  Yum!

We then packed up and headed down to Saugatuck for some window shopping.

Hannah got a kick out of watching the chain ferry cross the canal.

That night, we babysat Hannah's friend Jake while his parents went out for the evening.

Jack had a blast playing in Jake's push-along car.

Sunday morning after church, we headed down to Gun Lake, where we started off with a picnic at the state park.

Once we FINALLY got the boat in the water, we were finally able to explore.  It was so nice to be out on the water when it was over 90 degrees (although Jack would beg to differ in this picture)!

Jack did LOVE floating in the water.  Such a little fish!

We were finally able to coax Hannah into the water, too.  It was soooooo warm, like bath water.

And to end the day, a fun ride down the slide.

Mr. Personality

Jack is such a ham! He actually crawled into the living room and put the dish cloth on his head himself!

One of his favorite spots is the corner cupboard in the kitchen.  Someone else I know used to do the same thing, only she would go in and hide.  Jack goes in and explores.  He's always coming out with something I didn't know was there.  Makes for some good purging.

Raspberry Picking

For the first time ever, I ventured out with the kids to go raspberry picking.  We met our friend Claire with her mumma Jill at Sandy Bottom Berry Farm where were met with sunny skies and lots of beautiful, red berries.

Hannah and Claire were quite good pickers.  Most of the berries that ended up in our baskets, although I think more than a few were taste-tested.

After starting out at the bushes near the front, we headed to the back for the mother load of raspberries.  They were plump, juicy, and delicious!  We picked a total of 5 quart.

We had a great time and have already gone through more than a quart of berries, and I'm still hoping to make jam, smoothies, and muffins.  We'll definitely be doing this again next year.

(Thanks to Jill for the cute pics, since I inconveniently left my camera in the car!)

Church Splash

Every year we look forward to attending our church picnic, but unfortunately there just was never much for little ones to do.  This year, they changed things up and made it a Splash event.

Hannah had a blast!  They had several kiddie pools set-up, which were good for cooling down and rinsing off after dinner :-)

Since Jason had class, I was very thankful that our friend Eric was kind enough to step in and help Hannah out througout the event. 

Jack was quite content hanging out in the stroller.  Much easier for me to only deal with chasing after one wet child! 

The main event was the giant slip and slide they had set-up on the good-sized hill next to the church.  Hannah's friend Claire was all about it, but Hannah you could see the hesitation in Hannah's face.  Both girls got right up the edge to go down when Hannah started to chicken out.  Claire didn't want Hannah to miss out on the fun, so as she started to slide down the hill, she reached for Hannah.  Somehow, Hannah got to the point of no return... 

...and went down the ride of terror!

She did eventually go down once more on her own will.

 

Ending the night with a sno-cone.  Just doesn't get any better than that.

Rain Day

Some pretty good thunderstorms came through early one morning, leaving everything wet.  We had to go out and do a few errands, so Hannah dressed appropriately.

Out

After a very busy weekend, Hannah came in and laid down on the couch (which she NEVER does).  Before we knew it, she was out for the count.

Up North Vacation - Part 3

After a late arrival back in Lewiston following our Mackinaw trip, we all slept in Tuesday morning and had a relaxed, fun day.

Once again, we had another beautiful day.  We headed over to Tee Lake late in the morning so that we could try out some water skiing behind his boat.

He'd only tried skiing one other time, which unsuccessful.  After a few tries out on Tee Lake, he finally got up.  We were sooooo excited!!!

While we were out in the boat, the kids stayed on shore to play in the water with Grandma.

Can you tell that Jack LOVES the water??

Between all of the water play and the perfectly comfy spot on Grandpa's lap, Jack zonked right out.

After returning from the lake, Jason and I slipped away on our own for the evening while Grandma and Grandpa watched the kids.  After one last boat ride the next morning, we all packed up.  Jason's parents headed home, and we made our way back to Higgins Lake.

Thursday was another perfect day.  The lake was nice and calm, so again we got the boat out and did some water skiing.  I got up on one on my first try behind the Little Boat that Could.

Jason hopped in for another try as well.

Even my dad got up behind the boat that's as old as he is!

Of course, have to end it all with a swim.

Jack was happy to hang out at the cottage with Grandma.

He discovered the "horsey" ride and couldn't get enough.

We got in another beach day on Friday.  Hannah wasn't so sure spinning with Grandma.  I probably traumatized her when I spun her right into the water in Lewiston (with a life jacket on of course).  I thought it would be fun, but her eyes as big as saucers told me another story.

Little Miss - no pictures please.

What is a trip up north without a stop at Nibbles for ice cream?  Grandma's eyes were bigger than her stomach when she ordered her turtle sundae.  (Can you see the expression on my dad's face, thinking she's nuts?)  Good thing Hannah was willing to help her out.

This little man loves his ice cream, too.

Sticky ice cream all cleaned up.

We headed home Saturday morning.  We had such a great time the whole week.  It really was one of our best family vacations yet.  Big thank you to both sets of our parents for letting us crash at your places and helping us out so much with the kids.  I know the kids really enjoyed getting so much Grandma and Grandpa time.  Looking forward to doing it again!