my girl at the lake

She was pretty much in heaven the entire trip.

Pretty much an angel in the car.

I guess it's becoming tradition to run into the lake the minute we arrive at the lake - in their clothes! 

This is the 2nd year for that...here was 2 years ago, literally 2 minutes after arriving....

Can this really be my little girl now?

She was in her element the entire time.

She LOVED tubing and was totally fine with quite a crazy ride.

Uncle Jason said he was driving the boat the same level of "craziness" that he does for his kids - 5 and 9.

She learned the hand signal for donuts and bumps and used them constantly!

And was bummed every time she saw the hand signal for "going home".

It was so fun to ride with her.

She's our little daredevil.

And she was so happy the entire trip.

She had a blast playing with all her big cousins.

I wouldn't even hold this dead fish.

But she is brave.

And crazy.

And we love her and her personality and loving heart SOOOO much!

my boy at the lake

He likes Sprite.

But didn't particularly like riding on the boat.

He didn't love the water at first, just ventured in to his knees.

But got braver as the week went on.

He likes to do his own thing.

And then he got really brave and started jumping off the dock.

He loved his goggles.

I had to request they be taken off because I couldn't handle the laughter anymore.

He doesn't love sunscreen, or bug spray (his poor sensitive skin)

He did love the slow boat (the pontoon).

He did love getting to sleep up high in his cousin's loft bed.

He loves his monkey and blankies and loved that they came on vacation with him.

He doesn't love firecrackers.

He does love begging for apple "ju" all day long.

He doesn't love eating.

He is loving to go potty on the toilet quite a bit lately!

He sometimes loves cousins picking him up and carrying him around and sometimes he doesn't.

And he really loves joking around and making us laugh all the time.

family vacation

We made the 16 hour road trip to Dave's brothers house in Michigan.

We expected the worst as far as how the kids would travel - so anything would be better.

And they really did quite well.

We made it and nerves weren't all that shot when we arrived.

Lots of snacks, some POP (because that's just a super cool treat!), and surprise gifts at a few of our stops definitetly helped keep them happy.

The lake always makes for a great vacation - easy packing, no jewelry, no makeup, flipflops and swimsuits.

I didn't do my hair once while I was there.  I packed light and STILL didn't go through what I brought. Mostly because we just live in our suits all day, every day.

We had a great time.

The kids had a blast.

And I have lots of pictures.

So I'll go light on the words and heavy on the pictures.

one of our handful of stops to stretch our legs, eat some snacks and try to get the truckers to honk at us...

Mason did a little bit of tubing, but he didn't enjoy it all that much, and he also didn't like the fast boat very well, but he did like the slow boat.  So while we tubed one afternoon - he watched from the boat.

guess what the Michigan kids have outgrown so it made it's way back home with us???

I had no idea there was an IKEA 30 minutes from the lakehouse until my sister-in-law and I were talking about how I had never been.  When she informed me there was one close - I begged Dave to take me for my first IKEA experience.  Which of course I enjoyed thoroughly. Dave not so much.

And then the rest of the fmaily arrived after the 4th!!  So now 8 adults and 7 kids at the lakehouse!

All the cousins plus one friend.

You almost can't even see the boat the tubes in this picture- that's what I was going for, but the house is kind of taking over.

Mason went on a kayak ride with Daddy

and brought me back this...

I have a love-hate relationship with this next picture..  I love it because it's ALL of us, and we are all looking at the camera!

I hate it because that's the one thing about being all laked-out on vacation, seeing yourself in pictures is not the most enjoyable thing.

We left the lake for the 16 hour drive home and got spontaneous instead! 

Can't wait to tell you about it.

I think I need to stay put.

In the last 16 days I have seen 5 states...

Colorado

Missouri

Illinois

Indiana

Michigan

and in the next week I will add Oklahoma and Texas to that list.

I have traveled a approximately 3200 so far.

Soon to be adding almost 800 more.

For a total of nearly 4000 miles in 3 weeks.

If I counted right, that's 54 hours in the car.

Needless to say I will be enjoying my own home for the next few days before adding to these numbers.

And I obviously have pictures to show you and stories to tell.

For now, I'll leave you with one of my new favorite photos of our little man...

I don't think I've laughed so hard at a picture before.

family + celebrations + baseball = summer

I love summer and all the fun times that come with it.

Mother's Day

Father's Day

Birthdays

Outdoor fun

Vacations

So many things going on.

Here's a little recap of some of our fun times with family so far this summer...

We got together for Dave's mom's birthday (actually about a month ago now)

Dave's sister and our nephew Tyler

 baseball lessons from Uncle David and Papa

And then we celebrated!!!

Father's Day with Dave's dad (Papa)...

Taylor made him a card and drew a picture of a treehouse, so she could tell him that we are all helping him build a treehouse for his grandkids, something he's been wanting!

someone just turned 4 and is pretty proud of it...

Dave and Stef have a brother too (in Michigan), unfortuneately we have to miss them on most of our family get togethers.

toddlers and tball just crack me up.

no idea how to hit, where to run, how to stand on base

but it's so fun watching them play

 even grandmas can play t-ball...

I still can't wait to share with you our Father's day surprise to Dave!

I know I'm way behind - but it was so fun, and we have some cute pictures!