Headin' North

We left for MI Thursday, July 2nd after Chris got home from work. We decided to do a late night drive in hopes that the kids would sleep the whole way...

It was funny to realize that 10 years ago, Chris & I did the same drive at the same time but it was just the 2 of us & we were in a soft-top Jeep with no radio & Snickers panting in my lap the whole way. This year, we were in a mini-van with 3 kids asleep, 1 on the way & Snickers was still panting in the backseat! The more things change, the more they stay the same.

At any rate, these pictures are our 1st ferry ride to Beaver Island since we've had the twins (we've opted for the 15-minute flight instead of 2-hour boat ride). For some reason, the pictures loaded backwards. Sloan, upon arrival, picked some daisies for "Nina". The rest of the pictures are from the mainland & while on the water. One is waiting in line to get on the boat while Chris parked the car. Another is the kids thanking Aunt Carol for leaving donut holes for the ride as they waived them in the air. They also waved their hands in the air & yelled to Nina & Poppa as we approached the Island.

Lake Coldwater

In June we went to Lake Coldwater, Michigan to spend some time with great friends. Having a house on a lake kind of dictates having a boat with some toys... Needless to say, we spent most of the time on the boat and on the toys. We even took the equivalent of an evening stroll on the boat to watch the sun set. Tiernan & Jarin are sharing the heater that usually helps warm skiers or tubers warm up after a run. They just "needed" it to stay warm that night. Sloan was thrilled to spend time with Lexi, although she wouldn't spend any time with her on the tube. Lexi is a tube champ. She could spend hours on the water. Sloan wouldn't leave the boat. Tiernan was in Lexi's camp and spent hours on the tube. It was to the point of jelly arms for him! He had a blast on the water. Lincoln was in Sloan's camp. The only place he was comfortable was driving the boat. If he wasn't driving, he wasn't happy that Momma or Da were out in the water.

June 22nd - Chuck E Cheese with Nana

Nana came in for a quick visit in June to see the kids... which resulted in a visit to Chuck E Cheese! Oh yeah! What fun for us adults! The kids of course had a blast. Tiernan was a whiz at Skee Ball which I suspect is a result from practicing on friends' and families' Wii Bowling. Sloan and Lincoln gravitated to the Nascar driving game. I don't remember what Sloan placed but Lincoln's face says it all. He was making the driving noises as he whipped the wheel around. Both kids actually drove while I did the gas... The picture of the kids with Nana was the last of the day - their prizes from all the tickets were these fantastic microphones. Only a prize that a Nana would pick. No sane parent would ever get 3 kids microphones. Needless to say, the microphones strangely can't be found today. Huh. I wonder what happened to them? Darn shame.

Berry Fairy Berry?!

So the picture of Jonathan & Chris is a year ago in Japan. We went for "31 flavors" & the details are a little fuzzy but somehow JK ended up with this triple grand slam of an ice cream cone complete with chocolate and waffle cone. Chris went for some berry sorbet, that albeit was cleansing of the palate, was well... fairy berry. So I guess what goes around... comes around the following year. When the Kohl's were visiting with us this June, we wanted them to enjoy lots of fresh berries that are not readily available in Japan. So now here is JK with a huge bowl of berries! I was left wondering is there only 1 fairy berry? 

 

Tea Time

We were fortunate enough to have a visit with our friends, the Kohl's, in June. These are our friends that we visited in Japan last summer. We always relish the time together, and were able to sneak away for some tea sans kiddos! There were 4 of us girls (me, Sonja, Kendra & Julie - who took this picture) that visited over tea for 2 hours! I know - I was so selfishly delighted to have the time and company that I had to post this picture. 

The start!

This was our 1st radish crop! The start of the garden for the summer. Tiernan planted everything with Mrs. Saunders. The kids didn't really eat the radishes, they saved them for us :)

Visit with the Neal's!

June 13th we were fortunate to have a day with the Neal family.  They had a family vacation here in Indiana and carved out some time for us. The guys got to play golf in the morning - something that's rare these days. We then met up for some pool time and a cookout. We enjoyed lots of laughs and the kids did really well together. We were happy to meet the newest Neal addition, Lucas. Here are some pictures from the day. The kids enjoyed picnic-ing in the playroom for dinner, jumping on the trampoline and playing at the pool. The one of Sloan is at the pool. We brought the tent for Lucas to nap in but Sloan climbed in and took over! 

Ode to Mormor

I'm out of chronological order in adding this one but I just couldn't help myself. Mormor (mother's mother in Swedish) was my grandmother. If she were still with us, she would have been 100 this past July 16th. So I find myself reflective of her and her life this summer. 

She was that grandma that baked M&M cookies every time she was going to see us. Sometimes she would even send them (in Planter's cheese ball containers - I always wanted to the cheese balls too.) so we would get a care package. She played the piano and the organ for us. Even if she had played it countless times, she would keep playing "The Entertainer" over and over if we asked. She was just a special special lady. At any rate, as Sloan grows older I find myself reminded of Mormor with her. Her nose has always been Morm's, but occasionally from the side her upper lip is too. Sloan often has a song she's singing, but it's her own song... which anyone that knew Mormor knows she definitely marched to her own beat. She loves to get dressed up as Mormor was always so put together. 

I'm sure there are countless more similarities (eating off my plate, being stubborn, etc...) but the purse, the purse just cracks me up every time I look at it. Mormor was notorious for always having her purse with her. She carried it all the time regardless of where she was. For the longest time, I never quite knew what she carried in there and I certainly wasn't going to ask what was so important to move around the house with her room by room. As we both grew older she needed a little more help and I was more capable of giving it. So one night out to dinner I snuck a peek. I can't be very specific as to the contents, but there were Sweet n' Low packets, Saltines, tissues, all sorts of random things. So now I watch Sloan slink her purse on her arm, at the crook of her elbow and truck it around the house from room to room. So to commemorate Mormor's 100th birthday, I took a picture of Sloan's purse. There are playing cards, princess doll dresses, princess DVD inserts, again all sorts of random things! 

Legoland!

A few more snapshots of the B5 with Mimmi & Poppa at Legoland. We were so impressed with it. The attention to detail was great. There were lots of rides for the kids, playgrounds to run in and of course, ice cream! We ended the day in the building area. There were buckets and buckets of legos for the kids to build cars with. After they got their cars done, they raced them on tracks. Needless to say that prompted a stop in the shop afterwards...

Legoland!

We spent a day at Legoland with Mimi & Poppa. We all had a fantastic day. The rides were size appropriate for the kids. I think there were only 2 or 3 that Sloan couldn't ride because she's the shortest. 

Ah...

SD - Day 1 Detox

We spent our 1st day in SD just relaxing. The kids had a blast playing with bubbles as well as playing in the hot tub. Not to mention taking turns scratching each other's backs. At least they're learning the importance of team work...

San Diego - Our way there

We were able to go to San Diego at the end of January to the beginning of February - about 10 days. The timing was perfect as we were ready to get out of snowy dodge. In fact, our flight was 1 of 6 flights that flew that day - the others were all cancelled because of the snow. So here are a few of our snapshots from the airport. We were delayed as the anti-freeze truck for airplanes slide off the road on the way down from Chicago. 

1) Thankfully, Sloan & Lincoln fit into the carry on luggage bin... what would we have done if they hadn't?

2) Obviously, Sloan was ready for sunny California! 

3) Getting a little antsy during the delay - Lincoln just wanted to get on "the big airplane". Melt snow, melt!

4) Yeah... we travel light. 

We're back!!

Yes yes, we're back after a little sabbatical! I thought I'd share a handful of pictures from before our camera broke and then some now that we're gratefully back in the child photog business ;)

This is from January 23rd. I was on the phone while putting groceries away. Apparently since the refrigerator door was opening and closing, Sloan and Lincoln decided to swipe some guacamole and some straws... This is them in the living room trying to suck the guac threw the straws. They were so proud of themselves. I think I would have been okay with it if it wasn't in the living room.

I bopped it!

Lincoln likes to "bop" things lately. He'll bop just about anything & then tell you "I bopped it". So the other day when I made tandoori chicken, he needed to bop the chicken. And here he is bopping...

Risky Business

The kids did exceptionally well with dinner one night so got ice cream for dessert. They were messy afterwards so I stripped them down to skivvies. We had some music on in the background so it got turned up & we ended up with our version of Dick Clark's American Bandstand or Risky Business... whichever way you want to look at it.