Cousins!

What makes the 7-hour drive and 2-hour ferry worth it?!? Getting to see the family and hang out with the cousins! In the midst of visiting, we potty-trained Sloan & Lincoln... So included (to commemorate the occasion) is a picture of the kids in the bathroom. We spent quite a bit of time in the bathroom... more than we anticipated. Gratefully, we were able to borrow a small potty because who thought through them going at the same time?! I didn't (for which I have a picture of both Sloan & Lincoln sitting on the potty at the same time. Mind you, Lincoln in front.... I didn't post it for fear of getting turned into child services! lol).

The twins get baptized

On Sunday, July 5th, Sloan & Lincoln were baptized. It was special for Chris & I as it was in the same church as Tiernan's baptism. The same pastor that officiated Tiernan's also did the twins so that was neat. He's known us & the family. The church even got the kids cake for after the service. The kids were (obviously) thrilled at eating cake before lunch! We had brunch at the house to continue to celebrate the Sloan & Lincoln.

July 4, 2009

Happy 4th of July! We've celebrated our 4th on Beaver Island for the last 10 years... Each year has brought changes with cousins getting together, missing the ones that couldn't be there and the meeting of new cousins. It's been fun to watch the changes over the years. Next year's picture will have "quatro" in it! We told "Nina", "Poppa" and the rest of family that we were expecting #4 (aka quatro) with a poem (First came number 1, then 2 and 3, now we'll see what number 4 will be!) and a mixed bag of blue M&Ms (with almonds inside) and pink M&Ms.

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?