What a wonderful summer! We have had the most wonderful time together making lasting memories. Our first family trip was to Michigan to visit my mom/ Grammy Marsha. We spent 2 weeks at her house and one week with her at our favorite vacation spot: Pentwater. Pentwater is located on Lake Michigan and we always spend the 4th of July there celebrating all of the festivities. Mom and I continued our scrapping ventures! We completed many layouts even though it wasn't over 100 degrees this year!! Ty and Brooke discovered many new creatures at Grammy's house. Ty even grabbed a snake by the tail but it slithered away from him! That was his highlight. They also collected tiny frogs, snails, butterflies, dragonflies, spiders, beetles, lightning bugs, etc. We even saved a turtle from the road. The kids named him Frankie! It was such a peaceful, relaxing three weeks. We left my mom's house and traveled to Ohio to stay with my dad and step-mother for a few days. They kids had a great time searching their frog pond for frogs and eating ice cream at the Mill. We left for home for one night and left for North Carolina the next day. We finished our family trips by spending 4 days in Oak Island with the Rose family!
Here are some layouts of our adventures:
This is actually a layout from Brooke's last day of school. It's hard to believe she will be in 2nd grade!
The weekend before we left for Michigan was Father's Day. We spent a whole afternoon downtown in Charleston and had dinner at a fabulous restaurant!
Ty and his camouflage! He loves to pretend he suddenly disappears when he wears it!
The kids were SO excited to see Grammy.
She has some REALLY tall grass this year and the kids loved exploring through the tall blades. Well, Brooke wasn't too sure about it. Ty and I may, or may not, have gotten a little crazy on the mower and blasted our way through it one day!! That is until we discovered a baby bunny nest!
My mom has been waiting for Brooke to get big enough to dress her up in some of her antique dresses. Brooke didn't mind at all!
We always try to make time to visit Binder Park Zoo to feed the giraffes. The kids really enjoyed placing lettuce on their long, sticky tongues!
Of course Ty needed a new Michigan hat. Can you tell he liked it?
Max is the kids favorite dog that Grammy owns. Ty tried to kidnap him when we left.
We decided to buy a bike rack and take our bikes to Michigan this year. They have a wonderful walking/biking trail in Portage called the Celery Flats. It was a beautiful day for a bike ride and we were able to see a baby deer, ride through bridges and tunnels, and catch little frogs! In fact, Ty crashed his bike to the ground, hard, to catch a little frog!
Here is the turtle we saved from the road. I love how Ty looks like he's going to take a bite out of him and Brooke is staring at him eye-to-eye! Mom thought he was a snapper, which he wasn't, so we had fun teasing her!
The kids found all kinds of tiny frogs at Grammy's house. They built them a habitat each day complete with water, rocks, flies, and grass. One day they caught 25 frogs!
I took the kids to the lake while we were in Michigan. Brooke was beside herself with fear because she couldn't see the bottom like she can in the ocean and Lake Michigan. She thought the jelly fish and crabs would get her. We had a long lesson on fresh water lakes vs. salt water!
And now begins our awesome week in Pentwater! Unfortunately the water was freezing, 56 degrees! We could run in long enough to get numb, 1 minute, and run out before our legs froze off!!
We had our share of ice cream. I think Ty stole Grammy's each time. He'd convince her and say,"Oh Grammy. My ice cream is really good!" Then, he'd give her the eye and they would trade!
It's a yearly tradition to walk up and run down the old sand dune name Old Baldy.
In Pentwater, they celebrate the 4th of July on the 3rd! It was a cold, rainy morning but it cleared up quickly and the sun came out! Brooke created a flag sand castle for the occasion.
So, my favorite holiday to dress the kids for and celebrate is the 4th. These two were cracking me up this year with their accessories! I love the glasses!
I just love these two to pieces!
We decided the kids were old enough to try out some sparklers! They were a bit nervous at first but my cousin, Andrew, reassured them everything would be alright!
Ah...my favorite...the pie eating contest. Brooke is so dainty when she digs in, eating tiny pieces, while Ty shoves his whole face in!!
We almost missed the fireworks because the thick fog rolled in. In fact, the firefighters were convinced they would cancel. By some miracle, at 9:45 the clouds parted and the show went off without a hitch! You can see how foggy it is in the picture of Ty running. You can't even see the lighthouse behind him!
Adam has missed our last two trips home so it was SO nice to have him with us this year! The kids had a great time burying him in the sand!
We went to the concert in the park which is held every Thursday night. This was Brooke's favorite place to go with Papa Don. He always showed her the drums and tubas! So, she has since called it going to see the drums and tubas! I know Don was smiling down on her watching her dance. Actually, Ty was the first child to get up and dance in front of EVERYONE! We were shocked and couldn't stop laughing!
On our last day in Pentwater, Adam and I took the kids to A.J.'s Fun Park for golfing and go carts. This was Ty's first year riding along side of me in the go cart and he thought it was the coolest thing EVER! Brooke look terrified riding with Adam. We had a deal that whoever won the golf was able to get ice cream. Of course, Ty and Brooke tied for first place!
I also had the chance to see Alyssa. She was my student when I got my first teaching job and the flower girl in Adam and my wedding. I have definitely aged!!
We also visited my best friend from high school, Staci. Her family is absolutely adorable and I love catching up with her!
And here is my serenity. The sunset over Lake Michigan in Pentwater! The kids still talk about all the fun they had in Michigan and are talking about their plans for next summer!
Now back to reality! School starts for teachers a week from tomorrow. It's always hard for me to leave my children after I spend every waking hour with them. I will be sure to spoil them rotten this week and get lots of extra hugs and kisses....especially before Papa steals them all back!
Chrissy
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