Nature Center Camp

Blake and Madison have done this camp for the past two summers, however, it is a first for Caitlin. This was her first camp! She was so excited. She was going with 2 friends. When I dropped her off, she gave me a big hug and was off with her counselor. Yet again, I was a little sad that she is so grown up, but VERY excited for her. Her camp was only from 9-noon.

Madison was also going to be spending her first year all day there. It is from 9-5 monday through Friday. They spend the whole time outside. It was a very HOT and HUMID week. I actually felt bad for them one day and thought that maybe I should keep them home, but they didn't seem that bothered by it. They were exhausted that whole week. We even had a few meltdowns in the mornings trying to get out the door in time.

I was able to do some carpooling this week - YEAH!!!! We knew three other families that were there.

Friday afternoon is Family Fest. The kids have skits, sing songs, and have activities to do. Face painting is always a big hit. We can't wait to sign up next summer :)
The reptile man came and brought lots of cool critters. My kids loved that.
My little camper
Caitlin with her two good friends.

Madison was awesome at the dunk tank.
Madison's group doing their skit.
Blake's group doing their skit.

Our Big Boy BLAKE - updated with pics

Captain Rex CAKE!!!!
Blake loved the cake.
They all had a great time in the pool. Caitlin was right in all the fun.
Blake finally got a light saber. He has wanted one for soooo long.
The camp out in the basement. Notice that Blake is still awake.

Blake turned 8 on July 11. I really can't believe how grown up he is. He is all about STAR WARS right now. Instead of a big birthday party, I helped convince him to have a smaller party and we could have a sleepover. He was so excited about that. He invited four boys. We ended up having pizza, played in the pool, squirt gun fun (I gave each boy a squirt gun), campfire, flashlight tag, cake and ice cream and then camping out in the basement. It was originally going to be in a tent in the backyard, but it was damp and very HUMID. The boys weren't even sad about the change in sleeping plans. I was ECSTATIC because now I could have my own bed and not the hard ground.

My friend made Blake this awesome clone trooper cake. It was the most low key party that we have ever had and the cheapest!! The boys were great and had so much fun. We also had a friend for Madison come and join the fun. We ended up with 5 boys and three girls total.

Brett and I also painted Blake's room. It is a great blue color with a khaki stripe 3/4 of the way up. It looks great. I am so happy about it. Brett also order several Star Wars wall stickers and is going to surprise Blake with them on his wall when we come back from visiting the Detroit area this week. It was a little sad when I was taking down all the dinosaur stuff from his room. He has loved dinosaurs for 6 years. I will take pictures when the room is all done. We are also putting a computer in his room. Blake is so excited to be able to play Zoo Tycoon when ever he wants. We did tell him that we will take it away if he can't behave like an 8 year old. Two little girls are a little jealous of Blake's new room and computer.

Tall Ship of Traverse Bay

Brett was looking up things to do in traverse City and came across the Manitou. It is a replica of an 1800'2 "coasting" cargo schooner. It holds 62 passengers. They have several different sailing packages. We choose the "Moomers Ice Cream Sail". It was a very family friendly 2 hour cruise and they served ice cream.

The kids -actually Brett and Papa too, were able to help put up the sails. It was really neat to see them pulling on the ropes to lift the sails.

It was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.

The Blue Angels were practicing for the air show and were flying right over our heads. We had a great view.

The kids were able to tour the boat.
I loved being out on the water on such a beautiful day.
Brett's parents joined us for the adventure.


they were getting ready to lift the sails.
I am trying to train Madison to be my photographer!

Captain Madison
Captain Caitlin
Captain Blake

After the cruise, Grandma and Papa took the kids back to the cabin and Brett and I spent the evening in traverse City. We loved going to a restaurant that didn't serve mac and cheese. We also shopped around and enjoyed a little quiet time!

Water Trampoline

Blake and Madison loved the water trampoline. They would jump on it and then go flying off the side. Brett, Caitlin and I watched from the pontoon boat. Caitlin was all excited to join the kids. She jumped off the front of the boat and came up yelling, "FREEZING". She started to cry and wanted right back on the boat. She never went in again! I was actually relieved. I was a little worried about her doing all that without me in the water with her. AND I really didn't want to get in the water. I am very spoiled by pools and clean Lake Michigan.

Madison asked several times if eels were in the water. I thought that was so funny, but was thinking the same thing as I couldn't see the bottom. I never let them know that I wasn't planning on going in.

Blake and Madison were so intrigued with the fake owl on the trampoline. They quickly found out why it was on there and made me get on the trampoline to clean off all the POOP - YUCK!!!

We loved watching them have so much fun. They never even gave us a hard time about wearing life jackets.

Happy Birthday Spike

We have had Spike for two years now. I can't say enough how great this pet is. I absolutely think that he is the coolest pet ever. I definitely interact the most with him. We love how he eats right out of our hands. He loves eating celery leaves, collard greens and meal worms. Actually he is kinda freaky about the meal worms. He will jump right out of the cage and attack the tweezers if we let him.

This is Madison's hand feeding him.

Our Farmhouse

Our family tradition is renting a cabin for a week somewhere in Michigan. I think that Michigan has some great vacation spots and I want the kids to be exposed to all the different wonderful things that Michigan has to offer. I love camping, but tents and kids don't mix well together... so renting a cabin is a great fit for our family.

This year we rented a Farmhouse on Upper herring Lake in Arcadia. It was a beautiful cabin and lots of space. We had 4 bedrooms and 22oo sq ft of luxury. We also had a pontoon boat, kayaks, a paddle boat, sand box, swing set and water trampoline. The house was on 2 acres of land. There was a cute board walk through the woods to get to the lake. We were also able to bring Zoe. She loved being there. She went out on the boat with us!

This is our dock. There was no sandy beach. The kids didn't mind at all and loved getting stuck in quick sand----MUCK!!!

Our Farmhouse. The little white picket fence and wild flowers were beautiful.

Always FUN in Detroit!!!

Madison was being so sweet with Caitlin. I can't believe that Caitlin trusted her so much to catch her.
Of course as soon as the kids got out of school, they wanted to head to their cousins house. They love being with them. So week number two, we were off. I decided to head to Grandma Jan's pool the first day. We got there about lunch time and the kids swam for several hours. She was so gracious to watch the kids that night so that I could meet up with some girl friends. I actually went shopping at Twelve Oaks mall and then out to dinner. I do miss those girls so much, but am very grateful of the the time that I have with them.

My kids are quite the little fish. This was Caitlin's first time jumping into the pool. Last summer she was a little nervous and wanted to swim with a life jacket and noodle.

The next day, the cousins joined us at the pool. They had a blast until the rain came. Shannon and I decided that we should go see Toy Story 3. When we walked out of the the theater the skies were clear, so back to the pool until almost 8:00. We went back to the Warner's and spent the night. We played with them most of the day and then headed back home for a birthday party in k-zoo that started at 6:00. We ended up staying at the party until almost midnight. It was a pool/movie in the backyard party. All three kids stayed up for the whole thing.

They did sleep in a little the next day (about 8:00) and we packed our bags and headed out to Lake Michigan with friends by 10:00 in the morning. These kids are having a great summer. We are packing every spare moment with fun in the sun!!!!!! Madison is so brown already...

Week #3 - Up North at the cabin. I will post soon.