Monday, July 19, 2021

Summertime Fun

Lot of fun things to celebrate and do in the summertime!  We celebrated Dad's birthday and then Will's a couple days later!

Happy Birthday to you!

 

Maggie is a mini-mom

We had an awesome time at Will's Minecraft-themed party.  As usual, Amy had amazing decorations and plans for all the kids.  They got to swim, play in the splash pad and break a piƱata - they slept well that night!

Happy Birthday, Will!  Here's a bucket of water.

Lovely

Rockin her Minecraft shades

Maggie calls this her "withering stare"

There's our girl

Grandpa's always a good sport

Tai Chi on the beach?

Very concerned with preparing a solid foundation 
for her castle...my little engineer

Our little babies

Evie has been begging us to hold a lemonade stand for some reason, so we took all our stuff to Grandma and Grandpa's on a hot hot day... not many customers, but the ones that came (mostly family) paid well!

Note the doggie biscuits and handmade sign - they were quite proud


I think she drank as much as she sold

Jamie and I closed on our new house and on our current house in two days - whew!

Had to sneak in a photo after officially closing

Royal Oak just opened a beautiful new park with a splash pad!  We went to the grand opening and it was awesome.  The county brought their mobile rock-climbing wall, and the playground was a huge hit.  Ben only had eyes for the splash pad. We saw quite a few friends from the area which was so nice!

Who says you can't rock climb in a bathing suit?

She made it pretty high!

Hanging tough

Tickled by the mayor's speech

Ben doesn't know any of these kids, just sat down with them
all to wait for the bucket drop

Later that evening we decided to take the girls to see the women's DCFC soccer game (Grandma watched Ben for us - thank you!).  It is seriously so much fun, and both girls had a great time!  One of the teams that Maggie competed against this spring was there together, and Maggie quickly bonded and became part of their gang.  Evie instantly made friends with another girl in the bleachers (I guess she's not my shy one anymore!), and was busy playing all night.

The girls were on DCFC's Instagram!

Le Rouge!

Cheering with her new scarf

Love this girl

Adopted to the team

The girls had a "late over" at camp this week, and our friends Adam and Sara invited them over for a real sleepover with their little girls.  They had an awesome time, so spoiled!

Tie-dye action!

Hard at work

Life is good

This is how you eat a s'more
Some others:
Got to see Boss Baby with her buddy

Throwback of the Rabine girls from Traverse City

Let me tell you about frogs

zoo visit

Sometimes Jamie takes Ben to camp when they 
need extra help, he fits right in!

Continuing the 7/4 tradition - watching all the random fireworks
from the top of the parking deck

This is Uncle Jason's tortoise Winifred (the boy)

Ben adores him... and we hope Winifred doesn't eat him



Thursday, July 1, 2021

Traverse City

We went up to Traverse City for four days along with Grammer and Pops, the Rabines and the Polons!  The weather was not cooperative, but we still managed to have fun as a family!  I think the cousins were thrilled to hang out so much.  Ben was an adorable little ham the whole trip, and did surprisingly well with the pack-n-play sleeping arrangements!  HUGE thank you to Grammer and Pops for putting us all up for the weekend!

Cousin Crew!

I think my favorite day was my mom's birthday.  We had a delicious breakfast together, and then later in the day we played minute-to-win-it games, the kids did a skit and then dinner and cake!

I love having the whole family together to sing the Wilt birthday song!

The kids ate about 2 bites each... typical dinner this week

The girls helped Uncle Bobby with a silly mad-lib story
Love this little guy

This was hard game - trying to get penne on spaghetti!

Hard at work

Ben discovered the foot rinse after dinner and was captivated

My favorite video of the year... this is a game where you have to try to get the cookie from your forehead into your mouth with no hands:



Jamie rented a kayak and took the kids for a spin!  No flips!

Pulling Uncle Jamie into shore - like a king!

Making the long trek back to the rental place


Maggie and Luke worked tirelessly on this structure, and it lasted most of the week!

Anyone have a match?

Awww

On a rainy day we held a "Nailed It" competition with the kids (sort of).  They helped bake a bunch of cupcakes, and then created their best animal-themed designs.  We were all winners (except me, who forgot to put the oil in the mix...)!

Maggie's menu

Sarah did a great job staying on task and getting the job done!
(also Jamie is very proud of his green dinosaur cupcake in the back)

Excellent use of licorice for tentacles and legs!

Nice work, Claire!

Not willing to be photographed with her cupcakes, but very proud
to show off her new tooth gap!  The tooth fairy came all the way
up north for her!

Bakery bros


We took a day trip with the Rabines to Jolly Pumpkin, the Mission Pointe lighthouse and Moomer's Ice Cream.  Evie's friend from school was randomly going to the lighthouse the same time we were, so they got to see each other for a few minutes!

These kids were soooo psyched to look at a lighthouse!!
(well at least Ben was happy)

Luke helped Ben climb to the top


What's up Cece!

Ice cream kids

Beautiful farm at Moomer's (less beautiful cow smell)

The kids went for a swim in the pool after much begging... thankfully Uncle Bobby was a trooper and went in with them.  Not freezing, but I was glad I didn't have to!

This guy was ALL about the first step of the pool!

Partners in crime

Can get lots of extra airflow with that tooth gap!

Mother Maggie liked carrying Sarah around

Elton John called... wants his look back

Other randoms:
Drumsticks for the win!

Goofin with Grammer

Cocomelon is Ben's favorite (and only) show.
It haunts me.

It's not a vacation without sparklers

Spirit of Detroit

Sleepovers should be called Awake-overs

Family soccer game - girls vs. boys!

Beach bums

Playing solitaire... Luke's rules

Eye on the prize

Until next time...