Michigan (part 2)...

After lunch we went back to the hotel and got ready for the wedding. My mom's best friend's daughter was getting married. The wedding was held at Blanford Nature Center (http://www.blandfordnaturecenter.org/) where the bride and groom met. It was absolutely beautiful. They walked from an old school house to the court yard on a path lined with mason jars filled with wild flowers.



Aunt Vicki (bride's mom) and her son Jake...

Here comes the bride (Whitney) and her dad, G.F.



The kids were amazing during the entire ceremony, they didn't budge. I was sooooo proud of them both.

Grace's picked out the bow...fitting, huh!!!! LOL

Friends and family after the ceremony waiting to go to the reception!!! The food was delicious...mini everything (hotdogs, hamburgers, bbq, pizza) and of course beer!!



Thank you Whitney and David for allowing us to celebrate this day with you and your family, we had a GREAT time!!

Grand Rapids, Michigan...

This is going to be a long post, so I will try to break it up into a couple. This past weekend we took an extended weekend to travel up to Grand Rapids, Michigan for a wedding. The weather was BEAUTIFUL and we couldn't have asked for anything better. We arrived on Thursday and went to visit my dad's parents and then went swimming at the hotel. The kids thought this was the best thing ever...swimming at night!! Friday we went to Holland State Park to the beach. Again, beautiful weather. The water was great and the kids were amazing. (Last year when we went to Myrtle Beach, the kids didn't want to have anything to do with the water) I guess with fresh water it is a different story, not to mention a year older too. Saturday, before the wedding we drove around the town looking at all the houses that mom and dad grew up in and looked at the high school that my mom attended. This is our favorite house...this is the one I remember my mom's parents living in when I was growing up (the Mackinaw house)...

After driving around we went to a park that Mom used to play at when she was younger and let the kids run around.

Before dropping Mom off back at the house, we made a lunch stop at Yesterdog...

This is the "ultradog", and yes, somewhere under all that YUMMINESS is a hotdog!!

Bowling...

One day last week, while Mom was watching Erin and Pearl, I called her and asked if she wanted to take the girls bowling. I was given a website that allows for kids to bowl 2 games per day for the entire summer for free. And for $23.95 you can add up to 4 more people for the entire summer. http://www.kidsbowlfree.com/ This website is great...they email you your coupons for the week, you print them and take them to the bowling alley with you. It was almost too easy, but the kids had a great time!!!

They all cheered for each other and took turns, waited for the names on the board...Seth looking to knock down that last pin!!!

Grace and Pearl lining up the ramp just right...

Erin did an excellent job without any ramps or bumpers!!! Although it did take some convincing that Mom and I were right when we told her that she was getting the gutter balls because she was moving her hands...LOL (See, Erin, we do know some things...hahaha)

During the second game Seth and Grace were getting silly and started wrestling on the floor, they were laughing so hard, their eyes were watering....it was so funny!!!

By the end of the second game they were all ready to go...they were all soooo good though and we can't wait to go back!!!

Horseradish Festival 2009

The weekend of Carlyle Lake and baseball games was very busy for us. On Sunday, Mom and I took Erin, Pearl, Preston, and Grace to the horseradish festival. Seth was at Richie's baseball game (i guess hanging out with your mom and sister isn't cool when daddy has a game...LOL) It started to sprinkle while we were there so we didn't stay long. We did however, eat lunch (funnel cake...LOL) and make it to the Home Depot tent for some building. This year they had tool boxes for the kids to make. Grace is carefully reading the instructions...

While I think Pete and Erin are winging it...LOL

Face painting and tattoos are a big hit there too!! This was the first year Grace let anyone paint a simple butterfly on her cheek!! I think I was more excited than she was about it. It is amazing what just one year will do...Preston on the other hand has no problem sitting still for it...

These girls were sitting in front of us at lunch and I thought is was cute that they were all wearing the same shirt and had their faces painted...so I asked them if I could take their picture...

Carlyle Lake

After Grace's t-ball game and then Seth's we headed up to Carlyle Lake for a cook out. Aimee and her family went camping and invited us to come out Saturday night for dinner. I made potato salad and Dawnjulene made pasta salad and we drove up. We all had a great time, the kids rode bikes, played at the playground near the campsite, and roasted hotdogs for dinner.



Thank you for inviting us and we hope that Kevin had a great birthday weekend!!!

Grace's T-ball game

I am starting to see a repetativeness to these posts...they all begin with, "I am so far behind". LOL Well, I am as usually. We have been quite busy these past couple of weeks. Grace and Preston started t-ball 2 weeks ago. Grace has been so excited for this. Every time we go to Seth's game she keeps asking when her turn is. Well, two weeks ago she got her chance. They did running, catching/throwing, and batting practice then it was "game time". Don't they look thrilled to be here...LOL

Running the bases is hard work,

Then again, when you leave three year olds in the outfield with nothing to do, they have to entertain themselves...hahaha

Preston seemed to have had a good time and we are very excited that he is on Grace's team.

Boycotting

I got a call from Luke the other day asking for a favor...I said sure, "what do you need?". He said they boycotted the lady at the hospital for pictures and wanted me to take some pictures of Ben for them. I asked why they boycotted her and he said that she was really rude, so I went over today (after talking to Stacy...LOL) and took some pictures. So here are a couple that I got...

Luke just happen to lose his wedding ring, so we played around with Tiffani's...

Sisterly love...

Ben was such a good little guinea pig...poor guy!!!