Monday, June 20, 2011

father's day fun


We spent a delightful Father's Day afternoon out at the cottage.  Naturally Dylan caught a bunch of fish...




The kids went tubing....
The ladies went tubing...
(I have been either pregnant or holding a newborn for the last 9 summers, so needless to say, I haven't tubed in years.) Good times!



The boys went tubing...and unfortunately I don't have a good picture because they were very wreckless!
We forced Stella out of the boat for a slow ride back in...I don't think she will go again anytime soon.



Friday, June 17, 2011

Pentwater

Memorial Weekend we packed the camper and hit the road for a weekend of fun in Pentwater.

Tim beat the kids home from school, so we made it there in record time. Everything was set up, and we still had daylight!

And while it wasn't really a "fun in the sun" weekend, we did have a good time together.  It's not a good sign when you go to the beach, and the water temp sign simply reads "cold".  We still enjoyed  all of the things we love about Pentwater tho.  We fished, biked, played tennis, shopped, hiked, beached, and ate ice cream of course.

I was so thankful to be camping on beach sand, because it soaked up all of  the rain water rather quickly, and also for our heater :)

The day we left for camping was also our first full day with Peep.  Naturally we brought her along, and she sat under her heat lamp in the bathroom.....because clearly 7 people in a camper isn't crowded enough :)






Monday, June 13, 2011

may madness

May certainly was a busy one. 
I donned my supermom cape, and tried my very best to make it to all of the kids activities.  
Join me, on a pictoral journey of the times I remembered my camera :)


Austin's highly anticipated 3rd grade class trip was to Dutch Village. 
Unfortunately, it rained so hard that we were forced inside for the whole trip, and the kids were sent back to school early. No ride on the trusty old swings or music from the outdoor organ.  Kind of a bummer, but we did have a good time.



Not really the nice picture I had in mind. While I was looking forward to a quaint picture of Austin and I in front of a beautiful splay of tulips, I will have to settle for looking like a drowned rat in front of a fake chicken?  It's all in the memories, right?  Good times.

 It is becoming very clear I need to buy an umbrella :)


Sydney's class spent the day in a local 124 year old one room school house.  Dressed like pioneers, they spent their day learning like they did back in the day. 
Tin can lunches, food rolled in cloth and tied with string, feather pens, homeade crushed walnut ink, individual slates, and separate boy/girl games were just a few of their delights.... and clearly, pioneers wore pink converse shoes :)




The boys had a grand old time playing soccer.



...and the girls were top-notch cheerleaders.


The kids ran the 5/3 Junior race.


We went to a few class picnics....



 
...and Tim and I are now both half way to 70.
More pics coming soon!

Friday, June 10, 2011

Fashion Friday- another dress for the little gal

Awhile back, I stumbled upon on a sweet little line of fabric by Michael Miller called "Brady Bunch". And while the name alone sucked me in, the fabric was just as groovy as I imagined it would be. I purchased both Alice and Marcia and made a cute little dress for Stella, and I love it!


Happy Friday all!

Friday, June 3, 2011

nigel and peep

Dylan is wrapping up his kindergarten career. 

And it makes me a little sad.

Not only because he is getting older, but also b/c I think going to school every day combined with some serious learnin' next year is going to be difficult for him to adjust to.  He likes his days off, and his imagination, creativity and exploration skills keep him quite busy and contented.  And let's face it, bringing a dead bat to school in a ziploc bag, and a snakeskin in your folder to show your classmates is embraced in kindergarten :)  This kid was made for kindergarten.

Last Thursday our eyes and ears were delighted by his end of the year zoophonics program.  Dressed as Nigel Nightowl, he did a fantastic job, and we were proud.



It had been a really busy week, and I still needed groceries for camping the following day.  Tim and I drove separately to the program so that I could go get groceries alone, and he could pick up Ellery and take the kids home to bed.

That was the plan.

Naturally, you can imagine my surprise when I walked into the house @ 10pm to find all the kids still up and about, and a baby turkey sitting on the counter in Sydney's old hampster cage.

Clearly, he steared from the plan somewhere, as I was only gone just over an hour.

"Her name is Peep, and dad says we can keep it! " they all pronounced to me excitedly.

As the story goes,  Tim made a "quick stop" at the shop to show the kids the turkey eggs he had stumbled upon earlier in the day...only to find the nest vacated, 2 dead birds, and this abandoned little guy sitting there all alone.  At least that's the story they told me.

Naturally, they took it home, put it under a heat lamp, and quickly googled "abandoned baby turkeys".






And a week later, she doing well.  Not really sure what we are going to do with her yet.

If the dog doesn't eat her first....you may be looking @ Thanksgiving dinner :)

Wednesday, June 1, 2011