A Rustic Weekend in Michigan

Does it get any better than time spent with your best girlfriends? Since we're spread out, not only around the country, but also around the world, this doesn't happen very often for my IU girls. For approximately an eternity, my college girlfriends and I worked on planning a girlfriends getaway. It all came together this past weekend when we made the trek to Allegan, Michigan. Tara's husband's family owns a cottage on Lake Sixteen and graciously allowed us to stay there.

We arrived on Saturday around lunch time and started cooking. Jen couldn't wait to have a beer, so we opened a few Blue Moon Harvest Ales and toasted our girls weekend. Even though we were only five ladies, we literally could have fed a small army with the amount of food we brought. Fortunately we've all improved our culinary skills since our time at IU! The food we made was amazing.

Following lunch, we headed outdoors for some fresh air. We took out a canoe and paddle boat and went out around the lake. Jen, Michelle, and I were having some issues steering the paddle boat. According to Jen the handle to steer the boat was "sensitive"...we'll go with that, Jen. :)

Tara and Kristy seemed to have much better control over the canoe they were in. We were going to try and catch some turtles, but only saw one on a log.

What trip to the wilderness would be complete without a campfire? Of course we had to have a fire, the only problem was we had some trouble getting it started. It was a good thing we had Tara and Jen to help us out! Since Jen was an Indian Princess back in the day, she managed to get the fire ablazing. When it started to die down, Tara knew enough to blow on the fire to reignite it. Thanks, ladies!

After some star gazing, we headed indoors for the night. The fun wasn't over yet though, next on our agenda was an indoor fire and s'mores. Yum! Kristy is a rockstar marshmallow roaster.

When all was said and done, it was time for a group shot before heading home on Sunday. It was a bit tricky getting timers set on the cameras and everyone in the photo, but we managed to get a few good shots. Thanks for the memories, girls!

You can read more about our weekend on their blogs: Tara, Jen, Michelle, and Kristy.

Auntie Kerri comes for a visit...and Gavin too!!!

Last week Sunday, Kerri came out to visit for the day. She surprised the girls by bringing Gavin along with her. It's always fun to get the cousins together to play. It was a pretty hot day, but we did get outside for a little while to test out Ally's hoola hoop and Gavin to "drive" the car. While we were inside, Ally was playing stylist for Aunt Kerri. She got out the curling iron (which she "plugs" into the couch!) and some clips. I believe Aunt Kerri's visit to Ally's beauty salon wasn't too painful and she managed to leave with a mostly full head of hair.
Peyton had fun pushing her babydoll around in the stroller. Peyton is FINALLY walking on her own now! We're very happy for that.

Michigan

Darren, the girls, and I took a weekend trip to Michigan. We stayed in the Grand Haven area for two nights. The weather couldn't have been any nicer for us...sunny and warm, but not too hot. We went miniature golfing, Darren and Ally rode go karts, did LOTS of swimming at the hotel, and spent an afternoon at the beach. Everyone had such a fun time!Here come the Speed Racers!

Ally's first time playing miniature golf.

Peyton enjoyed the beach. She didn't mind getting sand on her and had fun in the waves.

Ally & Daddy being silly.

Peyton takes a break by the pool at our hotel.

A bedtime snack and Peyton is all smiles.

She's just too darn cute!

A few weeks ago we went to an ice cream social as part of the Three Rivers Festival activities. Allison wore her "Hannah (Montana) Hair" and got her face painted. She's just too darn cute!

Camping in the Woods...sort of

Last week Wednesday and Thursday, my mom, Jamie, & I took Allison, Peyton, and Gavin camping. It was a fun, but exhausting experience! We stayed at my Uncle Bob's place in Plymouth. He has a camper that sleeps 6 (?) near a small lake. He came out for the day and took us out on his fishing boat. Allison got to help reel in several fish, which she LOVED. She refused to touch the fish though...and I don't blame her! We had a campfire, sang campfire songs, roasted marshmallows, made s'mores, cooked apple pudgie pies, and had to walk to the community toilets. Talk about roughing it! ;) The kids had fun at night playing with the flashlights and looking at the stars.

Peyton doesn't realize she doesn't need the flashlight during the day

Gavin is such a handsome little guy!

All tuckered out after a long day.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

...t-ball that is

Allison "played" a session of t-ball this summer with a bunch of other 4 year olds. What an ordeal and what a great deal of patience those coaches have!!! She had a really good time though and was so proud of what she learned. T-ball took place at St. Michael's Lutheran Church on Monday and Wednesday evenings. They started each practice with stretching activities. They always did jumping jacks, although they called them by a kid's name such as "Jumping Allisons" or "Jumping Carsons". Her favorite stretch was called "rocket ship", where they would point their hands together above their heads, croutch down while counting backward from 5 to 1, and then jump up and shout "blast off"! The kids were then divided into a few groups to practice throwing and catching the ball, batting, and running the bases. They finally played a game of sorts against the parents on the last night. It was, of course, chaos, but fun to watch. They usually ended the practice by singing "Take me out to the Ballgame" and then putting their hands in and shouting "We love t-ball!". On the last night, the kids each received a certificate signed by their coaches and a package of animal crackers. It doesn't get much better than that when you're four years old!

The kids doing the "rocket ship" stretch. Ally told me I needed to get a picture of this!

The proud owner of a Certificate of Achievement and a package of animal crackers.

The team with Coach Matt, Coach Brittney, and Coach Antonio (hiding), not sure where Coach Whitney escaped to.

I've been tagged

Kristy, a fellow Hoosier girl, tagged me on her blog to complete this meme.

Three things...

...THAT SCARE ME: snakes, big spiders, horror films

...I LOVE: my family, reading, traveling

...I HATE: being wrong, liars, bad hair days (I agree on this one, Kristy!)

...I'M DOING RIGHT NOW: thinking about everything else I should be doing, getting annoyed with the TV remote b/c it's not working at the moment, completing this meme (which I've never done before on my blog)

...I CAN DO: speak German, scrapbook (when I can find the time), build relationships with difficult teenagers

...I CAN'T DO: sleep in whenever I want (unless you count 7am sleeping in!), play sports well, sing well (but that doesn't stop me!)

...THAT ARE MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE FOODS: potatoes, dark chocolate, beef chop suey w/beef fried rice

...SHOWS I WATCHED WHEN I WAS A KID: Growing Pains, Full House, Saved By the Bell

People I'm tagging to do this on their blog (mostly the same as Kristy since I don't know too many people with blogs): Tara, Michelle, and Jen.