Fun in the Sun!

Can you believe we only managed to get to the local pool once this summer?! We did have lots of swimming time at the lake and fun with the kiddie pool in our yard, but it just seems crazy that we only made it to the "big" pool once. Oh well...I did manage to snap some pretty cute pics of the kids.

More later...

A Visit to Uncle Jack's

Today the kids and I went to my Uncle Jack's house for a visit. The main purpose was to help my dad harvest quite a few potatoes from the garden (Uncle Jack and Dad have their gardens together), so this left some time for Taylor to explore the barns and such around Uncle Jack's house. She had so much fun living the country life today. I have to admit, as much as I like living in town, I do miss the simple pleasures of being in the country and I'm so glad my kids have the opportunity to experience this from time to time.

Well, during Taylor's adventures today she came upon this little treasure in the barn...

Oh how she loved on this little kitten. She's never had the chance to hold and love a baby kitten before - what an exciting first! She officially named him/her (never looked to confirm either way :) "Whitie". She hopes it will still be living in Uncle Jack's barn when she returns for her next visit.

Between adventures with Taylor and Bryce being VERY needy - Dad and I were actually able to accomplish quite a bit in the garden. We harvested all six rows of potatoes - now that is a lot of potatoes! My back is feeling it a bit tonight, but not too bad. The weather was just beautiful today, so I can't complain.

Btw, these were some of the potatoes we planted in the spring - if you remember that post. Taylor did help a bit.

Well....preschool open house Thursday night. Wish us luck!

More later...

Lake Cottage Vacation

Our good friends Ryan and Holly Drown invited us to the family lake cottage in Six Lakes, Michigan to spend time with them and their boys Clayton, Ben and Ethan at the end of July. What a wonderful time we had....swimming, boat rides, fishing, catching turtles, lazy days/nights on the porch, lakeside picnics. It was such a peaceful time.

Taylor and Clayton enjoying s'mores by the lake. Yummy!

This was just one of the beautiful sunsets we enjoyed each evening.

Fishing off the dock with Daddy.

Taylor had a great time playing in the sand and swimming.

Clayton and Taylor having fun in the sun.

My beautiful girl!

Cutie swimming boy!

The kids even had big fun indoors! All 5 of them decided it would be fun to play under the dining room table - silly!
More fishing off the dock before bedtime (notice they have their jammies on).

Even vacations can have time outs. Clayton and Taylor played great together the majority of the vacation, but you know you can't get 2 three year olds together 24/7 for 4 days without there being a little friction. :)
Holly, Ben, Clayton, Ryan and Ethan enjoying a picnic by the lake.
Clayton and Taylor picking out which ice cream they wanted at the local store, Kramer's Market. This is one of those lake community stores that has just about everything, but is best known as the candy/ice cream store.

Miss Holly and Taylor both chose mint chocolate chip - yum!

Who can lick faster?!

Oh my - look at those faces.
One of the highlights of our stay was these 2 swans that came to visit each night. Taylor and Clayton thought it was so neat to feed the swans bread.

An evening boat ride was a perfect way to spend our last night at the lake.

Thank you so much Ryan and Holly for sharing your vacation with us. We have so many special memories from our time together!

More later...