Summer Random-ness cont...

Since it's been 100+ degrees most days lately, we've come up with a new activity to pass time a little bit. We don't really watch TV or movies in the house and Elise only gets to play games on the computer for about 15 min/week. SO, we've been finding videos of animals on YouTube to pass the time. I usually look for cute animal videos and Adam sets them up with Sailing videos when it's his turn. THEY LOVE IT. It'll take 20 minutes or so and everyone is ecstatic. (and we don't have to put on sunscreen, fill up waterbottles, find everyone's shoes, make sure everyone has gone potty, etc... just to go outside for 15 minutes before they're all overheated, grumpy, and crying to head back in. call me Lazy...

HOWEVER, their MOST FAVORITE thing on the computer (BY FAR!!!!!!) is when we check my brother's blog and they get to see pics/video of their baby cousin Evan. I mean, the girls JUMP UP AND DOWN when there's a new video of the boy. it's cute.

This shot looks posed, but it absolutely was not! Their smiles were THAT BIG watching a little video of Evan last week. REally! It's that adorable.

You can see a slight reflection of Evan in this one so you know I'm not lying...


Then they just started being cute, so I took a few more pics. Summer is FLYING by and we're having lots and lots of fun!

summer-ness

Sometimes even I wonder WHAT we've been doing all summer...and it's my life! We've been busy, but relaxed. Lots of smiles, lots of time at the pool, weekends playing at a local lake, etc... plenty of time with neighbors and friends...loving' it. =)

Elise tried a new thing in late-June! SOCCER! I wasn't sure if she would like it or not, so we signed her up for a little 'for beginners' camp. SHE LOVED IT! She came home EXHAUSTED every day, but totally enjoying it, too. She was especially excited about the PINK soccer socks and shinguards (THANKS, Fetzers!). I am aware that the socks should go on the top, but she said they were itchy that way. =)

We did a 4th of July party with neighbors. It was fun and simple. we loved it.


I know I say it all the time, but COME ON, Could Mitchell be any sweeter?!
p.s.-It's not drool on his shirt, I promise! He was playing with a cup of ice water...

They had (unheard of in our house!) two or three desserts each! JOY at the moment, UGLY when the sugar-high wore off...


Ainsley pouting over something worthless... I just love the posture and the belly sticking out. It was a GREAT little "I'm so pitiful" act. only lasted 15 seconds then she was fine again.


I'll put more of summer randomness up soon...

VA-CAY....

We took our first ever "family vacation" (defined as all 5 of us, for FUN, relaxation, etc...) up to my extended-family's Lake House in Michigan. We were up there for 6 days and it was WONDERFUL...so great.


There's the house. Love that place. we spent many, many weeks there as kids and it was my first trip back to the place in 17 years. yikes. Fortunately, nothing ever changes there. Really, it's like a time warp. Ok, there was one GREAT change- the place now has Central A/C. The house is somewhere around 80 years old, so it never had A/C as we vacationed there as kids. That was fine with us then. Not so fine now. I've turned total sissy. It's fine, I admit it. I love A/C.

This place is very special to our family. loved it.


the greatest part, outside of just seeing/spending time with our extended family, was that our kids got to really experience "the Lake House" that i grew up loving. This is where i learned to ski, this is where we have tons of memories swimming, playing with cousins, eating tacos... not sure why I always associate The Lake=Tacos, but I do. =)

Cocktail Hour on the patio... and, this is the ONLY picture I have of my wonderful-sweet-love-her sister-in-law Jen...

our nephew Evan's first experience with the Lake. I think he loved it. you can tell.

Awesome Mitchell in his "SK8R" shirt he wore in honor of SuperUncleKelly.

Ainsley loved this ride WAY more than she liked tubing behind the ski boat.
THIS is where she spent most of her time while the boat was out... tucked under the dashboard-area. "hiding from the wind" she told us... she was happy, though!


THIS is, for sure, where Elise was happiest!! no surprise there. She's our fearless one.

She was a fan of the jet-ski, too...even after she and Adam ran out of gas on the far side of the Lake and floated for 45 minutes before SUK rescued them.
Uncle Paul took Ainsley out for a spin. She liked the dock better, but she was ok with the jetski.


Also, we WORE THEM OUT! All three kids slept between 13 and 14 hours each night. LOVED IT!

Mitchell was happy as long as he was JUMPING somewhere...into the water, off the patio, off a piece of furniture...my boy.
SUK on the tube. His back was in spasm for days afterwards... I guess we're not 29 anymore, eh, Kelly? The tube+skiing+really old crappy mattresses= many sore backs.

Ainsley, once again, was OK with this activity. She was jabbering the whole time, according to SUK, but she didn't like the water getting in her eyes.

Melanie was a trooper once again, being so patient and sweet with our kids!

It was a relaxing, refreshing, and memorable week. We love our family and are so thankful that we got some quality time with them!!!

Father's Day

On Sunday, June 19th, we spent about 11 hours in the car driving to our first-ever 'family vacation'... (cue Chevy Chase and the Wally-wagon), so the kids and I celebrated Adam on Friday the 17th when he got home from work. It was cute and sweet. He is a wonderful father to our kids and I'm amazed sometimes at how blessed I am to have married him. And he's fun. That helps, too.
The girls colored pictures. Mitchell drooled on stuff and ripped it up. We got him a cool outdoor firepit thing. I think he likes it. we'll see once it's not 100 degrees outside daily.
We had it all set up on the back deck when he got home and the kids loved hiding and yelling "SURPRISE!" since it was 2 days before the actual Father's Day.


I'm sure it wasn't actually a surprise, though. I made a deliciously yummy cake.
We ate dinner, then cake (or maybe we just ate cake...) .

The evening for kids ended (as most evenings do around here!) with all three of them tackling Adam/wrestling together in the living room until several got hurt, started crying, and we called it a night.


HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! If our kids could type or communicate clearly, I'm sure they would express their gratitude to him!