Magic

It's no secret that Adelie is by far my messiest child.  The other day Grandpa gave the kids some bite-size oreo cookies.  After eating her cookies, Grandpa looked over at Adelie to see icing on her nose and all up her arm.  He asked, "Adelie, how in the world did you get icing all over your arm from those little cookies?"  She replied, "It's magic."

If messiness is magic, this girl is the next Houdini!

Mom Life

The other day Briggs was in the bathroom.  All of a sudden I heard him say, "Uh-oh!  Oh no!"  I rushed into the bathroom and asked Briggs what had happened.  He said, "I dropped a dinosaur in the potty...and my pee is in there."

#goodbyedinosaur

#momlife

4th of July

Our 4th of July is always a fun day of festive family fun.  We dressed in red, white, and blue.  We watched the parade.  We had a huge lunch at Uma and Papa's.  The kids spent the entire day playing with cousins.  And we topped it all off with fireworks.  What could be better than that??

A full day of time with cousins can't be beat!  

The book-end boys.

The inflatable pool was the highlight of the day and provided HOURS of fun for the kids.

And Papa too.

Briggs loved the parade (although did need to cover his ears for the fire engines), getting parade candy, and eating the yummy lunch.  He didn't spend too much time in the pool, but loved playing around the pool.  He opted out of the fireworks, instead just staying with Uma and Papa at their house.

Adelie loved it all!  The parade, the candy, the pool, the cousins, the glow sticks, the festive accessories.  She did cover her ears for the fire trucks in the parade and the fireworks, but seemed to enjoy them.  However, she was very preoccupied about when the fireworks finale was coming and was consistently asking, "Is this the finale?"  I'm not sure if she was asking because she wanted the fireworks to be over or because she didn't want them to be over.  Either way, assuring her that it was not yet the finale was a big part of our fireworks viewing this year.

For my daughter that ALWAYS covered her ears for loud noises, Staley has come a long way and now enjoys parades and fireworks without difficulty.  Spending time with her cousins is always one of her favorite things!!

What a happy 4th of July!!

Ironman

When an injury sidelined Zach from running for a few months last fall, he decided to fill his workout time with some swimming and biking instead.  When he realized that with a little dedication and some helpful you-tube videos he could become an efficient swimmer, he thought that maybe he would train for a triathlon.  When his training was going well in all 3 disciplines, he thought that he might up his goal and compete in a 1/2 Ironman triathlon.  And when he realized that a 1/2 Ironman triathlon happened to be scheduled in a Michigan town directly on our way home from vacation the day after we were scheduled to leave, he determined that it was fate and signed up.

We left Pentwater on Saturday, drove the 2.5 hours to Benton Harbor, accompanied Zach to check in for the race, and then enjoyed the evening exploring Benton Harbor before heading to bed early to get ready for the big day.

Helping Daddy check in his bike for the race.

While Zach was up and on his way at 5:00 the next morning, I roused the kids out of bed at 6:30 so that we could make it down to the beach area in time to see Zach finish his swim.  The promise of donuts for breakfast IF the kids were ready quickly enough helped get everyone out of bed and moving.  Bonus points for a hotel with a Dunkin Donuts right next door.

Mission accomplished!  We made it in time to see Zach complete his 1.2 mile swim in Lake Michigan.

The cheering squad fueled by donuts had enough early morning energy to watch Zach finish his swim and then walk quickly across the beach in order to see him start his 57 mile bike ride.

Daddy's cheering squad

Because 57 miles on a bike for Zach takes about 3 hours, we then had time to shop in the race store, watch the elite athletes finish their bike ride, shuttle back to the van to drop off sweatshirts, put on our sunscreen, eat some snacks, and then walk back to the race course to watch Zach finish his bike ride.

While we did all that, Zach enjoyed his long bike ride.

The key to a day of spectating a 6 hour event with 3 young kids is to make sure to bring plenty of snacks!

Waiting to watch Daddy finish his bike ride

We found the perfect place to watch the end of the bike that gave us time to walk down and see the beginning of the run.  Hooray for our efficient plan.

Still smiling at the beginning of his 13.1 mile run.

We found a great, spacious, shady spot to watch the runners where we hung out for an hour and half.  Shade + more snacks = happy kids.

We had plenty of time to kill but the kids enjoyed cheering for all the athletes, meeting other spectators, making up games together, and (of course) eating snacks.

We were able to cheer Zach in at the end of his run.   Zach met his goal of finishing his 70.3 mile race in less than 6 hours (5 hours, 58 minutes).  We were so proud to see Zach's hard work and months of training pay off.

And I thought this lady's shirt was pretty applicable for all the moms schlepping their kids all over the course and keeping them entertained for the 6 hour event.

So proud of our Ironman...and his cheering crew!

Pentwater

Last week was our annual trip to Pentwater.  This post doesn't need too many words as Pentwater remains mostly the same year after year.  To make up for the lack of words, I will just post lots and lots of pictures.

We are a good road tripping family.  We listened to lots of books on tape, ate lots of snacks, and traveled the 6 hours in the car like the road tripping champions we are.

This was our biggest Pentwater group yet.  My entire family (both my mom's side and dad's) were in attendance minus my one cousin who lives in El Salvador.  Although some people only came for part of the week we had one evening together where there were 58 of us (including a few in-laws and friends who are like family.)

All 23 of the cousins and second cousins, ranging in age from 3 months to 13 years.

My generation with all my siblings, cousins, and spouses.

My parents with their siblings and spouses

We had beautiful weather all week except for one (and a half) rainy days.  We used our one rainy day to go out to breakfast, shop in town, and play with cousins at our house.  The rest of our days were spent on the beach.

The best thing about the beach was playing with cousins.  There were sand creations and dune adventures.

There was water fun.  Lake Michigan was frigid (as usual), but that didn't stop the kids. However, the outlet water was much warmer and the kids played much longer in it.

There were tadpoles to catch.

There was reading time.

There is always a request for mermaid tales made out of sand.

My cousin's daughter, Nellie, was a big hit with all the younger kids.  She was like the pied piper, organizing the kids in various activities and dune adventures.  Wherever Nellie was, there were sure to be some younger kids following.

One day Nellie engaged all the littles in a game where they were baby seals and she was the mommy seal.  They played this for at least an hour.  So cute!!

She also spent some time teaching Staley how to play the harmonica.

Adelie still has a special bond with my Aunt Maggie and they spent a good portion of time playing together on the beach.

Briggs had fun playing with his cousins Caroline and Lucy...

...but he also spent lots of time with my cousin's daughter, Reese, who is 5.

And Valentina, who is just a few months younger than him.

Of course, Uncle Ethan might have been his favorite playmate.

Evenings were time spent at the house where we stayed with my brothers and their families.  We again stayed in the carriage house with Uncle Ethan while the rest of the family stayed in the main house.

The kids loved having time to play with Uncle Ethan.

Staley always hurried to get ready for bed so she'd have a little time to read with Uncle Ethan before bedtime.

We celebrated Melissa's birthday with homemade pie.

And, of course, enjoyed s'mores night with the entire extended family.  Because there were so many of us, we did not do spaghetti night as an extended family this year.  

We still enjoyed a few nights of walking into town for ice cream.

There was game playing after the kids had gone to bed.

And, of course, beautiful Michigan sunsets.

As we were packing for vacation, Staley told me, "Pentwater is the place that feels most like home that isn't our actual home."

She is so right. 

Pentwater does feel like home.