Calmed Down

We had a calmer week, with weather that was much more pleasant.  

Monday morning, Ezri and I headed to the orthodontist for a follow up visit, where we learned that she only needs to turn the key on her expander for 2 more weeks and then we get to let her mouth rest and heal for a few months before returning in October to have the expander removed.  This was very exciting news!!!

We were able to enjoy a bike ride to the library early in the week, where the kids turned in their first round of reading program logs, worked on a scavenger hunt together, and then we headed to Hop Cones where we enjoyed ice cream treats compliments of a coupon in their reading program packet.

 The kids played in the pool at our house a couple of days, rode bikes, and were just plain kids for the week.  Mommy even found some time to squeeze in a few minutes on the hammock one afternoon.

 The Reader Feeder Bus came on Wednesday, so we went across the street to bring back our books, get a whole lot more (Ezri came home with 6), and enjoy some treats.  It was cool enough that the kids opted to take their giant freeze pops home to save for later when it warmed up.

Thursday was a busy day for us.  Gunner was back after a long break due to a chicken pox exposure, so he was the celebrity for quite a while.  At lunch time, Oma came over to watch our kids and a couple of extras while the Kritex employees went to an open house for Sebright Products for a couple of hours.  When we returned, Oma left and we spent the rest of the afternoon playing.  That evening, Alora, Gunner and I headed to Allegan so he could be picked up by his parents while Alora and I went to Cloverbud Camp for a couple of hours of crafting.  There, she made all sorts of cute and fun things to display at the fair.

 All week long, though, we had our kids falling under the weather on and off for a day, passing it around, some with fevers, others just tired or a sore throat.  Thankfully it was all short lived for each of them.

Saturday, we had some more fun as Aunt Becky came for a visit with little Francesca, our new niece/cousin.  The girls were so excited to meet and hold her!

 Elam was all about getting in on that opportunity too, and didn't even mind when she cried.

 It was nice to see Aunt Becky for a few hours and to meet the newest member of our family.

Hot Week!

Last week was HOT!!!  WE had temps in the 90's and heat index well above 100 for several days, so with that and the humidity, we spent every evening in some water somewhere and most days hiding inside in the air that we finally had to turn on.

On Tuesday, the kids had some friends for the afternoon.  Bella, Jack and Emily stayed with us while their sister was at a swim meet.  The girls really enjoyed the friends to play with.  It was super fun to play in the unexpected downpour that came upon us just as they arrived.  Sadly, it was short lived, and we went back to being hot and wishing for rain.  Still, it was a fun day!

That night, we took all of the kids to the Sandy Pines water park!

Wednesday morning, we got up and going right away so we could pick blueberries on their second day of being open.  We were blessed with a cloudy, cool morning that threatened rain (but never came), so for nearly 2 hours the kids and I picked 34 pounds of berries while the picking was good and the weather was right!

Thatevening, we headed to Gun Lake for a gathering in honor of our friend Nick's passing one year ago.  It was a time of food, fellowship and swimming in the very rocky but super warm lake.  The kids did not want to leave!

We finally got a storm Friday evening into Saturday which brought us some very strong winds that woke me up.  Thankfully, we weathered the wind just fine and had no real damage or power outage, just some sticks and a big branch from a neighbor's tree that flew pretty far into our yard to pick up.  We also set to cleaning up the debris from our neighbors Danny and Pam as they were away for the weekend on vacation.  The kids were super helpers cleaning up the yard, and even with smiles.

That little bit of exertion, even at 8am, had us all pretty sapped and hot already, so we retreated into the house.  A while later, we headed off to Menards to get a new kitchen sink and disposal to replace those in our house that have been damaged and out of commission for about 2 years now.  With the trying task of deciding which sink was best out of the way, we headed home, grabbed some lunch, got ourselves back together and then headed off to Sandy Pines.  It was "Halloween" there, and though the heat and a rain storm canceled the Trunk-or-Treat that was scheduled to happen, the kids were pretty pleased that they got to go to a magic class where they learned some fun tricks and came home with a bag of supplies to replicate those tricks.

 Later that evening, we returned to the same building for a magic show, where we all laughed and were amused for over an hour.  Ezri was chosen as a volunteer to have her arm cut in half by a scarf.

 Thankfully, she survived it and came out in one piece!

 That night, we slept over at Sandy Pines.  Another round of storms came through, this time with plenty of rain and thunder that echoed down the channel, waking us all.  Alex found the girls all huddled together, with Ezri in the middle holding the other two, all under a blanket.  Poor kids!  It was a long and restless night from there with the sounds of the storm for a while.  However, we woke safe and sound and went to chapel the next morning.    After chapel, we decided to head for home, with too many tired and moody people needing some space.

Daddy chose to use the down time at home to install the new sink and disposal with the help of an adorable little sidekick.

 Since the storms passed through, weather has returned to a much more pleasant temperature that allows the windows to be opened once again and let the fresh air flow through.  The yard is greening up, and we are ready for a new week of summer fun!

A Camping We Will Go...

We had a slow start to our week, but things ramped up as the week went on.  The Reader Feeder Bus visit was a bright spot in the week!  Ezri picked out 5 chapter books!!!

We swam at Aunt Nancy's Wednesday night and returned Thursday evening to pick raspberries as well as go to Great Grandma's for a visit.  The kids had a great time decorating her patio with sidewalk chalk art.

 Elam, meanwhile, had a blast smashing things with a croquet mallet!

 Friday, after lunch, we jumped into our packed van and headed off for an adventure with our friends the Sebrights.  Destination: Lucky Lake Campground!!!  This has become a favorite for our family.  It is a charming little camp on a quiet lake with loads of creative playground space, many swimming areas, sites along the lake and lots of room to explore and play and just enjoy ourselves.  The girls were thrilled when they read the sign as we pulled in!

Once we got camp set up, we took the kids off to the big playground.

 

We had a great time playing on all of the swings until Jay & Becci arrived and set up their camp.  Then we went to find dinner before returning to play more.  The kids all played in a open field shooting little rockets for quite a while, until one got stuck in a tree...

 Which only represented a challenge that must be overcome for Alex.

 With anxious onlookers, he continued to throw a rope tied to a stick into the tree until finally he snagged and freed the toy from the branches!

 Then the kids resumed their play!

 With the evening drawing to a close, and bedtime on the horizon, the kids discovered a swing that had been at the big playground last year, now in a tree next to the big open field across from our site.  Enter more squeals of delight!

 Too soon, the sun was setting and bedtime had arrived for the kids...

With the kids finally all asleep (a rather long battle in our tent), we joined our friends by the fire and enjoyed the fire with the addition of some color!

 Saturday morning, the kids were full of energy and ready to go again.  Alex and I... not so much as we spent most of the night re-inflating our air mattress that seemingly had sprung quite a leak since the last time we camped, for some unknown reason.  Thankfully, we were able to get a new one in time for that night.

We started our day with a walk around the campground in hopes of finding ripe blueberries on the many bushes planted around the camp.  Sadly, it was too soon yet and none were ripe, but we still enjoyed the walk.

We ended back at the big playground once again!

Elam was mesmerized by a horseshoe game going on, 

so when he got his turn, he was so delighted!  Finally, something he could throw without getting into trouble!!!

 We squeezed lunch in, spent a few hours swimming on the beach, jumping from the docks and playing on the boat at the beach before settling back in at camp.  The kids and I hatched a plan to get all the big people to play a game with us, and we settled on Capture The Flag.  So much fun!  The kids picked teams and we played 2 games, spanning almost 1.5 hours.

 When we returned to our site to catch our breath and get some drinks before preparing dinner, a Bald Eagle was over the lake near to our site!

 While the kids waited for dinner to be cooked over the fire, they returned to the water in front of our site.

With dinner eaten and cleared, we got out the supplies for gourmet S'mores.  The kids got to choose between a few varieties of cookies or graham crackers for outsides and toppings including plain chocolate, peanut butter cups, caramels and more candies.  Each had their own unique creation that, when topped with a roasted marshmallow, brought on lots of "yum"s!

 All too soon, once again, it was time to tuck the kids in to bed as the sun began to set.

 But, before we put them in their tents, we had one more surprise for them - colored fire!  They were all quite amazed and there was a lot of chatter about how it was happening as they saw the variety of colors and exclaimed how cool it was.

 Then Elam entertained the circle by saying that everyone was named Jay when pointed to - until he was asked who should change his next diaper... then his response suddenly changed to Mommy!

Sadly, it was time for those munchkins to go to bed for real this time...

The adults enjoyed more time around the fire together as we watched the final lights of day slip away before turning in ourselves.

We woke Sunday morning to the discovery that a large dragonfly had used our tent to hatch!  Must be our tent is the optimal place for this to happen this summer.

Sadly, we had to begin packing up our camp and say goodbye to Lucky Lake for the time.  However, the adventures did not end!  We went north a little and walked up the pedestrian hill on Silver Lake where we enjoyed the view and watched vehicles run the dunes for a bit.  

 We had a picnic lunch at the park before heading to Little Sable Lighthouse for the remainder of our afternoon together.  We were able to tour the lighthouse... which involved a long climb up and down the spiral stairs.

 The view was pretty awesome, though!

Then we "swam" for a while.  The water was a bit colder than some of us preferred, but the kids still splashed around and got wet and a few adults braved the deeper waters as well.  The girls even helped catch a minnow!

We were all a bit sad to be heading back for home to the heat and humidity of the coming week.  We had been blessed with warm, clear, sunny weather the entire weekend brushed with breezes to keep things comfortable, it couldn't have been more perfect!