4th of July

We got to go camping almost the whole week of the 4th. It was really nice to spent a lot of time together as a family. With Myles travelling for work so often, those times are far between nowadays. We went to the beach, had a seafood fest, and just hung out.
When we got home, I decided to clean the house from top to bottom. I mean everything. Walls, windows, baseboards, you name it, I cleaned it. Then, Myles was in Ohio for a few days. I killed time with the kids by going to the mall, hitting some garage sales (Aaron LOVES going to garage sales!), and going to open swim at the YMCA. Last Friday 7/13, I took Ginger(our dog) in to get shaved. Then I met a friend at the Detroit Zoo. I love that place! We were there for almost 5 hours! We had a TON of fun, but man, were we tired. On Saturday 7/14, Myles and I had a date night. We went to dinner and did some clothes shopping for ourselves. We didn't buy a thing for the kids. Which is pretty amazing, I think. The kids always seem to have more clothes than us. Sunday, we worked on the house. We're in the middle of a landscaping project in the backyard, so Myles worked on that for a while, and I am slowing scrubbing and scraping our back steps down so I can eventually I can paint them. Then on Sunday evening Myles steam-cleaned our carpets. Both of our kids have pretty severe allergies, and Aaron has asthma, so we try really hard to clean the carpets 2 time a year. Replacing all of the upstairs with hard wood was the best thing we've done for their allergies. Next week is another crazy week, but I'll try to get on here and post a little bit and add some pics from last week.

I love summertime!!

Summer is so great! And I love seeing it again through my kid's eyes. Everything is so new and fun and wonderful. They truly are the light of my life, and I wouldn't trade my life for anything!!!

Thurs June 14- We went to Spicier's Orchard for strawberry picking. Man, there were a TON of ripe ones. We were only there for 30 minutes, and we managed to pick over 5 pounds!

Sharing a cider slushie at the orchard

Fri June 15- We watched a friend's dog for the weekend. The kids really had a good time with her. I think Ginger liked it, too.

Sat June 16- Weeding the garden. Sounds like fun, huh? Wanna come over and help? Well, it needed to get done. I had a hair appt in the afternoon, and I got about 7 inches cut off. My hair had been too long for too long. That evening we got a sitter and I had a date with my hubby!! We went and saw Ocean's 13 and went to dinner. It was SOOOOO nice to be out, just the 2 of us. We need to do that more often.

Sun June 17- My friend Lisa came over so I could cut her hair, and we just hung out. Easy, breezy day. Myles left to go to Ohio for a couple of days.

Mon June 18- Emma had her 1st allergist appt today. Aaron got to go to a friend's house and spend the day at the local spray park. Emma got the back full of shots, and surprise, surprise, she has lots of outdoor allergies. I knew it was coming, between Myles' allergies and Aaron's, there's a clear family history. Emma also had her 1st dance class today. So cute!

Tues June 19- Rained a lot. Aaron had swim class. He's still good. Learning form, when to breathe to the side and timing that up with the stroking arm.

Wed June 20- My sister-in-law came over for the day. We all went to lunch, did a little running around and then I cut and colored her hair. Very cute, if I do say so myself ;)

Thurs June 21- Kensington Farm has lessons on Thursdays, so we went. Very cool. This week was horses. We got 1 crafts, a snack, got to pet the horse, and a story. Then we stayed and had a picnic lunch, until it started to rain on us! Then we ran to the car. Aaron had swim lessons again in the afternoon.

Fri June 22-Did some running around. Myles was in town working at GM for the day, so we met him downtown for lunch. It doesn't happen very often, so it's really great when we can do that. My sister-in-law came over again and watched the kids while we played our monthly card game with friends.

Sat June 23- Howell Balloon Fest. Awesome! We saw a dog performance, skydivers, kite tricks, a carnival. It was cool. The kids loved it, and then slept like logs the whole way home!!

Sun June 24- We went to my Aunt Mary's house to mooch her pool. We ended up staying all day. It was beautiful outside, 85* and clear as a bell. So we spent a few hours in the pool, lounging. When we left, we brought my cousin Avery, who's 10, home with us to stay the night. Aaron loves him to death.

Aaron and Avery were wrestling, and Emma was brushing his hair. LOL

oopps!

I didn't take any pictures last week, so I guess this will be a short post!
Not too much went on last week, some running around and then we left for camping on Thursday. Myles was in Ohio Wednesday and Thursday, so he met me and the kids up there on Thursday night. This was our camping club's monthly outing weekend, and we were the hosts! Our first time flying solo. We had fun. Saturday morning I made a killer breakfast casserole. It was really good. I even made copies of the recipe to hand out, it was that good. Then we had a trailer scavenger hunt. That was too short, but fun, too. Then we did hot dogs, hamburgers, and sausage for dinner, with everyone bringing a dish to pass. Good eats all weekend. The weather was wonderous. The guys went to play golf and the ladies were reading books in the sun. Sunday was my parents 30 year anniversary. They are going on a cruise to Alaska next week to celebrate.
That's about it. The kids are running around in the sun everyday and getting very brown, even through all the sunscreen I seem to be constantly applying. Aaron is slightly lost now that school is out though. I've been having him to workbooks, so he feels slightly more grounded. That boy is a slave to a schedule!
This weekend we are staying home and doing work around the house. Today I am cleaning everything in sight. Especially the fun stuff, like the doors, polishing furniture and walls. I still need to plant a veggie garden! I've never, ever been this late. Myles has some work to do to the garden before I can get to it, so I think that's on his plan for this weekend.
Ok, so this wasn't a short post....lol
I'll take pictures this week, I promise.

Growing Up Fast!

Aaron's last day of school

Aaron's favorite teacher, Ms. Terri. She's moving this summer and won't be back next year, She's great! We will miss her.

Having ice cream in town, near camping. They are very good sharers.

Two engineers putting together our new camping BBQ.

Enjoying the fire before bedtime.

Last weekend (6/1-6/3) we went to the campground. It was an off weekend, so it was almost empty, just the way we like it. Beautiful weather.

This week, I have to get ready to host a camping outing next weekend. So I have a lot of lists and shopping to do. Myles will be in Ohio for a couple of days, so he'll be meeting me at the campground later in the week.

I've been trying to plan our summer with lessons for the kids, vacations, and family coming in from out of town. It's crazy. My sister-in-law will be here for a couple of weeks in June, Eva and Emeric will be here for a couple of weeks in July, dance lessons for Emma, swim and Safety Camp for Aaron, and the summer's gone!! And I told Aaron he could have a b-day party this year. I'm momentarily overwhelmed!! lol At least I know we'll be busy and have fun this summer. I know that my in-laws want to go camping with us again this summer, too. I think our next free weekend is the first week in August!

Vacation time....

Well, it's been a few weeks again since I last posted. Lots has happened, so I'll just get to it.

Before we went on our Traverse City vacation, we went to the annual Milford Fire station Pancake Breakfast. I think this is our 3rd or 4th year going. The kids love it and the breakfast isn't bad either. We got there right at 8am, and left for TC right from there.

Sunday

Monday

collecting sea shells

I LOVE how well they sleep. Aren't they the cutest??

Sunset from the condo's balcony

The ducks we illegally feed every year

We also went to go see Shrek the Third while we were there. We headed home on Wednesday.

Thursday 5/24, I had a quick doctors appt, so that's all we did that day, well, Target too, but that doesn't count! LOL

Then, Friday Aaron went to school and when I picked him up at 11:30, we left for camping. It rained Friday and Saturday, but Sunday and Monday were nice. I love being at the campground. It's so relaxing for all of us. And being outside all day feels so good.

This week has just flown by. It's been beautiful outside. I set up a sprinkler in the backyard for the kids.

They also helped me weed in the backyard.

Aaron had a Field Day at school today and tomorrow is "graduation" day. I'll post pics of that later in the week. I'm really trying to take pics every week and post them, but sometime I forget.

I'll do more later......too much to do, too little time. That's my new motto.

Emma's cool, with my sunglasses
Family portrait

Aren't they cute?

This is my favorite pic, I think.

I had to help Emma walk down the asile.

David's best friend Anthony, who is in the Navy

Being cheesy.

Emma in the play tent in our backyard.

Spring Has Sprung!!

It is finally beautiful weather.
ok, quick recap of the last, last week:
I am walking at Kensington a few times a week. I think it will help me on training for the 5K. Aaron had "Graduation" pictures taken at school. He's graduating from preschool. Kinds cheesy, but cute. I'll post some pics when I get them back. Still swimming like crazy, and the kids are lovin' it! I got a spray tan on Saturday for Lisa's shower, and I loved it. I'm doing it again before the wedding. Myles worked really hard on readying the gardens. He sifted soil and removed a ton of rocks. I think this is the year that we do a lot of work to the backyard.
Recap of last week:
More walking, running around, doing lots of hair this week, Myles was home early a couple of days, Aaron had a bike-a-thon at school, which was a lot of fun for him. And this weekend, I planted a bunch of annuals. This is the earliest I have ever planted, but the weather is SO nice, I couldn't wait. I only did 4 flats, so I still have a bunch to do, but it was so nice to play in the dirt again. Myles was working on the gardens again, as well as fixing the water nozzle to the house. Saturday we went for a walk and the went to the Farm at Kensington. We saw a pig in labor, so we said we would come back every day until she delivered. We came back early Sunday morning and there were 11 piglets! They were born during the night. Aaron got to milk a cow, and we saw all the babies at the farm (and there area LOT right now) have breakfast. I love the farm, it's so cool every time!
I'll post pictures later, but now I've got to get Aaron to school.