Lake life in Michigan

Prior to our annual visit to Michigan, hubby and I found a home listing that intrigued us. It had 5 acres and was not too terribly far off the beaten path that is I-83 and my lifeline. By this point we'd been looking at homes off and on for 4 years and had put in offers on at least as many homes. The timing was never right, and if we're being honest with ourselves, the homes were never quite right either. I never got discouraged because the universe has always taken care of me in the past, and I knew it would this time around as well. Also, I loved my life in the city, so although there were aspects of it that I was eager to leave behind (the fight for parking!!), there were plenty more that I knew I'd miss terribly.

Anyway, we were less enthusiastic/more realistic by this point in the process. We had come to realize that most homes seemed far better than they were, and that, generally speaking, most of the homes in our price range were not worth getting into a tizzy about. So we half-heartedly texted our realtor and asked if he could fit in a showing in the next 2 days prior to us leaving for Michigan. He couldn't. No sweat. We left. Michigan or bust baby! (House story to be continued....)

Day 1 was sunny, and Hannah and Eric wasted no time suiting up and jumping in. It's a good thing they did because days 3, 4, and 5 were rainy, dreary, and downright freezing (for August).

Joel must have struck the children as a top notch stuffie snuggler, and they wasted no time testing his talents in this arena.

Grannah and granpah bought a pontoon boat last year and used it to ferry us around the lake and back and forth across the lake from the cabin we'd rented to their house. Hannah even got to drive a few times!

(Uncle Justin's pic)

The little cabin we rented is in the background below. It was in a really private location with a neighbor on only one side and lily pads on the other. It was rustic to say the least, but totally worth the $400 we spent on it for the week.

On the evening of Day 2 friends and family came over for food, fun, and fishing. The tug on the end of this line was hard enough to garner everyone's curiosity.

 

They hooked a turtle!! (Don't worry, they threw him back after a few pics.)

There was a little fire pit type thingy, and where there's a fire, there's 'smores...Jacob eats so many things that I would never have dreamed of feeding Hannah at his age...His first impression of a 'smore was "hell yes, more please."

This is one of many pictures taken in the last few months that have caused me to look more carefully at the fluffiness I'm harboring in my middle. The holidays have fluffed me up even more...eeek! Looks like I'll be joining the masses of people who make resolutions about changing shape/toning up in the new year.

(Uncle Justin's pic)

Eric had a ton of fireworks left over from July.

Jacob loved them in July. He couldn't get enough. Afterward, every time he saw the box, he freaked out and begged to light them. He's a bit of a pyromaniac....

Hanging out with granpah...

...followed by some snuggles with grannah.

Hubby and his best buds.

Hannah posing with beloved members of her fan club :)

(Uncle Justin's pic)

 Loving up on Socks, her fur cousin.

(Uncles Justin's pic)

 All dressed up in her new outfit from grannah complete with new puppy purse.

When grown men wear Babiators.... 

Granpah loaned us his little motor boat so we could ferry ourselves back and forth across the lake on our own when the pontoon taxi was taking a break.

Another fashion show at the other side of the lake, this time with grannah.

Relaxing, lake style....

Fishing? Water poking? Relaxing....

Oh yeah. Tubing. As soon as weather cleared up and warmed slightly (I think Thursday), grannah and granpah brought over the giant tube, and Hannah jumped on eagerly.

Hannah let her dad take a loop with her, and then she kicked him out and rode around in that tube by herself for as long as grannah and granpah felt like pulling.

I stayed suited up in my sweatshirt and hung out lakeside with Justin and Socks who can apparently sleep in any position.

More 'smores!!

Jacob's turn to float around in the tube. And no, one picture was not enough...too many cute ones. Prepare for a sequence.

More relaxing.

The first of many photos of uncle Justin reading to Jacob.

Floating around...getting some sun.

If your lap is empty and a book is in sight, Jacob will happily curl up and have you read to him for as long as you're willing.

Hannah celebrated her birthday again while there. She shared a cake with granpah who also has an August birthday.

One of the only things as cool as 'smores: bubbles.

The menfolk doing their best to smile.

Hello family!

This lap is beloved by babies and dogs.

More maxin' and relaxin'.

On our final full day in Michigan, we drove over to our friends' house on another lake, and they graciously invited us to test drive their brand new jet skis. Racing Eric around that lake was the highlight of my vacation!

(Grannah's pic)

(Grannah's pic)

(Grannah's pic)

After a few laps we talked Hannah into jumping on with her dad. He taught her how to drive, and she pinned the throttle back, laughing maniacally as they cruised around that lake at top speed and asking to go faster. Speed demon? Adrenaline junkie?? Eeeek.....

(Grannah's pic)

I have just a few more end-of-summer awesome-ness posts before I slam you with a giant data dump of photos of our new life in the country.

Hannah's 5th Birthday!

Hannah's birthday was on a Tuesday this year (a Tuesday way back at the beginning of August, mind you), but we kept with our usual tradition of a multi-day celebration starting on Saturday. I made her chocolate zucchini muffins with a chocolate avocado icing, and her cousins, along with Grammy and uncle Chip, came to play for the day.

She got a scooter, a make-your-own jewelry box kit, and a new dress because Clay really wanted to buy her a beautiful dress. Hannah totally agreed with his idea of a beautiful dress!

We spent the rest of the day chasing them around the pool; fortunately, it was pretty easy to keep track of them because an overcast sky toward the end of summer resulted in a pretty empty pool.

I really wanted to throw her an official party this year, but the logistics proved too much for me. I am just not an events planner. It's why we never had a wedding and why my kids have never had a party outside of just family. See, I wanted to throw an old-fashioned sort of party, the kind where her friends come over to play in the yard, and there's nothing really scheduled except impromptu and spontaneous fun, but we didn't have a yard in August, so that wasn't an option. I thought about shelling out insane amounts of cash to have her party on-site at some location--she always has fun at the ones she attends, and there are advantages like nothing for me to set up or tear down or clean up--but I really wanted something more personal.

Another thing I'm beating myself up for is not scheduling Hannah to celebrate her birthday at school. Since she's a summer birthday, I have to work with the teacher to find a time during the school year to recognize her, and I never managed to do that for her third or fourth birthday. I'm not letting her fifth slip by though!! I already scheduled a half-birthday celebration in March with her new teacher. They have a great ceremony where the birthday kid walks around the earth (or maybe the sun?? I can't remember) once for every year old that they are, and they bring in pictures of themselves at every age. I'll probably just send her in with the book I made her.

Since she never had a party AND since she never celebrated at school AND since the logistics of a house party weren't working out for me AND since her birthday was on a Tuesday, I had the semi-genius idea to commandeer a day of summer camp. I figure that way I don't have to stress out about who to invite--whoever is at camp that day is invited. And I don't have to stress out about feeding them--you know I'd want to do something healthier than pizza, but I'd also want the kids to eat it--because they bring their own lunches.

So I rented a big moon bounce and ordered some cupcakes. Hannah and the other kids in summer camp spent the morning alternating between the bounce house and the playground. We got there a little early and bounced around by ourselves for a few minutes before all the kids gathered and came out.

The camp directors granted Hannah's best friend VIP status and let her out for some early bouncing too.

Photo by Greenspring Montessori

And then there were cupcakes! The two camps of 3- and 4-year-olds had almost 40 kids between them, so I took the easy route and ordered from Whole Foods. They were delicious and way cheaper than I expected, so it was totally worth it.

The moon bounce was there all day, but Hannah didn't want to stay. She cried and cried and begged to come home with us. We tried to talk her into staying and continuing the party; we even left without her at first thinking she'd calm right down and have fun, but we had a bad feeling about leaving her crying on her birthday, so Eric dropped off me and Jacob and went back to pick her up. She was still crying, so it's a good thing he did! It's her birthday after all, so if the morning was enough, so be it!

Since I'm behind on blogging, I'm lumping in a few earlier summer camp pictures....Hannah's school is awesome about taking and posting pictures on their Facebook page. I lifted a ton of them and wanted to re-share here, but it occurred to me that other parents might not be thrilled with their kids appearing here without permission (hoping the group photo above is too small to upset anyone), so I'm left with the two below: Hannah the snake charmer and Hannah the star of the sequel to Up.

Photo by Greenspring Montessori

Photo by Greenspring Montessori

Happy 5th birthday to Hannah!!

Back in the Saddle

We had a lot of dad-less adventures this summer since Eric was busting his butt in a new training program and traveled almost constantly until the end of July. My favorite of these adventures occurred in the middle of July. Early one Saturday morning (Jacob woke up at the ungodly hour of 5 that day so when I say early, I mean early), I packed up the kids and drove to Shepherdstown, West Virginia to visit Laura at her east coast home base. Hannah loved picking pears from the tree, exploring the cool old house and everything in it, and having some much needed one-on-one with her auntie Laura and Maesy. As usual, I sucked at taking pictures, but no worries since Laura always shares hers!

Photo courtesy of Laura Mae Socks

Photo courtesy of Laura Mae Socks

It cracks me up how serene we look in this next photo Laura took; it was actually the most chaotic hammock experience ever. I had child elbows, knees,and butts in my face, guts, and boobs for the entire two minutes that I was in that thing. I jumped out of it somewhat frustrated and annoyed, but this photo makes all that sound like a blatant lie, huh?

Photo courtesy of Laura Mae Socks

On Sunday morning we followed Amy to the farm where we reacquainted Hannah with Desi and introduced her to Jasper, Amy's mom's newish horse (new to us).

Jacob loved the farm and all the animals every bit as much as his sister.

The people who own the farm breed Irish Wolfhounds, and one of the puppies from a recent litter took to Hannah pretty rapidly. This worked well for Hannah who spends her days drawing pictures of herself and her future dog and wishing on every star she sees for a puppy.

 

 Hannah was pretty psyched to be able to ride Jasper and was in no hurry to hop down.

Jacob, on the other hand, was not thrilled with being on top of the horse and resumed his on-the-ground position fairly quickly.

Hannah spent much of the later part of the day down at the pasture with Sharon petting the horses and enjoying life.

 

I am immensely grateful to be part of such an amazing tribe of people who adore my children and enjoy sharing their lives with them. I only wish we were able to spend more time with all of them!

Group Selfie with Amy

I made Hannah a photo book for her 5th birthday with all my favorite photos from the first 5 years of her life. It took me for-EV-er (until the end of October, well after her birthday at the beginning of August) to finish, and now I'm bummed because this photo didn't make it in. Argghgh! I thought I was so thorough in siphoning through the millions and bajillions of photos I have...

This group selfie is from a hike we all took around Robert E Lee park in July. Amy wore Jacob on her back, so I was feeling light and free without my squishy little 25-pound snuggler. It was awesome!

Finger sucking/self soothing

I snapped this not-so-great picture because I wanted a visual reminder of the way Jacob tucks his lovey into the crook of his arm and then pops his middle and ring finger into his mouth and sucks away contently. I love it!

This is the last photo in the June folder of photos! On to July....