Tom, Uncle Rob, and the kids went without me today…I had enough museum yesterday to last me for awhile. 🙂
Category Archives: Family
I love our kids, but…
I love our kids but I miss the days before kids when our schedules weren’t as insane and we’d all be in Grayling together over the holidays. (Of course, missing Kathryn and Marcus here!)
A tired trip home
After the early morning and walking to the museum and around the museum and back to the car and a little Pokémoning, this happened on the way home.
She was fighting it.
And then this happened.
Uncle Rob wasn’t fighting it. But look at my little happy and wide-awake photo bomber!! 😀
Five member Pokémon gym!
We got Uncle Rob started/hooked on Pokémon so we went out on one of our typical drives/hunts…and the kids took their new plush Pokémon they got from Santa.
And their Pikachu rode with me.
And then we took over a gym on one of our walking trails. We didn’t actually walk the whole trail, though—we just cheated and ran down to the pond.
With Uncle Rob here we can put five Pokémon in at a time!! (Oh yeah, that’s right, Katie now has her own account because I wanted her to stop messing around with “our” account.)
Merry Christmas from the Hudsons!
We were dressed for a friends’ Christmas party so we took some family pictures!
Christmas Trio—Then & Now
The best way to wake up on my birthday.
This was waiting for me in my texts. 🙂
Lunch with Aunt Beth in Fredericksburg
We needed to pick up some stuff we forgot in Michigan that Beth brought back for us…so we met in Fredericksburg for lunch! A friend who lives here recommended Castiglias and it was DELICIOUS!
Saying goodbye to Uncle Rob
Day 2 with Papa and Grannie
At Fort Wilkins. Grannie said they zipped through it due to potential approaching weather (and we know how Owen is with storms) but they liked it.
Katie did this twice!
Visiting with Great Grandma Pat, or Pappy. She gave Katie a Cinderella Barbie (which she ADORED) and Owen a mini pillow pet (which he LOVED). [Edited to add: Katie has slept with Cinderella every night since then.]
With Lin’s Aunt Carol.
With Lin’s Aunt Mary Kay and Uncle Bob.
A U.P. sunset at 9:45!
Katie’s 4th birthday party!
Katie’s party was on July 13, but I forgot to get the pictures off my big camera—whoops! I’ll move this post to the right date later.
Once again, we had a gathering/pizza party at the Ramada pool!
I was kicking the ball back into the pool…and kicked my shoe right off! I watched it land on the side of the pool…and tumble right in. 🙂
The cake design Katie picked out!
And then back at Gramma Jean’s to open presents!
And she had to put on one of her new dresses!
Fighting, fireworks, and fire!
Sticks always become fighting instruments:
Owen has been begging us to do the fireworks we have left (really just sparklers) so we finally got them out tonight.
‘Murica!
And we had a pooping dog leftover! Bonus!
And then a fire (with s’mores):
Plan B: A cousin water balloon fight!
When the weather gives you crappy beach days, you improvise at home!
Cousins: Izzy (almost 14), Owen (7.5), Anna (12), and Katie (4)
The best-laid plans…
The plan was to hit the beach at Petoskey State Park for play, rock hunting, and a picnic…but the weather had other ideas. We saw whitecaps as we approached…and it was a measly 72° (so with the wind it was probably about 60-65°) and the sand was painful as it whipped around.
So we were trying to decide what to do instead while sitting in the car. 🙂
We ended up heading inland to Burt Lake State Park (30 minutes away), assuming it wouldn’t be as windy. Ha! It was almost as bad! So we ate a fast picnic lunch (wrapped in towels because no one thought to bring jackets or sweatshirts for a day at the beach!), then got right back in the cars and headed home. We were all bummed.
Birthday treats!
Dairy Queen (plus I got my Vacation Bucket List Blizzard!), the park, Pokemon hunting for Owen, splashing and throwing rocks in the river, a walk around the neighborhood with Gramma, and then a Gramma cuddle. 🙂
I thought she’d like sticking her feet in the river but she whined that it was TOO COLD! (It felt like bath water to me!)
She agreed to get on the swing again…for a few minutes anyway.
Brothers, revisited.
The four of us have lost a total of 305 pounds on Naturally Slim!
Rob has lost 80# and is still going, I have lost 135# with a few more to go, Tom has lost 40#, and mom has lost 50# and is still going!
Len Christmas in July, Year 3
This year our celebration was at Rose & Jim’s cottage on Houghton Lake. The weather started out a bit sketchy—chilly and windy—but within an hour it was absolutely gorgeous! It was a perfect day with lots of delicious food, fun watching the kids, a fun gift exchange, and conversation!
I’m only posting this picture because it’s the first “in the wild” picture of me that’s been taken and…I had ZERO idea who it was when I first saw it!
Hitting a box of $5 garage sale golf balls into the canal—well, trying to get them across the canal onto the island but not many made it there. 🙂
This happened quite a bit!
Katie wanted to fish…but only for about 32 seconds at a time and then she was off doing something else.
Alex caught the first fish!
Feeding the ducks off the back of the pontoon!
Going out to hunt for turtles for turtle races!
Apparently the tradition is to kiss the first fish you catch… What a sport!
At first, Katie wanted nothing to do with the boat—she didn’t even want someone to set her on the boat! But after the second trip she was jumping onto the boat herself and loving every minute of it! Owen loved it, too!
They caught a previously-caught-and-tagged turtle—no one here is C.B. 🙂
Owen said fishing was boring—we told him yes, it was. He’s used to fishing at the Fish Hatchery where the fish pretty much jump in your bucket. 🙂
Aubrey tagged her turtle!
I lined the kids up for their annual shot and didn’t even realize until afterward—when Aubrey pointed it out—that I did it wrong! She told me “I’m older than Owen!” And I agreed with her and then realized they had been in the wrong order!
Nick is 12, Owen is 7. Nick had the slight edge on Owen last summer and it looks very similar again this year…though I think Owen gained a very tiny bit on him. We didn’t set them on flat ground so we can’t be 100% sure.
In the right order! Katie (4), Owen (7), Aubrey (8), Gracie (10), and Nick (12).
All of the cousins: Jessica (an upcoming senior), Alex (an upcoming freshman), then Nick, Gracie, Aubrey, Owen, and Katie.
Maggie was FASCINATED with the turtles!
Marge gifted all us girls with one of her ostrich eggs!
Turtle races!
Trying to scoop up the golf balls that rolled in the canal!
It was exciting for everyone when Greg caught this huge dogfish! (Katie is still talking about it days later!)
We celebrated Katie’s birthday a day early!
And Aubrey’s two days early!
Uncle Timmy diving for turtles!!
The second run of turtle races (after they went out on the boat to get more turtles)!
Owen’s turtle winning the second race!
And a Then & Now throwback picture:
I can’t remember the last time I had to wait in a line!
I guess that’s what happens when a small town theater gets a big movie on the opening day (Secret Life of Pets) and the weather is questionable (it was supposed to storm and it was getting dark and windy). As a sidenote, Owen completely freaked out about the weather and wanted to go home. We are not sure how or why he has become so freaked out about weather.
Unfortunately, we didn’t actually get to see the movie—there were so many people that by the time we made it in to look for seats there were none available (definitely not six together and pretty much only single seats here and there—people were even sitting in the aisles and on the steps). So we got our money back and decided to go another day.
Clickety clackity shoes!
I was cleaning and organizing in Katie’s room and as I was up and down the hall doing stuff, she came out with these shoes. She had seen them in her closet and, of course, wanted to wear them! Yes, ladies and gents, she found the tap shoes borrowed from the Beson cousins! I didn’t want her to wear them with bare feet (what she was going to do) so I dug out a pair of my knee-high stockings and oh man did she LOVE those!
Once I told her that they make noise, she started calling them her clickety clackity shoes. 🙂 (What did I call mine? Tippity tap shoes? Something like that?)
Throwback Thursday—Brothers
I started to clean out the file cabinet and had to stop and post this awesome picture. It’s circa 1997 shortly after Tom and I met.
I showed the picture to Katie and asked who they were. She didn’t recognize either of them. When I told her, she said: “No, those are different guys.” 🙂
More proof I’m turning into my mother.
I just couldn’t throw out the shrimp peels. So I’m making a small batch of stock.
One wear only + dust catching
I was packing up clothes to go back to the Beson cousins and realized she hadn’t worn this dress! So, we changed outfits so I could snap a few pictures. Of course, she had no issues putting on a dress!
Uncle Rob was behind me, hence the funny face.
Catching dust!
Legos with Uncle Rob
Daddy’s Day Off, Part 2
I completely spaced on it being school break time (duh, that’s why Owen was able to go!) and the aquarium was a nightmare. I have never seen that many people there…and we skipped about 70% of the stuff because we didn’t want to wait or push through the hordes to get to the displays. Ugh. We’ve been super spoiled the past few times we’ve gone and it was (for all purposes) empty.
On the escalator to another level.
Another escalator!
The frog displays were very busy. I didn’t get many pics.
Trying for a desktop wallpaper.
And one my favorites…jellyfish!
More attempts at computer wallpaper!
We had planned on having lunch beforehand at our favorite, Capital Grille, except we were there too early and they weren’t open…so we planned to do it after. But…as we were walking through the last part of the aquarium, we looked out across the water and saw Family Meal, a Bryan Voltaggio (Top Chef contestant) restaurant. I actually remembered I had a coupon for there, so we decided to try it.
We started with chicken pot pie fritters (delish!), Tom ordered biscuits and gravy (I might have been tempted except it came with over easy eggs on it which didn’t sound good to me), Rob got meatloaf, and I ordered fried chicken and this is the dish it came in. 🙂 It was yummy but a little expensive for what it was…but I’m glad we went.
And then this happened on the way home.
Daddy’s Day Off, Part 1
We all went to the Pentagon for a quick tour. We couldn’t take pictures inside so took this as we were leaving.
With Uncle Rob
Owen wanted to have hibachi when Uncle Rob was here…
Family Movie Night: Harry Potter
Christmas Eve!
Getting ready to bake cookies for Santa!
Fresh-baked cookies and a Christmas shooter (vanilla egg nog) for Santa!
Owen wanted to put his new Lego creation out for Santa.
Christmas jammies and Santa hats…
Along with lots of outtakes!
One good family picture out of about 15 attempts!
Uncle Grob!
And then a ticklefest ensued.
