Our friend Kim gave Katie this dress she wore to Homecoming in eighth grade. Of course she had to put it on right away and add the boots!
Our little style queen
Category Archives: Friends
Heading home…
Our first (of hopefully many!) vacations together really couldn’t have gone much better! Lots of laughs, relaxation, drinks, excellent food, shopping, outdoor stuff, and tons of memories…with only a few kid squabbles. It was over way too soon for sure. Thanks to my dad and stepmom for hosting our motley crew! Can’t wait to do it again!
A little rock climbing
The kids wanted to go back to the nearby roadside park to climb the rocks again so Anna took them…and got some great pics!
Look what vacation can do!
These two really don’t get along at home —Honey is just too young and wants to play hard all the time and Maggie is just too old and wants none of it. So we generally try to keep them separated so Honey doesn’t accidentally hurt Maggie… but today they were both tired so I put Maggie on top of/next to Honey and Honey stayed calm and they were totally nap buddies!
Told you we’re the same person.
So on our souvenir shopping trip (while the men and kids were fishing)…of course we both picked up the same sale jacket unbeknownst to each other until checkout.
I was excited for a hot second.
Anna and I went shopping in Copper Harbor and while she ran back into a store I looked down and saw my odometer said 9999.9 and I was suuuuuper excited that I caught it! So I was taking pics of it so I’d remember where we were… And then realized that that was the TRIP odometer and the actual odometer was already past 10,000. Lordy.
Kayaking, Day 2
The boys were having a blast!
So Katie decided she wanted to go, too. And it started with super big happy smiles…and very quickly devolved into extreme pouting as she realized it was too windy and wasn’t as easy as she wanted. Ahhh vacation.
And this might be my fave photo from the whole trip… Happy boy.
Mini golf and a minor freak out
We took the kids to mini golf in Copper Harbor and due to Covid (short staffing) there was no one working so you paid your money and grabbed the balls and clubs and you could play as long as you wanted! A total dream, right?
Wellllll, we thought they would have a blast and they were okay with us leaving them alone while we ran to check out the campground and general store… except as we were headed back, we saw three of them walking on the side of the road.
UMMMM WHAAAAAT?!
Turns out Owen freaked the hell out (he says because we were taking forever and he couldn’t get ahold of us—phones but no phone service). We thought we were beyond that behavior and paranoia (he’s been staying alone for awhile now) but apparently the not-having-contact thing was the breaking point. So he took off down the road to…try and find us? Find other adults? We’re not quite sure. But Katie and Aiden were with him so they kind of all stayed together.
Of course we felt horrible…but we had zero idea that would be an issue.
Kayaking!
Honey chased after Anna all the way down the shoreline and out onto someone’s dock!!
Yes, the adults still had devices.
Part of the reason the kids didn’t have their devices was because the WiFi wasn’t working well and the system just couldn’t support everyone at one time. But really it was mostly because all the kids have better behavior when they aren’t on devices and they aren’t even an option.
We weren’t on them all the time, but this was a rainy chilly day so we were just relaxing while the kids were having Insect Fight Club.
Insect Fight Club
The kids were running around collecting bugs and we were very confused. Then we discovered that they had all the bugs under glass and were watching spiders catch ants and flies. I guess that’s what they resort to when devices are removed and it’s rainy out! #notcomplaining
Up North Date Night
Dad and Lin offered to watch the kids so we could have a date night—so we took them to The Fitz! It was sooooo delicious… And then after dinner we sat on the deck and enjoyed the weather and the view.
And on the way home, I might have stopped by a HUUUGE lilac bush and made David jump out and grab us some. (They were ALLLL over the place and I hadn’t gotten any fresh lilacs this year so I was kind of going crazy.)
And then…as Anna and I were enjoying the small bouquet…we realized that David was still cutting…and then he thrust a huge branch at us through the window!
Which we thought was absolutely hilarious.
Then we stopped at the Eagle Harbor Inn to see their bar (per Linda’s directive, so we could see their bar rails for ideas) and of course had to have a drink. My pretty one was Mermaid Water.
Then they wanted to go up Brockway Mountain Drive—and since I was the only sober one, I got to drive Dave’s truck!
And when we finally got home and went to get the ice… Ooops! With the crazy drive up and down the mountain and the bags Nott being tied tightly…
The date night continued when we got home—the weather was so nice that we went out and watched the sunset then had a fire!
And this is what happens when you tell drunk Tom we need more wood and there’s brush handy from when he cut branches earlier in the day.
At the Eagle Harbor beach!
It was sunny and nice but the water was freezing (as expected). We all walked the shore and looked (somewhat successfully) for beach glass. The kids did go in the water a tiny bit but didn’t swim!
I’ve been waiting for this for two years!
We made it! Thimbleberry margaritas to go! I might have gotten a little too excited and bought two pitchers. It’s a good thing we had a bunch of stainless steel tumblers ready to go!
And we’re off on our two family vacation!
I mean, they had a star.
We were at Costco and saw that Tom’s and David’s favorite whiskey had a * on the price tag—which means they aren’t going to be carrying it anymore. It’s legit $10 less a bottle here so we picked up a few extra bottles.
Ice cream surprise!
Kim had stopped by with her boys to see if Katie wanted to go get ice cream with them (her oldest, Tommy, a first grader, has a crush on Katie and wanted to ask her). Katie had a friend over so Kim said she’d just go pick up some ice cream for everyone. So everyone enjoyed some ice cream on the porch!
Her youngest (and my birthday twin) was just living his best life!
I loves me some Honey Bear.
And I think she likes me a little bit!!
I went over to Anna’s for a walk and while I was waiting Honey came to visit me on the couch! She can be such a cuddle bug when she wants to be!
Happy Memorial Day
So I’m just hanging in my egg chair relaxing and waiting to head to a friend’s house for a BBQ. I’m glad it’s not 95° but it might be nice if it was at least sunny.
Oh and I might have done a crazy eye look… that actually turned out not too bad!
First, the before and after:
Then the before and after with no mascara and then with the amazing fake lashes… Lashes really add so much to a look—and even tone down crazy to make it look better!
And last but not least, the full look!
P.S. I’m on day six of the blowout!
Introducing a new friend to the infamous bar and the fire.
And while we were out here, her son (same grade as Owen but they never met before) was in playing with the kids!
A real friend lets you sit in her egg chair.
We were over for dinner and I was in a mood so Anna let me sit in the chair. And it was PERFECT.
Another delicious brunch!
Ladies Lunch
Since we’re all fully vaccinated, some of our mom’s group met for lunch out today! We had a great time! I love these ladies!
Guys out and in!
Last night some of the women got together… Tonight we invited everyone over for a fire but just the men came…so Anna and I hung out on the couch and just let the men do their thing. They rotated between the campfire and the bar depending if it was raining.
I told Anna this was my perfect life. Girls hanging out one night, guys hanging out another. Hanging out together. Everyone has a good time. She agreed with me.
I may or may not be having a margarita with my bestie.
Anna wanted me to run an errand with her and Tom said we might as well go out for lunch. Okay then! You don’t have to tell me twice!
What was actually funny is that Anna ordered the Hibiscus Margarita and I ordered a Rum Barrel Punch—and we both liked each other’s drink more so we switched!
Primo Mother’s Day
The men took us to our favorite restaurant for what turned out to be an amazing brunch!
We got roses so tried a fun pic. I look ridiculous but oh well.
One of the four courses! This was after the seafood ceviche and before the meat course.
Cinco de Mayo get together!
All of us moms have been fully vaccinated so decided a Cinco de Mayo get together was called for!
It was SOOOOOO great to feel somewhat back to normal!
We each went to Costco for thing.
Anna and I joked upon walking in that we were here to spend $200 on stuff we didn’t need. Because, you know, that’s what happens.
We each got a cart because we’ve learned and by the time we got to the end, this is what both our carts looked like.
The freaky thing? Our totals were only $10 difference and we had totally different stuff in our carts! We joked that we really are the same person!
Maker Faire
The local college held a zoom Maker’s Faire so all four kids did it at Anna’s! They started by making rockets! It was only a bit of a cluster the rest of the day but they had fun!
And Tom and David built a rocket launcher so the kids didn’t have to go to the college to see them launched! It brought all the neighborhood kids over!
Today’s rule? ALWAYS BORROW THE TRUCK.
Just like Anna and I had to learn to always get a cart…
This car is big but not THAT big. One shed barely fits (the tailgate is open) and definitely no room for the second one.
