We pulled into Eagle Harbor and immediately saw them on the beach!
Then it was off to dinner! We showed Katie the marks on her forehead from her swim goggles! Grannie Lin and I shared a lobster pizza—yum!
Then it was off to the playground…
…while daddy, Owen, and Papa went hunting Pokemon at the Eagle Harbor lighthouse.
Then they met us back at the playground.
Back at Burger King!
And back at the beach in Eagle Harbor!
We honestly didn’t think either kid would go in because it was too cold…but they both surprised us!!
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 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!
Grannie sent me pics all along the way. They stopped at McDonalds twice plus playgrounds…so they had a ball.
Finally at Papa and Grannie’s!
The kids are buckled into Papa and Grannie’s car to head to the UP ahead of us! They were excited!
We had hoped to go mini golfing or to Hartwick Pines but it was overcast with the threat of rain…so we lunched at Spikes with Papa and Grannie (Spikeburger!) and then went bowling!
Retrieving a Katie ball that didn’t quite make it to the pins. If we didn’t help her, this is what would happen. It might have happened more than once. 🙂
The kids had a blast—here’s Katie in her slippery shoes and Owen getting a spare!
Tom won both games and Grannie came in second—though, to be fair, she was playing on the kid lanes with the bumpers! 🙂
Since Filipeks needed the upstairs bedrooms, the kids came down to sleep with us—we were going to try putting each on a couch but opted for the more-familiar aerobed.
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):
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 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.
This is the look we got when we asked Katie if she wanted to try the waterslide. She wanted nothing to do with it—even though she went down it before and loved it.
And then she up and decided she wanted to do it—and couldn’t get enough! After the first few times down, she didn’t even want Tom there to catch her. She just swam over to the edge all on her own!
Owen didn’t ride it but liked playing with it.
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!)
I didn’t get any pics that were perfect…so I tried again. Still didn’t get a perfect shot but they’re still cute. 🙂
And the four-year collage (with years 1, 2, and 4 at Gramma’s house)!
Unfortunately, she did NOT want to get up…and it took us about 20 minutes to wake her up.
The first photo shoot!
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:
Grandma Jean bought a swing for the kids and wanted to put it up somewhere in the yard. Unfortunately, there aren’t any good tree branches for it to attach to but we winged it.
Katie was the only one able to swing on it—Grandma Jean and I were going to except it was a little too low and Owen tried but wasn’t serious about it and kept “falling” off.
So the swing wasn’t a huge success…as a swing…but Gramma saw the positive and said “At least I bought them a frisbee on a rope!” 🙂
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.
She loves sitting on the little seat. No, she doesn’t NEED to sit there but she loves it. (It’s to strap a little one in so they don’t run off or get into trouble.)
Guess who wanted to snuggle again?
I’m amazed at how much she loves the water and how comfortable she is in the pool! She jumps in regularly (with and without goggles), does cannonballs (complete with holding her knees), and just taught herself to retrieve rings from the bottom of the pool. She turns four in a few days. #proudmama
These are all rehashed photos, but it’s what I posted on Facebook. 🙂
Mama, I want to snuggle with you.
Those are magic words for me and I’ll pretty much drop whatever I’m doing because I rarely get Katie snuggles these days. So it happened today. And then this happened.
Siiiiigh.
Since we had two days of rain over the holiday weekend, today I took the kids to the park where they pretty much sat there and played restaurant. Or did this.
As soon as we come home, what do they do? Run around the house like screaming banshees playing tag.
Kids.
Other than a nice Saturday, the holiday weekend has otherwise been a bust—it’s been 65° and rainy for two days. Blah. Yes, the kids are still in their PJs at 4pm. 🙂
And a few minutes prior—I came downstairs to see this:
