When Katie gets Snapchat on my phone.
Category Archives: Playing
Our beach, Mount Battie & food!
There were LOTS of rocks between us and the beach.
Heading back up to the house to get ready for the day’s adventure!
On top of Mount Battie.
Then it was off to the surprise for the kids—Uncle Willy’s Candy Shoppe. They each got $10 to spend there ($5 from Grauntie Rose and $5 from me) and Katie spent all of it plus some of her own while Owen didn’t spend a penny and saved it instead.
This was one of the things she got—fruit flavored if you were wondering.
And this was what I got—it was interesting.
Then we went to mom’s favorite place for dinner—The Happy Clam. And of course I had to try their infamous Blueberry margarita!
Katie was enthralled with the old school playground so she spent most of her time out there! After dinner we took pictures!
Then Owen got involved!
I got my Monopoly’s money’s worth.
I begrudgingly let Katie buy electronic Monopoly (we already have two other versions) at a garage sale…but oh man did these three have fun with it! They were laughing and giggling and screaming for over two hours! I guess I got my $6 worth.
Gramma’s Grandparent camp pics!
TWISTER!
Katie found Twister at a garage sale… The dogs weren’t quite sure what to make of it/her.
A night at Great Wolf Lodge
I told the kids that if I ever got a decent deal I’d take them. So… Friday was the day. And they each got to invite a friend. Tom stayed home with the dogs and Anna came with me!
Aaand totally unlike me, I didn’t take a single photo the entire day/night… except one of Anna asleep at 8:03!
But the next morning after Owen left for his baseball game, the remaining three did the ropes course!
Getting higher!
A friend’s pool party housewarming
Grandparent Camp 2022
All photos and captions are from Gramma Jean!
Grandparent Camp moves to the UP!
A damn fine day.
We started the day at the craft show…where Katie decided to spend some of her money on a henna tattoo!
Then the kids took grandma and grandpa’s bikes out for a spin. Can you see them?
Right in the center of the picture!
It’s not the pool and it’s not my egg chair but it’s still a damn fine day.
My view!
I made the kids stay outside because it was just perfect weather. They’re making up their own rules to Candyland—which involved running around the house and naming fruits and vegetables. It’s crazy what creativity happens when they don’t have their devices!
Then Tom worked at getting the swing up!
And Owen enjoyed riding around the yard on grandma’s bike!
Once the swing was up, that was Katie’s favorite place to be! Sometimes she even let Owen push her!
Tom kept me from being parched with my new tumbler.
Got this photo update from Anna:
And then it was campfire and s’mores time!
Post-swim lesson playtime
Official Covid Day 3 report
I’m on library book 4. (I started and finished book 3, A Room Full of Bones, last night.)
If I didn’t know better, I’d think I just had a head cold. I’m stuffed up and I have phlegm. Still have the headache in the morning but Excedrin fixes that. Didn’t sleep great but I generally don’t. Overall I’m just TIRED and moving slow.
I’m excited (again) to be able to sit outside for a little bit—fresh air and a change of scenery. Plus I get to cuddle with Olive…
And watch her be cute and have fun in the yard. She loves laying on these inflatable sleds (for the waterslide).
The kids took a break from the slide to try and take Olive over to it. She made it to the side but hopped off once they set it down and tried to push her down the slide!
H-O-R-S-E
My baseball boys!
And what Katie does during baseball.
Olive, Day 8
Yes these will eventually taper off but right now she is just so damn cute.
Her first trip to the park! She needs to start getting used to her harness and a leash!
Anna let us borrow her cat sweatshirt.
First snow of the season!
Today we got our first significant snow of the season. Katie was at her friend Caden’s house and his mom sent pics!
This is what kids “playing together” looks like.
We officially have a new blue park!
Today was the official Grand Reopening! There were more people and kids there then I’ve seen in total since we’ve lived here! But it was a picnic so they had hot dogs, chips, and cookies! We couldn’t stay too long since we had dinner plans. But the kids and I did make an appearance and they got to see some friends!
A preview of the new park!
The park/playground across the street has been closed for renovations since the end of August. They took the construction fences down today so of course Katie ran over immediately!
She went down the little slide first.
The big curly slide can only be accessed via climbing up these ropes! It took some gentle cajoling to get her to do it. Then it took some more to get her to actually go down the slide.
But eventually she did!
Katie built a creative fort in the bed.
Gabby’s Graduation!
Gramma and Grandpa were headed to Gabby’s graduation party on Moccasin Lake in the U.P. (near Munising) so it was a perfect time to make the transfer. They got to spend the day with their cousins and had a great time!
Owen’s first raft ride behind a Jet Ski!
Waiting patiently.
First time in a hotel with them. We were tired enough, we all slept!Yep those are my kids!
This just in from Grandparent Camp—two of those little dots out there are our kids! They really only get to swim in a lake up north—they are pool babies—so this is a special treat. Katie is freaked out by fish in the water potentially touching her but Gramma Jean says she’s in up to her neck so this is a big deal!
Gramma said later that they were out there for HOURS. Yep, those are my kids!
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!
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!
Owen’s reward choice!
It’s really too cold to be walking around Pokémoning in Chicago, but it was Owen’s choice of rewards for bringing his grades up!
We walked around Millennium Park and finally saw the famous bean (we figure we’ve been here almost four years so it was about time). Unfortunately due to Covid it was all cordoned off so we couldn’t get up close and personal. We definitely want to go back when the weather is nicer.
We tried to eat dinner there but hadn’t made reservations (and weren’t about to wait an hour!) so we just started driving towards home and I found a place on Yelp for dinner so that was another fun mini adventure.
Both kids had a great time!
War with Gramma Jean
I thought the kids would have fun with these cards. I was right. They had a blast playing War with Gramma!
KITTENS!!!
I took the kids to visit Brianna’s kittens as they’ve never seen kittens (I know, right?! But ours were already cats when the kids were born!) and oh man did they love it! Laughs and giggles and soooo much happiness. It was wonderful after the recent loss of Charlie.
Katie and the snow.
We got a bit more snow than I thought—-this is not then we’ve had all season thus far. Tom also realized he needs a bigger snowblower—-it was so deep it took him about two hours to clear the driveway and sidewalks!
She built a seat and drink holder on the side of the driveway. She also built a slide.
Not pictured: the mini snowman and the grave of the snowman that didn’t survive. I give her major points for creativity!
Well, they’re happy at least.
We’ve been wondering when we’d start getting snow…and tonight was it. We are supposed to get 4-9″ but it has thus far stopped at about three. Hopefully there’s still enough tomorrow so they can go out for HOURS.
A fort sleepover!
I helped Katie build a fort today and she loved it so much she played in there all day and then invited Owen to sleep in there with her tonight!
