It was another late night for the kids (they got a bath at 9:50 to clean their dirty feet) and Tom was tired from working on Gramma’s new computer all evening (where Owen sleeps) so Tom just jokingly collapsed on top of Owen and said he was just going to sleep there. Owen was adamant that Tom leave. 🙂
Gramma to the rescue… Giving them both a quick bath. There was a lot of laughing and shrieking. 🙂
The crazy ladybug!
I told Gramma that for Katie’s birthday, instead of giving her stuff, to take her on an adventure. So she did.
In Gramma’s words:
For Katie’s 5th birthday this year, we went on an adventure! (Yes, in Grayling.) We played at three parks, went wading in the river (along some of the racers practicing), went to the grocery store for picnic lunch supplies [where Katie could pick anything she wanted—she got a Lunchable, strawberry yogurt covered pretzels, strawberries, cashews, and chocolate milk], threw stones in the river for a half hour, went for a 3-mile bike ride (yes, I fell), and had an ice cream cone at Wimpy’s. We were gone 7 hours and mom and dad were starting to worry! What great fun we had! Happy birthday Katie Bug!
Gramma says Katie could have pedaled for hours!
Gramma says: I am so glad Katie didn’t fall. We were too close to each other and her back wheel caught my front wheel.
Owen was so excited to go shooting! He’s doing pretty well with remembering the three rules (generally speaking he knows them but had trouble repeating them) so we’ll keep working on that. (If he can remember 632 things about Pokémon, he can remember the three rules about gun safety.)
His shots were all in the black!
We brought cupcakes and frosting for Gramma to do with the kids… Grauntie Marge ended up helping as well, and then I got stuck frosting them and Katie did the sprinkles.
We had them as birthday dessert for Katie after the Wednesday night group dinner when everyone came back to the house to visit. We even sang Happy Birthday to Katie and she loved it!
We specifically came up to Grayling Monday night we we could take the kids to the kids fest day since they had so much fun last year! Unfortunately, this year they didn’t have the canoeing with the pro, which is what we had really hoped to do again. 🙁 So this was as close as we got—and Owen refused to stick his head in so I did instead.
Family photo booth!
And it was time for a quick snack since they only had road trip ice cream for dinner.
Owen was brave enough to swing this year!
Road trip to Michigan for a mini vacation including the Len Christmas!
This leg Bella stopped crying but Charlie started. Ay yay yay. At least it was lunch time so we got more time to stretch out. I forgot a picnic blanket so we just grabbed Owen’s comforter which was on top of a pile. 🙂
The kids were thrilled because they fit their McDonald’s happy meals.
Pit stop #1. I had to take Advil since Bella has been crying since we left at 7am. (Come to find out, her crate had tipped over, so…oopsie! I guess her crying was warranted.)
I also learned that Tom’s car is NOT comfy for me to drive long-distance. The armrests don’t fit me!! So for the second leg, I pulled out some pillows and all was well!
Katie loves these little seats. She doesn’t need to use them, of course, but she always has to sit in it.
I woke up to this series of texts from Tom:
After a bunch more texts about calling roadside and having to wait and the guy going to the wrong exit first…I got this.
Yeah. Turns out the fuel evaporation line was clogged which prevented him from filling the gas tank. He ended up getting into Gurnee about 6pm instead of the 3pm as we planned. So, not a great start. It could have been worse, though, so we’re still thankful (can you imagine if the truck couldn’t have been fixed and they had to send a new truck and everything had to be unloaded and reloaded?!).
Dinner at Firkin with the friends who helped us get the house!
The bacon wasn’t quite what we hoped it would be (double-fried) but it was still tasty…just not quite what we wanted.
Five minutes from the house, they serve alcohol, and they have reserved RECLINING seats.
Yeah. I had high hopes for the candy bar… But it sucked. Too much fake bacon taste, not even enough bacon, and very little chip flavor.
We’re enjoying finding good places to eat!!
There were a lot of pokestops and gyms on the naval base so we took advantage.
It’s still SUCH a good feeling to be able to cross my legs in a middle row seat! I ♥️ Naturally Slim!! Also, I’m wearing my #lipsense stripes!!
I took the picture on the right day but it was during vacation so it didn’t get posted.
Me and Katie waiting for Tom and Owen to bring dinner to the gate in Atlanta. We weren’t able to get seats because we only had about 25 minutes until our flight started boarding.
We opted to board during the “people who may need extra time” call so we could have time to snarf our food before most people boarded. On the way down, we boarded during that time as well just because the kids were completely unfamiliar with the boarding process and we wanted it to go smoothly. On the way home we figured it had gone smoothly enough we didn’t need it so skipped it the first leg…but then decided why not on the second leg. 🙂
Everything went smoothly, and this is us walking to meet Tom with the car.
As soon as we got home, of course this happened:
Owen: Katie why are you reading my book?
Katie: I’M NOT! I’m just looking at it. I don’t know how to read yet.
Gramma was teaching Owen and Katie a new card game that involved matching suits and counting.
Katie: Let’s play plain. Without construction.
Gramma Jean was coloring with Owen and Katie. Owen was complimenting Katie.
Owen: Wow, Katie. You’re doing such a good job. You’re staying inside the lines. I’ve never seen a 4yo color so good.
Katie: I know, right?
At the airport, I told Katie that dad got her chicken fingers because that’s all they had.
Katie: Are you serious? I can’t handle chicken fingers.
We were planning on taking the kids mini golfing on our last morning, but of course, today is the best weather day we’ve had all week so we went to the ocean instead! (We actually gave them the choice, but there was no hesitation.)
The kids finally got to see some dolphins while Tom and I were out running an errand!
