Tag Archives: Grannie Lin
Kayaking with the kids!
While Katie was fishing, Owen went out in a kayak with Grannie!
He did really really well and had a blast!
Then of course Katie wanted to go. We told her next year she could go by herself but this year she had to sit with Grannie.
Grandkid handoff!
Another week of grandparent camp for the kids and another week of respite for mom and dad! Everyone is having a blast!!
An early birthday for Katie.
Grannie and Papa wanted to celebrate Katie’s birthday since they won’t see her on her birthday so the kids helped make rice crispy treats!
Sock sorting!
Granny took on the huge challenge of cleaning up both kids rooms and switching out too-small and seasonal clothes…and one of the last things for Owen was a sock matching party.
Last day of school!
Last day of kindergarten and third grade!! 😳 and 😭
Owen agreed to let us walk him to the bus stop since it was the last day of school.
Katie’s turn:
My last day of freedom!
Papa and grannie bought the kids balloons to celebrate when they got off the bus!
Before—a kindergartner and third grader:
After—a first grader and fourth grader:
First day and last day:
Today they helped make fruit pizza!
Last day of playgrounds with Papa and Grannie
Who knew she has gotten this good?! We are impressed!
Playgrounds with Grannie and Papa!
Grannie decided it would be fun to have a mini adventure with the kids and take them to a bunch of the local parks and playgrounds that we haven’t been to. So they made a list of all the parks then drew numbers to decide where to go! The kids LOVED it!!
What clowns.
Oh yeah! Papa and Grannie are here on their way back from Florida…and they brought the kids clown noses. I love their serious faces in the first pic.
Christmas with Papa and Grannie
Grannie got us all matching jammies! Well, matching bottoms with shirts with sayings!
Grannie made us scarves!!
Papa being silly!
Brunch with Santa!
Grannie wanted to do something “Santa-y” this weekend for the kids, so we found a Brunch with Santa… Unfortunately I think it might be the last year to see Santa—neither one wanted to sit on his lap (though honestly, neither has ever loved the idea) but they agreed to stand at his side. They did enjoy the crafts afterwards, though. 🙂
Another Christmas Lego set complete!
And the cool part? The lego that lights up!! 🙂
And this is where it now lives:
The kids wanted to go out for a birthday lunch!
The restaurant didn’t do anything for birthdays so we went to Culvers. Owen let me play with his hair as a birthday treat.
Owen’s last archery session of his beginner class!
Papa and Grannie really wanted to see Owen shoot, so we were happy they were here for his last class. (They are so proud of him that they actually paid for his next level class!) We all got to soot, as well! Papa was the best of the three of us and we got to hear all about his very dangerous bow and arrow escapades when he was a kid! 🙂
Helping Grannie in the kitchen
Coloring with Grannie
I finally found the perfect leggings for us!
Katie’s first day of Kindergarten!
This is an idea I saw somewhere and decided to do for Katie…she will wear this shirt on the first day of school until she’s a senior in high school!
BESTIES!
There are only three kids at the bus stop!
Katie is in the seat right above SCHOOL.
Owen’s first day of 3rd grade!
I had to go in and wake him up at 7:30!! This year he gets on the bus at 8:25—that’s a half hour earlier than what we were used to in Virginia!
Katie holding Owen’s hand as he was waking up.
Owen and his bestie, Nate (2nd grade):
They are the only two at their bus stop!
Last campfire before school
We wanted to have a fire with Papa and Grannie but needed some firewood so we actually found some free on NextDoor… Yay!
The kids caught a few lightning bugs (it’s in there, trust me).
After we made s’mores we got the fire going a bit crazy.
The kids finally settled down and were cuddling of their own free will.
Then they were trying to read by bug light.
Blue Man Group in Chicago!
I’ve always wanted to see Blue Man Group and when I mentioned it to Grannie she said they’d like to go, too…so it was off to Chicago!
Photos weren’t allowed during the show so this is all I got beforehand.
The kids absolutely loved it and they immediately asked if they could see it again. 🙂
Edited to add some googled pics of what we saw:
Happy 16th Anniversary!
Waiting for Tom to get home and enjoying the weather on the front porch.
Of course we had to start with a traditional anniversary selfie. 🙂
Our dinner of choice this year was…sushi! This was called the Willis Tower and had layers of crab salad, sushi rice, avocado, spicy tuna, and a few sauces. You ate it with a spoon!
We couldn’t decide between three rolls so let the waiter choose for us. Why yes, that IS gold leaf on there (right).
We wanted dessert and were trying to decide where to go. Our waiter, knowing it was our anniversary, said he’d give us a mochi on the house. We’d never had it, but were game to try it—all we knew is that it would be strawberry flavor. This is what came out: it was strawberry ice cream on the inside. It was tasty but not quite what we had in mind. (I Googled later and learned that mochi is a Japanese rice cake made of mochigome, a short-grain japonica glutinous rice. The rice is pounded into paste and molded into the desired shape.)
So we headed toward home and somehow ended up at The Chocolate Sanctuary where we both indulged in our own desserts! (We rarely get dessert and when we do it’s shared between all for of us.)
Tom had Pecan Bourbon Crème Brulé (Jim Beam infused crème brulée with toasted pecans, topped with toasted meringue and Sanctuary caramel) and I had S’mores Dark Chocolate (Dark chocolate flourless cake with toasted meringue, cocoa graham cracker sable, cocoa graham crumble, Sanctuary spiced caramel, and cocoa-candied bacon).
We may also have let it known it was our anniversary (the couple across from us was celebrating their 38th!) so we may have also indulged in free champagne and raspberry chocolates. 💕
And then this was waiting for us when we got home. (Well, they actually weren’t quite finished when we walked in so we were forcefully instructed to go wait upstairs!)
The kids helped Grannie make rice krispie treats (decorated with our cake topper!) and they drew and colored a sign. They were so excited to surprise us.
It’s kind of hard to see, but they drew and colored lots of wedding-related things (my ring and flowers, the train, the cake, the horse and carriage) as well as some of our favorite things (Petoskey stone, a saw, dolphins). We loved it! And then of course we had to have a bite of still-warm rice krispie bars!!
It was a good day. 🙂
Aquatic Center Fundraiser
Papa and Grannie took the kids to the local aquatic center for a school fundraiser while Tom and I went out for our anniversary. I sent them with our waterproof camera!
A book from Grannie
Grannie gave Katie one of the books they read while we were there and Grannie had Katie write her name in the front of it. 🙂
Pre-bedtime snuggles with Grannie
The cookie monsters…and more!
We’re on top of the world!
None of us had ever been up Brockway Mountain, so we did that after mini golf.
Owen took a selfie!
Mini golf in Copper Harbor
Unfortunately it was really hot and the biting flies were out so we played a bit quicker than we normally would have…which was a challenge since Katie and Owen have almost zero experience and needed quite a bit of guidance. 🙂
Daddy was the only one to get a hole in one, and daddy was the overall winner (he usually is, so I don’t know why he whines so much about playing LOL).
Some of the holes had “crazy” rules—this one you had to play with the hockey stick!
Grannie has much more patience than I do.
The kids helped Grannie make deviled eggs to surprise daddy for lunch.
