Baseball Man

 The never ending spring baseball season has come to an end.  I swear some of those games were rained out four times!  This guy just loves baseball - and I love watching him play.  He has improved so much over the course of the season. 

The team ended up tied for first place and he gets a trophy next weekend.  He can't wait. 

Fall ball starts up before we know it.  I have to admit I'm a tiny bit concerned. They start kid pitch this fall.  I think it will make for some . . . interesting games.  At least he will have a little kid pitch practice under his belt come next spring. 

Summer School Art Show

 William attended an amazing summer school program for the past six weeks.  He learned so much about reading, writing, and himself as a learner.  We are so incredibly proud of his progress.

 The art he created over the weeks was simply amazing!  That little fisherman is the cutest guy around and that burger looks good enough to eat - too bad it's made from clay.

The last day they had an awards ceremony and I wanted to jump up and cheer for him as he received his special award for applying the strategies that he has learned.  I have no doubt that this boy will do amazing things!

Toothless Wonder

Jack lost a bottom tooth on our trip to Michigan.  The next week at home he lost the top two teeth within a couple days.  The tooth fairy is going broke and he now asks me to cut up his bagels at breakfast :)

Zipline and Ropes Course

 On our last big trip to Michigan we did a ropes course in Grand Rapids.   The kids talked about it non stop - they just loved it!  In fact it was one thing that pretty much everyone wanted to do again this year. 

 Last time there were about six ziplines for William and Jack to try out.  They had a great time and would have been happy to do it again, but they were both in for a surprise.  William was old enough for the grown up course and they added tons of stuff to the junior course!  Everyone had a great time.

 Jack and his cousin Charlotte had a great time on the junior course together. 

 I don't think there was a single course that this guy didn't do.  I'm was so impressed

 Uncle Jeff was the MVP - Brian went to a bar to watch the World Cup finals and Jeff helped William around the course.  He just wasn't quite tall enough to reach everything.

It's safe to say it was a hit yet again.  I'm sure it's something the boys will want to do again on our next trip.  They were all sufficiently tired afterwards - including Uncle Tim :)

Gilmore Car Museum

  Max's fascination with cars is still going strong. He constantly announces when he sees and interesting car on the road.  Brian and his sister took these three to check out a car museum on vacation.  

The boys all thought it was pretty fun.  Brian was disappointed that the boys moved so quickly and he wasn't able to read everything - he said the collection was very impressive.  

 On Wednesdays and Thursdays they actually let you pay a little extra for a ride in  a couple of the cars.

The three boys chose to ride in a 1957 Cadillac.  I think they liked it :)

Another great outing for these three!

Beach Days

 Have I mentioned before that I love the beach?  Watching the water roll in, the feel of the sand beneath your feet, the sun on your shoulders, the joy on my kids' faces. . . it is my personal slice of heaven. 

Add in the fact that cousins from all over the country joined us and it gets even better!

Jack looked so ridiculously cute in his snorkel.  He loved it!

  All that beach time wore out these three.  It doesn't get much cuter than three cousins only a few months apart in age, napping together at the beach.

So many beach days with this guy in the books.  He may prefer to sit in the chair and he may take crappy pictures when I ask him to, but he is a keeper through and through!

Tubing and Beach Time

Brian took the big boys on a big adventure - tubing!  Max was a little  hesitant.  At first he didn't want to go at all.  A little positive peer pressure from his cousins did the trick and he gave it a try.  Ends up he loved it!

 William is always up for anything adventurous, so he was all in.  He did freak out a little bit when he got thrown, but other than that he loved it too. 

 While the big boys were boating Jack and I went for a walk to the beach.  I love that our rental was just two blocks from this amazing beach! 

The water was pretty chilly this day, so most of Jack's time was spent playing in the sand and making me super delicious soups.  He even hunted down sticks and leaves to add some extra flavor.  Yum.

Blueberry Picking

 Blueberries taste the best right off the bush in Michigan.  We always love to pick when we are up there and this trip was even more fun because we had the cousins to pick with!

 It was a bit of an adventure.  We found a pick your own farm online.  We have had a pretty cool summer until recently and apparently they were the only one with ripe berries.  We arrived at the farm and were told to head down the road a few more miles.

 We pulled up to a private house.  Apparently the owners are older and outsource their berry picking to the pick your own people.  Pretty ingenious if you ask me.  It was crazy hot that day and the grass was crazy tall, but the kids all had a crazy good time. 

Breakfast the next morning was some pretty awesome blueberry pancakes made my Grandpa Jack. 

Sweet 16

 We spent a good deal of our anniversary driving to Michigan for vacation.  We were joined with all of Brian's family and it was pretty amazing.  Luckily there were lots of Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and a Grandma and Grandpa to watch the kids so we could sneak out for a walk to the beach.

Watching the sunset over the lake was a pretty awesome way to end the day.  Cheers to many more years!