Dad's 60th Birthday / Anna Takes a Drink!

This year my dad celebrated birthday number 60. It's so hard to believe that my dad is sixty. They had a big cookout and also celebrated Aletha and Madeline's birthday too. The kids jumped on the trampoline even though it was really hot that day. So we broke out the baby pool and the slip-n-slide.

We caught little miss Annabelle taking a few sips of the cool water as she crawled around and played. Thanks Jeff for taking the video. LOVE it! Just watch...

Anna's Bathtime

I love watching Anna in the bathtub. She loves everything about the water and splashes to her hearts' content. Lately she has discovered the joy of drinking from the faucet. So stinking cute she is...

First Day of School

It was a mixed emotion morning for me today. I'm so proud of Garner, but so sad to see that real life is starting to creep into his childhood. Today is the official first day of kindergarten. He was so excited the day I pulled out all his new school uniforms. He said, "THANKS Mom. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my new clothes!" Let's hope that he feels the same way in just a few years!

So we met his kindergarten Teacher, Mrs. Hackett yesterday at the school open house. I'm cautiously optimistic that things will go well this year. Less play & more learning. Dear Lord... help my son to LOVE school.

We also took Braden to meet his preschool teacher, Mrs. Maccariella yesterday. He loves his school room. There is a slide, and tons of play area, water table and more. He was excited this morning, ran right in and wouldn't even look at me when I said goodbye. I'm happy that he is so happy to be there.

Still the house is quiet this morning. For as often as I have missed a quiet house now I miss the little voices more.

Maumee Bay Afternoon

With the summer quickly closing to an end, we took the kids to Maumee Bay state park one very pleasant and warm afternoon. All the way there we heard "Wahs dat bridge for?" as Braden wanted to know what literally every overpass was used for. We eventually started making up things since it was about 40 minutes of driving. At one point we started saying things like... "Elephants cross that bridge." "Monkeys cross that bridge."

Once we finally got there, we enjoyed the beach and let the kids play in the sand and water. I especially enjoyed watching Braden sneak off to create a little mischief and chase the gulls... Too funny.

Annabelle ate some sand before we could take it from her, but other than that she had a ball too.

Garner was up and down the beach in his floaty suit and had so much fun swimming all over the place. Then we picnicked on the beach at dinner time.

A Berry Old-Fashioned Day

Today we had a wonderful restful Saturday at home. But this afternoon we decided to take a mini-adventure to Johnston Fruit Farms in Swanton. The kids got to feed the farm animals, pick *eat* raspberries and play in a sand box with Tractors. They had a ball.

Braden's favorite part was the animals. Actually he said "feed the raspberries," but corrected himself to mean the animals. We all thought that was funny.

Garner's favorite part was picking the raspberries.

Annabelle's favorite part was eating the raspberries.

When we got home after a few errands, the boys helped me make raspberry cobbler from scratch. Then as a special treat we had warm raspberry cobbler fresh from the oven and vanilla ice cream. I still think they aren't asleep yet.

Lake LeAnn

A few weeks ago we were invited to spend the day at a lake cottage at Lake LeAnn in Michigan. Uncle David, Aunt Bethany and many of Darren's friends from the office were there. We had so much fun that day. The kids did wonderfully too.

Garner was fascinated by the boats and the kayak they had, while Braden was content to play in the sand. Annabelle loved the water too and had a ball. It was really a memorable day and we are grateful for the wonderful hospitality that our friends offered us.

Here are some great pictures we captured through the day.

Remembering our Independence

Darren took the boys to the Perrysburg / Maumee Fireworks this year and met up with some good friends Virgina & Ben Bossa. I joined them after I left work that evening.

They had fun, ate free slushies and hot dogs, and had their faces painted. We had packed some sparklers and glow sticks which was a huge hit with all the kids. Then we sat back and enjoyed the fireworks.

Braden was a bit afraid of all the noise at first, but eventually he pulled out his ear plugs.

Then we took our little tired boys home. It was a long but fun day!