Mackinac Island

We were able to spend the weekend on Mackinac Island. It is such a unique place without any cars and only horses/carriages or bikes as your mode of transportation.  My cousin Kevin was getting married on the island.  


We were able to stay on the Island with my dad, Connie and my sister.  We had a great time spending time together and just hanging out.  

The wedding was small (45 people) and beautiful.  I don't have any pictures of the ceremony because it was a full Catholic mass and the kids only lasted until the Gospel (20 minutes) before getting restless.  

Mark and I spent the next 40 minutes chasing the kids outside and trying to keep them quietly entertained inside the church. The kids did great and everything went off without a hitch (at least it appeared that way to us).  The reception was food and the food was absolutely amazing!! I still have dreams about the prime rib that was served for dinner. 

Before the ceremony, we were able to enjoy the beautiful day by going for a walk on the island. We stopped by the Grand Hotel (which is 125 years old and was built in 90 days by 600 workers working 24/7. It's also made out of Michigan White Pine, which is our state tree.  I learned all of this on the carriage tour we took Sunday morning). ;-) 

            On Sunday, we went on a carriage tour of the Island.  We stopped at the butterfly house and horse carriage museum, Arch Rock and saw many other famous places on Mackinac Island.  As soon as we stepped into the butterfly house, Erin lunged for a butterfly and smashed it. Whoops! Thankfully, the butterfly house keeper didn't see it.  

This picture makes me laugh out loud every time I look at it.  Will and Erin were mad because they wanted to throw rocks.  Grandpa wasn't mad, but was actually laughing at the situation.  The picture captured everyone at a great moment! As soon as the kids were on the ground they stopped crying.  

Daddy, Aunt Krysten and I were able to enjoy the nightlife thanks to grandma and grandpa who babysat the kids (we all stayed in the same suite so it made it really easy).  Mackinac Island is one of my favorite places in the the World.  I love when the last boat leaves and you have the whole Island to yourselves (no cars or motorized vehicles). It is truly magical. 





We took the 1:00 ferry back to the mainland.  Both kids fell asleep on the ride.  We had a beautiful view of the Mackinac Bridge and enjoyed the ride.  We hope to go back to the Island again soon.

BIkers For Babies

Last year, Mark and a small group of friends participated in the March of Dimes Bikers for Babies event. Instead of riding motorcycles (which none of them owned), they decided to ride 60 miles on their road bikes and they collectively raised $7,000 for the March of Dimes. This year Mark (who served as one of the chairmen of the event) was able to round up another small group of people to ride with him. They rode 35 miles around Gun Lake and raised $2500 for MOD.

Pam, Sarah, my mom, the kids and I all got there right as the motorcyclist were leaving for their ride. It was extremely emotional to watch 100's of motorcycles roar past us riding to raise money and awareness for babies like Will and Erin.  I couldn't help, but shed a few tears as they rumbled by.

Once the motorcycles were gone, we had about 2.5 hours to wait until everyone returned to the Martin 131 Sports Park. We spent our time hanging out with Chris Tooman and his son Noah. His wife Jen was riding with Mark. They were the

Ambassador Family for Bikers

this year. We checked out some booths, walked around and then watched the motorcycles return. Finally after about 3 hours we saw the pedal bikers on the horizon. They had a good ride, but were exhausted.  It was a beautiful day so we stayed around to eat lunch and watch the cars on the drag strip.

 

                                                               Team Will and Erin

 It was a very fun and exhausting day. We are once again thankful for all that the March of Dimes has done to help babies!

The 'Good' Camera

I finally started using our 'good' camera again. I put it away about a year ago because it was just to big and to much to manage.  Well, one morning I decided to get it out of the closet and take a few pictures. Wow! What a difference it makes to use a nice camera! The pictures turned out so much nicer than my phone and small point-and-shoot camera.  These picture capture how I spent many mornings this summer.  Just hanging out, playing and having fun.  The kids were so good and so much fun.  I couldn't have imagined a more perfect summer.

Morgan was in my class the year I had the babies.  We are now her neighbor and she has become my Mother's Helper.  The kids LOVE Morgan and get so excited to see her. I LOVE Morgan too and get excited to see her because I know that I'll be able to get a few things done around the house.

Will's dance moves consist of him moving his arms up and down and bouncing. It's VERY cute to watch.

Summer Fun

It's the last night of summer and I head back to being a full time working mommy.  It's been an amazingly fun summer and I can't believe that it is already over.  I was looking back at some of the pictures we have taken during the past month.  I've decided to post some of my favorites so that I'll have them in my blog book.  

 Piggy back rides are a new favorite in our house.  We lay on the ground and the kids climb on.  Erin has even started to pull us up so we know when we need to start the ride.

Look who learned how to crawl up on the kitchen chair. She is very proud of herself and LOVES to climb up whenever we forget to push the chairs in.









 
 


We had an eye doctor check up (which was a great report and we don't need to go back to the pediatric opthamologist anymore!) and then stopped by the NICU to say hi to everyone.  Then the kids and I played outside in the Children's Garden. I remember sitting in their rooms and looking at that garden.  It was full of snow and then in the 
spring it opened to the public.  I watched families enjoying time together in the garden.  I couldn't wait to bring my babies outside and do the same thing.  The kids LOVED playing with the instruments, smelling the flowers and watching the cars (the garden is located on the roof).  We had a picnic and then headed to daddy's work to say hi. 

 In the beginning of August, we headed up to Crystal Mountain to enjoy some time with Aunt Sarah, Uncle Marc and the Schafflers.  On Friday night, the Scottville Clown Band was playing for Happy Hour.  We all enjoyed the music and entertaining show.  The next day, I got to lay out at the pool with Aunt Sarah and no babies! They joined us after nap time.  We spent the evening eating dinner with great friends.  I am sure we turned a few heads when we all went for a walk on Sunday morning. 

 The kids completed the Summer Reading Program at our local library.  Here they are getting ready to turn in their cards.  For all of their hard work, they each got a new book, a ticket to the Whitecaps Game (Detroit Tigers farm team) and the Grand Rapids Griffins (Red Wings farm team) and a personal pan pizza.  Not to shabby for reading and playing. 


 

The kids love to play in the back of daddy's new truck. 







                                                     Costco samples.  Enough said.  ;-)