she's an animal

ladybug has been working on her animal sounds as of late :)

new buffalo vacation 2014!

I'm sad to report we are home from our vacation to Michigan.  We had the best time.  I wish we could have stayed for another week (there was semi-serious talk of just extending our time off.  No one wanted to come home!)

Nothin' Dune was our home for the week.  This adorable house was right on the beach and everyone made themselves right at home. 

This back room had a great view of the lake and we ate our meals and hung out here most of the time.  You know it's a good vacation when Mike barely touched the 60" TV in the basement.  

This unexpected friend we called "Bill" joined us.  At first charlotte was terrified of him.  By the end of the trip she was offering him drinks from her sippy and trying to yell "Buffalo!" 

Our backyard had this finished little guest house in it.  Colin dubbed it the "Clubhouse."  It was great for when the boys wanted to play Candyland or Uno without "participation" from Charlotte.

It was also great for pulling out the trundle and jumping on the beds. 

Most importantly!  We had a hot tub!  (Or "hot pool" as Colin called it).  We spent many, many afternoons (and evenings) relaxing in the hot pool.  Colin has been telling everyone about it, including the UPS man last night.  

Those are not Colin's beers.

Not a bad view for dinner. 

Of course we had record-breaking low temps for the week we were there.  We were in New Buffalo the exact same week in 2012 and it was in the mid-80s.  You know, when I was super pregnant and nauseous and hating the heat.  Oh well.  The rough surf for a few days gave us some beautiful sunrises and sunsets.  By the last couple of days, it warmed up and turned sunny.  

Just 30 steps down to the lake...

One of my favorite clients is a doctor from St. Joseph, MI who told me awhile back that we should drive up there for an afternoon... so we did.  It was a great little town.  We hit up two different childrens' museums and this amazing indoor carousel right on the beach.  Then we had lunch at Silver Beach Pizza in a train station on the beach.  It was super cool.  

We squeezed in all our old favorites for food and ice cream, and returned to the New Buffalo park that was such a hit with Colin a few years ago.  I could totally live here.

 

We also decided to take advantage of the fall-like weather and head out to an apple farm we found.  So much fun!  We did the hayride out to the fields...

 and the kids had a blast picking (and eating) honeycrisps...

But the biggest attraction of the trip for them was of course the beach.  So glad the weather was good enough for wading, rolling down the dunes, digging in the sand, skipping rocks, harassing sea gulls, and just relaxing by the water.

 

I'm so sad it's over and can't wait to get back.  I have an excruciating amount of pictures here:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0ActG7Vs4cMWry4.

on hiatus

Sorry for the lack of action on the blog.  Since our last post, we have done lots of things, not all of which were photodocumented.

We took a fun labor day trip to the quad cities.  Colin is by now an experienced traveler.  First class all the way.

The kids had lots of fun with the grandparents, including a fun trip to the zoo where Colin got up close and personal with this guy:

Lets see.  We all got sick. I got asthma. Charlotte got an ear infection.  Mommy had to go to Indy for two days for work.  When she returned, her personal barnacle was even more attached than ever before. 

(most frequent word in our house this weekend: "MOMMY.")

I haven't yet unpacked from the last two trips, but did you hear?  We are going on vacation this week!

(this is Colin's face whenever "bacation" comes up)

Charlotte is ready to go. 

So if you need me, I'll be in my happy place here in Michigan. 

Peace out.

happy friday from baby and mama

1st day of Pre-K!

Here's big boy Colin off to his first day of Pre-K today!  

He did a great job walking right in and basically shoving me out the door!  I think it helps he's been visiting and some of his friends are in this class as well.  Hard to believe he's moved all the way from the baby room at daycare to the last stop before grade school!

50 states song

Colin's last day of preschool with Miss Mel was Friday.  He's learned so much in that room and we are so sad to be leaving Miss Mel behind.  One of her greatest accomplishments has to be teaching a bunch of 4 year olds the 50 states in alphabetical order.   Colin adores the 50 state song and we can often hear him singing it at the top of his lungs whenever he's supposed to be going to bed.  Here is a slightly less rousing performance:

(apologies for Charlotte coughing and crying and the random butt scratching.  we are classy around here).

We're so proud of everything Colin learned in preschool and can't wait to see what's up next in Pre-K!

charlotte's 18 month pictures

I thought, I've got a new camera, Charlotte is always smiling for me, I'll just take my own 18 month pictures instead of paying for a photographer.  Hahahahahaha.  She didn't make it easy on me.  But, after a few tries, I managed to scrape together a few pictures of my little pachacha at 18 months.  She's even smiling in a few of them.  Oh - and the necklace was her idea.  Already a little diva.