July 22-25

We returned to the cottage for a few days because we had a wedding in Michigan and it was a great way to break up the drive to the cottage. We had great weather yet again up north and this is what we did!

Hello ya'll....I'd like to introduce to you my adopted daughter Lily.

We love to hang out. 

She is my sidekick. 

(When Patrick is out doing watersports she always yells "off" and is such a great sidekick!)

We are pals.

Yeah....I know your jealous!

Lily decided she wanted to take my photo.....haha

We watched Patrick learning how to maneuver the skyski

We also went out of the dock and did a little fishing with the men

That facial expression is the best! 

Lily had a fish on the line and I wanted to capture the pure excitement and joy she had!

Jeremy caught this ugly beast, i believe it was called a sheephead.

Lily quickly snapped a photo of the big fish!

Mr. Moo was an angel baby (of course!)

Jackson was in pure heaven in the lake!

Logan worked on sitting up and LOVED scooping up handfuls of sand and (attempting) to eat it!

Jackson had a good time jumping from the tube onto the beach.

Logan got an introduction to Lake Charlevoix by getting his piggies wet!

The cousins did some major bonding this weekend and had a blast doing Jackson's favorite activity at the cottage....throwing rocks into the lake!

Grammy & Grampy had to get back to Saline so it was just the 2 families for a few days and we had such a great time together!

The evening that they left we were all hanging out in the living room and all of a sudden there was a crash!

We about died laughing because Patrick leaned too far back and totally flipped the chair!

Thank goodness I always have my camera about 5 inches away from me so I could capture the hilarious moment!

The next day we went over to Friske's for lunch and to see the animals and play on the cool structures they have!

okay, that's a lie.....we went  STRICTLY for the donuts. haha!

No, but seriously it is such a cool place with a little store, a place for lunch, kid's area with a playground, animals to feed, and quite possibly some of the best donuts I've ever had!

(We got a dozen for the car ride home!!)

Jackson loving all the cool activities they had there!

We got Baby Logan & Baby Joey in their matching "Little Brother" outfits...how cute are they?!

Had such a wonderful time with all the kiddos together!

4th of July!

We had a wonderful 4th of July!

Logan turned 6 months old that week....

The boys had a wonderful time together playing........

I absolutely love this photo because to me it says, "This is where the sharing toys begins." Jackson has a book and Logan is very interested in it. Jackson's not too keen on having to share his book though!"

We took some fun photos!...................

and got a great one of Grammy and Grampy!.................

We had a fantastic dinner of BBQ chicken, Caprese salad, corn, mashed red potatoes, and bread.

We've been cooking up a TON of great food at the cottage......

Dreamy Chicken and Butternut squash foil packs

Cherry Cola Brownies

KFC Biscuits

Sweet Corn Dip

and lots of other delicious things!

To Check them out click HERE.

Then at night we went down to the beach and watched some fireworks! 

What a fantastic 4th!

 The cutest thing ever!!

I whip my hair back and forth! JULY

So, the expression that was repeated over and over during the month of July was, "I whip my hair back and forth," from the song that Willow Smith sings. Dad heard us singing it. The next day he was singing the song, but saying," I shake my head up and down." We LOVE him.

The month of July brought fun times....The Venetian Festival in Charlevoix

Downtown brings on vampire tendencies. Lunch at Scovies makes us happy.

Down at the park we rode ponies, slid on slides,

played games, pet the animals, and just had fun!

Grampy sat with Joey by the lake enjoying the cool breeze on a very, very hot day.

We saw Megan Willet, our neighbor, from Nine Bark Lane.

Layla LOVED the blow up slide.




x

The pony rides were a hit. Layla's horse got away from her bridle and started to run away with Layla on it. Jeremy came to the rescue.

Rest of June/July trip

So I just found these photos from the first time we were Up North, somehow they slipped away and I missed them earlier.

Me & my man spending time on the boat!

Patrick did some wakeboarding behind the boat!

We took Jackson downtown to the fountains & he had the time of his life!

Logan was happy just hanging out watching his brother play in the fountains.

Grammy did some water skiing!!!!

She got right up easily & did such a great job!

Then Patrick tried out the ski's, it was actually the first time I've ever seen him do this, and of course he got right up & looked like he was a pro. He even had time to mess around on the ski's.

 We went to the Taffy Barrel & Patrick was like a kid in a candy store.

We took a day trip to Traverse City & had the best lunch at North Peak Brewing Company!

Jackson was pretty exhausted from everything we had been doing & he ended up getting sick & developing  a fever & was feeling terrible so we packed up so he could get better at home.