Summer time, Summer time, Sum Sum Summer time!

We had the week to show Mandy and Lexi some of the fun things to do here in Michigan. We went to a children's museum, but I forgot my camera :(

We went to Greenfield Village, where it is set back in the 1800's and early 1900's. We got to ride a carousel, a train, and horse-drawn buggy.


We went on a tour of one of the Ford factories and got to see the assembly line of Ford 150s being built.


We went and saw Toy Story 3.

We went to the Metro Beach, which is off of St. Clair Lake.


The Before

The After



Overall, we stayed busy and enjoyed each other's company. The girls played and played. They laughed at each others non-sense jokes. They stayed up way too late, but what are summers for? The got to help clean up their messes.


Now it is time to pack the house and move. I have been dreading this. I don't want to move, but circumstances have made us find another rental while we are here in Michigan. It's been so inconvenient, but this too shall pass!

The kids.....

Here are pictures of their favorite things to do right now!

Makenzie: Catching bugs and picking flowers


Jordan: Playing the computer (no surprise there!) Don't you love the scab below his nose. He face-planted it on the side walk the other day.


Gavin: Climbing up the stairs. He gravitates to them all the time!

"Are we there yet?"

I heard this phrase way too many times this last weekend. We ventured over to South Dakota for a quick surprise birthday party and family reunion for Tyler's Grandpa. It consisted of A LOT of driving for one weekend. But it was well worth it to see family and also to snatch two of them to bring back home with us for the next week.



We stopped at a park for lunch one day in a small town. It's great having the maps app on Tyler's phone when it comes to searching for things like this.



The trip consisted of paying over $10 in tolls one way through the Chicago area. We detoured away from that on the way home.

With Jordan newly potty-trained, he got to experience peeing on the side of the freeway in the grass. He loved it and requested to pee in the grass the rest of the trip.

We've had a giggle-fest once Makenzie's cousin, Lexi, joined us. While on the trip, the two watched "An American Tail." There is a song in the movie that sings, "There are no cats in America." The whole way home they would replace the word "cats" with some odd word and laugh about what was sung!

Here is Makenzie with her cousins, Cameron and Lexi.



We had to get creative with this boy who really needed a nap in a hotel room full of people. We removed him from all distractions and put him in between the curtains.






Here are some pictures that Tyler's brother, Scott, took of the trip.