A Busy July

July was such a busy month. We traveled to the UP all but one weekend, and I went to Chicago for a few days for work too. Colin and I celebrated our birthdays, and we spent a lot of time with friends and family!

We were happy to see my friend Anita and her son Cole twice in July, both before and after the 4th. Cole is just fascinated with Ellie and Emmit who LOVE holding him! =)

I had an Arbonne party on my birthday. Shannon came up and worked her sales magic, and I had some girl friends over for the evening. It ended up being really fun, and when it was time for cake, the Dads sent the kids back over for ice cream.

My Aunt Debbie, cousin Jamie, and second cousin Olive were visiting so we headed home one weekend to see them. Jamie lives in Texas so I hadn't seen her in years. It was our first time meeting Olive and their first time meeting Emmit! We had a fun weekend with the kids, playing cards, and sipping wine =)

Aunt Debbie, Jamie, Ellie, and Olive

I'm pretty sure Emmit took this picture - looks to be about his height. I just love it! Aren't the colors pretty?!

More close-ups of Grandma's flowers

Ellie and Olive

Emmit and Olive, she looks a little leery here!

Cute one of Jamie with all the kids

And we officially have our first pet. Meet our fish Lucy. Funny I just found this picture on the camera, so apparently one of the kids was dangling the camera above the fish bowl!

Still More Fun at the 4th!

My Fourth of July post is taking forever, but I think this is it! =) After a few days with the Pomeroy family, we headed back to my parents for more family fun. It was SOOO hot over the 4th of July this year. In the absense of a real pool, we had to improvise. My Dad brought this tank home from the Feedmill and filled it with water (it was brand new, but still meant for feeding livestock). The kids didn't care, it was as a good as any kiddie pool they'd ever swam in! It was just what we needed for several VERY hot days!

Emmit and Henry had some trouble keeping their clothes on!

The kids enjoyed sparklers like always.

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We went to the parade in Trenary on the 4th again. It was just scorching - we headed right back home after the parade was done.

Emmit and Henry got to ride with the Feedmill gang on the float.

Me and Gram

Cooling off

Emmit getting his favorite 4-wheeler rides

Nelly always gets lots of love when the kids are around =)

Ellie taking a self-portrait =)

Steph, Ellie, and I went to Marquette one day. It was a fun girls day complete with pedis =)

More Fun at the 4th

After our weekend with friends, we headed to Colin's parents for a few days with family. We had a full house, and as always the kids had a great time with their cousins. It's so fun to see them play together now as they all get older.

We got 4 wheeler rides of course

We spent an afternoon at Nahma Beach one day. The water was just awesome - so warm and clear. It's also very shallow, so even Emmit and Matthew can play without worry. We all got a little color that day - we played at the beach for almost 4 hours!

That evening we had a great dinner followed by fireworks. The kids had fun with sparklers, poppers, and smoke bombs, and then Colin and Wellyn lit off some bigger ones at dark. This was a perfect vacation day! =)

My sun babies. I swear they were lathered in SPF 50, but after a whole afternoon at the beach they got a bit of color. Emmit browns like me while Ellie has been blessed with her Dad's sensitive skin. Her cheeks were SO red, I felt terrible. I think she was rubbing water out of her eyes, and maybe combined with a little heat rash - I don't know. The next day they were much better though!

The morning after fireworks we attempted a photo of Papa and all his grandsons. Emmit was tired from the late night before, so he lasted about 2 minutes and that was it! Amazingly, we still got some framers! =)