Grandparents

We've had a busy week.  Josh's Mom & Stepdad came for a visit to celebrate Audrey and Hudson's birthdays.  They brought some fun presents.  Jean gave Audrey handmade puppets along with a stage for the doorway.  Audrey absolutely loves it.  Jean found Josh's toy gun that he played with as a child.  She gave it to Hudson along with some "hunting" clothes.  He really is enjoying the outfit and the toy gun. We have gun rules in the house that if broken get the gun taken away.



We met one of Audrey's girlfriends and her mother out for bumper bowling. The girls have birthdays a few days apart so we celebrated by throwing balls down a lane.



My Dad and Stepmom came in for a fun birthday visit. Every year they take Hudson & Audrey to Toys R Us so they can pick out their birthday presents. When the kids eventually pick out their toy they head out to dinner. The kids LOVE this tradition!

We went to Hudson's practice on Thursday when it was 86 degrees. We then went to Hudson's soccer game on Saturday afternoon. We had to bundle up to keep warm. Gotta love Michigan.




Have a great week everyone!!

Birthday!

Audrey just celebrated her 6th birthday.  It seems like just yesterday I was her favorite...the only one who could hold her without her screaming her head off.

Audrey's new BFF from across the street came over to celebrate Audrey's birthday.


In our house we let the birthday person pick either their favorite dinner or restaurant.  Audrey picked a pizza place which has a clown that makes balloon animals.  He made her a huge balloon hat.  She couldn't wear it in the van...she had to take it off and store it in the trunk area.


We came home to have cake & open presents!


She had a great birthday!  I just adore my little six year old girl.

Last Weekend Fun

Alright...these pictures are "old".  I apologize.


I took Hudson to the Tiger's game last Friday night.  Just the two of us went downtown, ate some hotdogs, peanuts, candy almonds, and watched the baseball game.  Hudson took his mitt as we heard there might be foul balls coming into our section.  There were at least 6 balls that were hit really close to us.  We sat 10 rows behind the Tiger's dugout.  The players would come off of the field and throw the ball into the crowd.  Hudson would see the bigger kids running down and he would take off too.  He had a great time and was close to catching a ball.  A man stood behind the kids and caught a ball right above Hudson's head!  He didn't seem to mind not catching the ball, but he kept trying for the whole game.  We stayed for the fireworks and had a great time!


We love "Paws"!!




Eugene came and spent last weekend with us.  We went to Hudson's soccer game on Saturday.  It tired Hudson and Marshall out!

We then went to the Battle of the Brits, which was a car and motorcycle show on Sunday. There was a kid area that contained four bounce houses.  The kids and I spent the majority of the beautiful day in the kid area while Josh and Eugene looked at all of the British bikes & cars.



On our way out to our car we walked past the parking lot that housed all of the bikes that visitors rode in on.  The guys said there were some really awesome bikes in the parking lot.  They all look good to me so I took their word for it.


Have a great weekend everyone.  Tomorrow, my baby girl turns SIX!  I'll post pictures of her happy day next week.

Bear Camp

The family went to "bear camp" last weekend.  Back in the day Josh's family used to actually hunt bear during bear camp.  Now the family gets together to camp, fish, and ride motorcycles.  We should change the name from bear camp to biker weekend, but I'm sure it will remain named Bear Camp.


First, the weather.  Come on.  It was so hot and beautiful in the U.P. most of the summer.  As soon as my family crossed the Mackinaw Bridge the rain descended upon us.  It rained Friday and Saturday. The winds were so strong that the DNR closed a camp ground in the area because trees were falling on the campers.  Mind you...some of us were in tents.  Josh and I were awake all night watching our tents cave in with the large gusts of wind.  My leaky tent was supposed to be sheltered by a new awning we had purchased.  The tent still leaked!  We were going to have a tent burning ceremony the next day, but Josh's dad is going to salvage the parts.  Our second night in the U.P. Josh agreed that we needed a warm and dry place to sleep...we got a hotel.  The hotel was dry and warm...dry and warm.  It was a beautiful thing.


Despite the weather we did a lot!


There was a rock quarry that the bikers descended upon.  Aunt Rhonda & Uncle Tim let Marshall and I tag along when they drove down to see the bike action.  Oh, it was fun watching all 8 (Jeremy, Alyx, Mike, Hunter, Eugene, Hudson, John, and Josh) bikes come through the woods to start climbing different hills.  There was one huge hill that Hudson took off to climb by himself...twice.  Luckily, he got stuck right away.  I asked around and no one gave him permission to do that!  He just took it upon himself to try the big hill.  Crazy kid.



Eugene took us to the Oswald's Bear Farm. The farm rescues bears and gives them a home. The place was huge and there was a lot of room for the Bears to wander around.  I don't like the idea of fencing in wild animals, but Josh pointed out that they have more room there than the bears at the zoo.  So true.


We spent a lot of time with the family huddled around their stoves! This is what the wind did to our tents!

The kids flew remote control air planes with Uncle Lynn & Pop pop. Josh had to get a few out of the tall pine trees.  Audrey climbed a lot of trees and Marshall found the chocolate pop tarts while playing in the van.



The sun came out and everyone scattered to go fishing or biking.  I took pictures while Marshall napped.

We stayed Sunday night until 9:00 pm. We were able to sit by the campfire and cook some smores. The kids played hard.  Marshall and Audrey were asleep before we even got to the bridge!  We were back home and in bed by 3:00 am.  I wanted the kids to have all day Monday to relax before school started on Tuesday, plus have you seen the traffic north of Detroit on Labor Day?  It is grid lock and by leaving so late at night there was NO traffic!  Just big coffees for Josh.  



We had a great time...despite the weather.  We'll have to do it again next year.  Josh is thinking of plans to create his own trailer that would haul the bikes AND house us.  This should be an interesting winter project for him.


Happy Trails!

First Day of School!

Audrey had her first day of Kindergarten & Hudson his first day of 2nd Grade on Tuesday. They both seemed to enjoy themselves. Marshall and I are still adjusting slowly.





Audrey picked out a Hello Kitty backpack. I was worried that one of her 27 classmates might also have this same backpack. I embrodered a little heart and filled in the flower stem. I thought this might make it stand out in a sea of pink Hello Kitty backpacks.  It worked and she found her stuff everyday.


I have to plug myself...

I was chosen as a finalist in a photography contest!! There are thousands of people that enter this particular contest daily. A few times a month Pioneer Woman sponsors a contest relating to different subject matters. I'm totally amazed that one of my pictures was chosen out of all of the professional photographers that entered.  Now mind you...she is not saying that my picture is in any way a "perfect" picture (exposure, composition, etc.).  I was chosen because my picture fit the subject matter which was "funny". I think that my picture was definitely funny. Check it out here (fourth pic down).  Man I love Tom Selleck fake mustaches and Hudson's silly faces!!

West Side

So the kids and I went to the west side of Michigan last weekend.  We made the rounds to visit my Dad & Step-mom, my brother and his family, and then rounded out the trip by visiting my Mom.  We all had a great time.  

We did a lot of playing and visiting with my Dad & Step-mom. The kids love all of Grandpa and Grandma B's toys and always get really excited when we plan a trip over there.

The kids really love their cousins and I'm pretty sure the cousins love my kids!  Owen kept saying, "Audrey, Audrey, Audrey".  It was adorable!  We had such a great time at the beach and hanging out at my brother's house.

My Mom is getting ready for her 39th year of teaching. After her 40th she'll retire. We just took her out to dinner and got out of her hair so then she could prepare for 30 second graders!!

Enjoy the pictures galore!









Every time we get together I try to take a picture of all of the kids together.  These are the BEST shots I got!  Ugh.  Next time I'll try earlier in the day and maybe some food as bribery.



We are headed up to the U.P. over Labor Day weekend to do some more camping. I'll have lots of pictures next week. Also, Hudson and Audrey start school on Tuesday. I'll post pictures of them too.