Straits State Park Labor Day Weekend - Day 3

 

Straits State Park Labor Day Weekend - Days 1&2

The destination for Labor Day Weekend this year is Straits State Park in St. Ignace, Michigan! We had site 14(?) which gives us a water view as well as a close walk to the bathroom (right across the street!). Except for a  minor run in with our neighbors about not leaving a bright light on overnight that shone on our tent, it has been a great site so far! We are thrilled that Ben, Anna, and Grace also decided to join us for this camping adventure!

Good idea? Bad idea?

Was it a bad idea for my Mom to buy me 20lbs of blueberries just a couple day before we leave on vacation?!  Like I don't have enough to do!  I just really felt that I needed to freeze more blueberries to make sure that I don't run out this year.  My Mom found a great deal - just $10 for 20lbs of blueberries because they were starting to go bad.  It sounded awesome to me so I told her to go for it, until I got the blueberries and realized I was going to have to go through them one by one to pick out all of the mushy/moldy blueberries.  Daryl was a huge help when he got home from work and the kids did a great job playing without much supervision so that we could get them done.  It felt like a bad idea as we were picking through the blueberries but I know it will feel like a good idea in the middle of the winter when we are still enjoying delicious blueberries!

End of Summer Fun!

It's crazy how much my kids have improved in their swimming/water skills since the beginning of the summer!  They all go under water and "swim" across the little pool with their head under.  They all love to "dive" into the pool like the pictures below show.  Hope is still the most reserved and unsure about putting her face in the water but she is doing a great job!  We will all be sad when summer and swimming season is over. :( 

Downtown Kalamazoo

Tonight we headed to downtown Kalamazoo to go out for dinner with my family (Dad, Mom, Anna, Ben and Anna, and Grace) to celebrate Anna's graduation from Cornerstone.  We went to The Union for supper.  It was good food, but difficult having two babies along!  Samuel, Hope, and Aliyah did awesome - they sat well, waited for their food well, and then all ate great!  Karys and Grace, on the other hand, were a little more of a challenge.  Neither of them, for whatever reason, like the restaurant.  They both were done with the place about the time the food arrived.  Anna Marie and my Mom first took the babies outside and walked around and then Anna Christine and I took over for them after we were done eating so that they could go back in and eat.  So it goes when you have little ones at a nice, sit-down restaurant!

Playing on the turtle near the restaurant on the Kalamazoo Mall

A sign thatwas for sale in one of the shop windows - loved what it said!

"Wait, you aren't my Mom!!!!"

Me, Karys, Grace, and Anna Christine :)

Karys Alexandra

One of her favorite places to be right now! 8/13

Karys was having a great nap one morning . . . much to the other kids' dismay - they were waiting for her to wake up so we could go play at the park! 8/14

Grabbing her toys! 8/14

She plays under this a lot . . . and she also falls asleep under it a lot!  Such a good baby. 8/15

She is finding her thumb!  She frequently finds her fingers and sucks on those, too.  She prefers fingers to her pacifier and she sucks her fingers way more than what my other kids ever did.  Maybe we will have a finger or thumb sucker?  We'll see! 8/19