Life as a family of 4: The busy season of summertime

I know what you're thinking... WOW - she finally posted!!! ( And ignore the date on the top of this post, it's actually August 5 I am posting! The July date is proof that I started uploading pic's back then, with good intentions of updating, but it didn't happen!) Anyway, it's obvious I sure do stink at blogging lately... I'm sorry about that.

I will try & fill you in on the latest happenings around here since I last posted... the end of MAY! Wow, and here it is the first week in August.. crazy how time just flies in the summertime.

Back in May, after Chris' birthday, our next big event was Chloe's preschool graduation! I thought I'd cry my eyes out, but I didn't.. they even played "pomp and circumstance" on the church organ while all the kids walked down the aisle, but I didn't shed a tear. They even had a slideshow on a screen with all the kids names & their baby pic's, before the program started. It was quite a night. Here's a picture of her and her yellow room classmates, the girls were way outnumbered by boys :)

Then in the middle of June, we took our annual family vacation to Mackinaw for 7 days! This was our 3rd year going to Mackinaw City & the Island with Chris' parents and brother Alex.

We had a wonderful time, but I think we'll be going somewhere else next year. Three years to the same place was enough we decided. We kinda' wore out our day trip options the past 2 years, and also we had 2 days of rainy weather this year, and there is nothing to do up there when it rains, so it was a real bummer. We were going to go fishing for something different but our 2 different days we designated for fishing got rained out.

My favorite part of our yearly trip up to Northern Michigan is always visiting Mackinaw Island (& the boat ride over) ..eating ice cream ..and riding bikes around the Island! Oh, and I have a new favorite flavor of ice cream - last year I opted for peanut butter Mackinaw Island fudge most of the time, but this year I loved blueberry waffle cone! Yeah, I ate it quite a bit, just ask Chris :)

We enjoyed buying a new kite for the girls, Chloe picked one out that's a horse :)

We visited the Butterfly House on Mackinaw Island this year - something we've never done. It was really fun - and a neat experience. Before we left, a butterfly even landed on Chloe's shirt. I got some really amazing & beautiful pictures!

Chloe did a good job taking our picture!

The girls enjoyed playing in the sand in our free time, outside the back deck of our house. Alex helped them build a sand castle.

We went to Cheboygan like usual and walked the pier to the lighthouse..

We got many beautiful family photo's and I've even printed them, framed them & hung them in my living room already - quite an accomplishment :)

The beautiful view while on the Island... Alex took this amazing picture...

The AWESOME bike I rode when we went bike riding!! hehe. I opted for the granny bike - it was called a 'beach cruiser' and everyone else rode mountain bikes. I'm telling you, mine was much easier to pedal & ride, with not so many speeds to fiddle with and a big cushiony seat (with palm trees carved in it!) and it even came with a pretty flower on the handlebars - yeah, I was stylin'. haha. For the 1st time ever, we rode around the entire island - a whole 8 miles!! I was amazed with myself - I did it without one complaint and it was amazing. (I was convinced it was the granny bike and so I got a new bike when we got home from vacation!)