September 2014

I am not known as the most laid back mom ever, so one day when I was letting Griffin play in the mud puddles I had to take a picture and send it to Greg...just to prove that I did it!

The end of summer 2014 we had a crazy amount of rain and the Mackinaw was incredibly high.  We drove down to look at it one Sunday afternoon.

This was taken from the van where Griffin and I stayed.  I had no intention of letting him out of his car seat with just that guardrail over the river!

Our house is very good at retaining coolness.  Even if it's not super cold outside, it can get chilly upstairs.  At this time, Griffin was still sleeping in his crib and didn't like to use a blanket to cover himself...so when I put his pajamas on I layered him up pretty good.  One night when Greg had the kids to himself, I kept reminding him to bundle Griffin up before putting him to bed.  Greg snapped this picture and sent it to me, saying, "I'm ready for bed, Mom!"  I told him minus the scarf it looked fine. ;)

For our fall getaway, Greg and I drove up to South Haven, MI for three nights.  Actually, I think we stayed one night in St. Joseph and then two in South Haven if I remember right.  Anyway, seeing these pictures makes me want to go back...it was such a relaxing and fun time!

Greg even humored me and I rode the carousel. :D

We stopped at this place called The Chocolate Garden, which had AMAZING truffles in all kinds of flavors.  Nearby was also a garden of metal sculptures...mostly dinosaurs, I think, but also this big nasty spider.  We took a few pictures to send to the kids. :)  (I seriously still get chills looking at this thing.  Who makes something like this???  Clearly not an arachnophobic!)

The sunsets were beautiful over the lake!

We had brought our bikes along and Greg wanted to tackle part of the Kal-Haven Trail (it goes from South Haven to Kalamazoo, MI).  I knew I wouldn't be able to ride as far as him, so I stayed at the bed and breakfast and did some blogging (as in, the last time I tried to catch up!).  He called me when he was partway back and I rode out to meet him.  I didn't ride near as far as he did, but it was plenty for me!

He may have circled around the parking lot once or twice after we got back to achieve this pretty number. ;)

It was just fun to have no agenda and amble around the town, sit by the beach, and walk out the pier to the lighthouse.

I just love it!  And want to go back! :)

Because I am a miserable picture taker/documenter, I have this one lone picture from Rassi Campout 2014...but I do happen to think it's a pretty cute one!  Uncle Philip and Tirzah working on the sparkly princess puzzle that she got from the treasure hunt.

Another Uncle Phil, this one Greg's great-uncle, was in town and wanted to get some people together to record songs he had written.  Katy and I were supposed to make up some harmony...we were mildly successful. :D  It was fun, though!  Katy, just to get it in your head:  "Oh, I don't want to be left behind when Jesus comes!"

Greg took Max and Nora to See You At The Pole, which I love that our school still does.  They were upset at first about being so early (oops, Mom got the time wrong), but Max perked right up once Miss Brown showed up!  She is truly an awesome teacher and I love that Nora has her this year!  I would be overjoyed if Tirzah and Griffin can be in her class, too, someday!

Greg caught this little garter snake out by our garden...and let Max put it in his bug box. :P  Our dear painter, Steve, saw the snake in the box one day when he was here working.  Being a snake liking person, he brought this big glass bowl and fashioned a screen to put on top so that 'Ralphie' (his name for the snake) or 'Silver' (Max's name for the snake) would have more room.  We were kind of starving it just because we didn't know what to feed it, so Steve also brought some leftover fishing worms he had.  I joked to him that we were keeping it half starved so it would be too weak to escape.  Just after feeding it, I looked over and found the thing up on the lip of the bowl, looking for a way out!  I texted Steve and told him if I lost a snake in my kitchen I was holding him responsible!  After about three weeks or so we released Silver into our timber.  As it slithered away (or tried to), Nora was poking at it with a stick...and it jumped up and bit her finger!  She wasn't hurt, just surprised.

We are so blessed to have both sets of our kids' grandparents so close!  Our kids all love their grandmas and grandpas and I am so thankful for all of the babysitting they do...I could never thank them enough!  I do love this picture of mischievous Tirzy Tunks and her beloved Grandma Beutel.