We just returned from our annual New Buffalo family vacation. We spent a lot of time swimming and relaxing in the hot tub. The girls had fun playing with their cousins. It's fun to see them interact with each other as they get older. So many fun memories made!
We started off with a packed car! Matt is really good at getting everything in a spot!
We celebrated grandma's birthday on our first night of vacation. Cake and a rousing rendition of happy birthday!
So.much.pool.time!
There was a large table outside... kids gotta eat!
There was a HUGE sandbox in the yard that the kids loved. We ended up putting a tent up so there was some shade for them to play under.
Matt was ready to party! :)
Poor Papa... just trying to enjoy a soak in the hot tub and got accosted by a bunch of kiddos!
Avery showing off her artwork - a portrait of Papa - and Papa making a silly face!
Snack time by the pool with baby Calvin.
We had lunch at Stray Dog one day. The girls get such a kick out of this dog statue every year.
One of our two tables full of people. I didn't get a shot of the other table (I think this was the louder one by far - ha!)
Aunt Erin painted faces and we had some scary animals running around the house!
Grandpa made his homemade ice cream one afternoon and all the kiddos helped!
The best part (of course!) was eating the ice cream with plenty of sprinkles!
We took a trip to the local zoo one morning. This zoo is pretty small and we can get through it pretty quickly. A highlight of this zoo is the otter tunnel where you can crawl under the water and watch the otters play above you. Morgan also loved feeding the goats. Avery didn't even get near them.
We have some pretty fun breakfasts on vacation! Waffles with chocolate sauce and Fruit Loops!
Posing by the pool... we lucked out with some really great weather all week! There was only one day with rain and crappy weather. For the most part, it wasn't too hot. The last day we were there was starting to get super hot! We got out just in time! :)
We made it to Oinks! Of course, Morgan had the Superman ice cream. Avery got the confetti kind. Love this place!
We made it to the park and splash pad one morning. I think the girls may just love the little stage area the best of this park! They danced and sang and put on a show for Matt and me!
So much better playing the shade in the sand!
Grayson and Avery just chillin' on the back porch!
We didn't make it to any sunsets this year since the timing was too late for most of the kiddos. We did get them all in their Stray Dog shirts for our annual picture on the deck overlooking the lake. I think we're going to need to come to this location every year regardless of where we are actually staying! Just so we can see how they all change. They aren't in any order... just however we could get them to stand up there without crying!
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| Grayson, Nolan, Morgan, Hunter, Avery, Beckett, Calvin |
It was like 1,000 degrees the night we went out to do these pictures, so we were all shiny! :)
The older cousins being silly with grandma!
There was a putting green around the perimeter of the yard/pool that the kids used as a running track. One night, they all grabbed water guns and laid down and pretended to shoot pterodactyls! Such imaginations!
A little pictorial of how Beckett eats peanut butter sandwiches. This little dude is a riot!
We got family pictures taken again this year. I didn't take any pictures while we were doing them, but Matt took a couple of the girls throwing rocks. They love the beach!
All of the kids were so much braver in the pool this year. Sort of good and bad. The girls and Grayson wanted to swim a lot without life jackets. For Avery, this meant just gliding around in the shallow end. She prefers not to get her hair wet or go under water. She likes to wear her sunglasses and relax. Morgan and Grayson spend most of the time in the pool underwater. Even with their life jackets on, they could dive down and pick up rings/toys off the floor of the pool. Those two were like little fish! They loved jumping in the pool. Actually, all of the kids did a lot more jumping in than previous years. It helped that the pool was bigger than the one at the house we stayed at last year. A lot more room for everyone to play.
Pool time with Papa! Papa would spin Avery around the pool and she loved it! Kept asking for more! Papa was also the instigator of many a water gun fight. Avery was his little soldier and she could be vicious! We had to keep reminding her "not directly in the face"!
We can't forget about all the yummy food! Like last year, we split up the meals and each family takes a night or two and makes dinner for everyone. Matt made his peach BBQ chicken and then tried out a new recipe for Korean beef that I loved! I think that should be added to our rotation at home! We also had taco night, horseshoes (a family favorite year after year!), steak night and brats/sausages. We had some fun pool drinks to help us cool off throughout the week, too. My contribution was kind of a flop - slushy watermelon mules - didn't turn out nearly as good as they looked on Facebook - ha! I ended up making vodka lemonades in the blender instead and those were tasty!
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| BBQ chicken plus a potato for the vegetarian |
I'm sure I'll post some more pics once I get a couple from Brett and Erin. I love that we get together each year! It gets a little easier each year as the kids get older and require less adult intervention. :)
