Vacation - Day 2

On Monday, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and spent the morning at the zoo and had a picnic at the park by the zoo afterwards.

Started the morning off with a little swimming

Avery loves zebras!

In the eagle's nest

Disappointed the otters weren't out to watch

But still like playing in the tube

Can't really see it back there, but another of Avery's favorites - bat eared fox

View from the lookout at the top of the zoo

Feeding goats is Morgan's favorite thing to do

Avery is not such a fan of the goats

Finally coaxed Avery out of her chariot to feed a goat

Bear was playing right by the window

Avery could watch the tamarind monkeys all day

After the zoo, we headed across the street for a picnic and some playtime at the park.

Seriously, if there are monkey bars, this girl is on them!

Burying each other in the sand

After the park, we headed back to the house for some swimming.

Hunter cracks me up -practicing his surfer pose!

Here he is enjoying a snack with Mama's hat on!

Hot tub fun!

Snack time - swimming is hard work!

We brought the unicorn again this year and it was a hit!

Enjoying a game of HeadBanz

Wearing Mama and Papa's hats - silly!

This is what the kiddos do while the adults are eating dinner

Beautiful sunset

Vacation - Day 1

We took our annual family trip to New Buffalo towards the end of July. This year, the rental we stayed at was from Sunday to Sunday. Again, we stayed in the Grand Beach area at a house called "Mac's Bluff".

The week before we left was SOOOO hot and just no fun to be outside, so I was a little worried what the weather would be for us on vacation. Our trip to New Buffalo on Sunday was in pouring rain the whole way! Traffic was terrible and it took us an extra 30+ minutes to get there. But, we made it and that was the end of the bad weather for the week... we lucked out!

Our view most of the drive

Looking up now! :)

Of course, we had to swim when we got there!

The kids all in the pool

Gotta feed these little rascals! (and Papa!)

Avery practicing her splits and her shadow Calvin practicing with her

Birthday Party Fun

The day before we left for New Buffalo, the girls had a birthday party at a friend's house. It was SO hot and the party was outdoors for the most part. I stuck around to keep an eye on the girls since there were a lot of people there. They had a face painter, snow cones, loads of candy and a painting activity for the kids. They also had a sprinkler going, which made for some interesting face painting disasters! :)

Amelia (birthday girl), Morgan, Daphne's little sister and Lizzie at the sweets table

Avery didn't get in the sprinkler so that none of her body paint would wash off!

Avery and Daphne got the same things painted on them

Lizzie and Morgan enjoying snow cones on the tire swing

Another trip to the face painter!

Happy birthday to Amelia!

This was quite the impressive cake!

And then the weather turned, the temperature dropped 20 degrees, the sky got dark and the winds picked up. The kids loved holding their ribbon wands up in the winds!

Later, back at our house, the girls got to pick flowers and make little bouquets.

Girl Scouts

Some of the girls from the Daisy troop were going to camp and they needed a sit-upon. So, all the girls got together and made them at Bianca's house. The girls weren't going to the camp because it was the same week we were going to New Buffalo. Maybe next year they will get to use their sit-upons.

My Little Pony

When you want to show your collection of My Little Ponies something on the iPad...

BBQ fun at Aunt Erin's

We enjoyed some BBQ, popsicles and ice cream at the Wilkens' house. The girls love getting to hang out with Grayson's other cousins Sabrina and Natasha!

Official Softball Pictures

Top: Coach April, Coach Patrick, Coach Ashley
Middle: Addie, Katherine, Elise, Isabella
First: Morgan, Eleanor, Neena, Bianca, Avery, Vivian