First Day of School.

Aren't they lovely.

First day of 4th grade.

First day of 1st grade.

Katie and Grace. Buddies.

Labor Day Fun!

We woke up and decided to walk the board walk in Manistee. It was fun. We had a picnic and topped it off with some ice cream after our long walk.

Some foreigners offered to take our photo after we took theirs. I was happy they didn't play a trick.

After leg one Molly sat in the sun while the girls played in the water. One of her favorite things to do.

Ahoy!! I sail now. With the wind and the sky and everything. I sail. I'm a sailer. Ahoy!

Cookies and Lemonade.

The girls had a ball selling cookies, cupcakes and lemonade. They raked in more money than Mia and Papa in the garage sale. They made $50 and it was split between them. They were very excited about that. Abby suddenly wants to buy a laptop so she is saving for that.

As you can see we had lots of stuff. Unfortunately we still do. We may try again in a few weeks when Wedgewood has their community garage sale. That will send hundreds of people right by our house. Tally - Tim/Molly - $225, Jim/Char - $34, Abby/Katie - $50, Mark/Sharon - $47

Macy took about a 3 hour nap after the sale. She was out with us most of the time except when she was inside by herself eating from a bag of torilla chips Katie left out. Macy didn't feel well after that.

The girls got to wear their new dresses to church today. They are very pretty in them.

I decided to take the girls to McBain to play on the playground. It was a fun way to end the summer.

The girls later had time trials down the slide when I got my stopwatch out. They ended up tying the last race at 3.5 seconds flat.

The Tasty Treat in Mcbain was the real reason we drove that far. It beats DQ by far and I even like it better than The Corner Scoop. HUGE cones. Abby has the rootbeer float here. It was funny listening to people walk out saying, "This is a small?" My small cone was 2 1/2 times the size of the one I recently got at DQ and it was 20 cents cheaper. By the way, the rootbeer float seen here...it's a small!

She ate some of this already, but it was the "kiddy" cone. This is just about right. This is what I'm talking about.

I asked the girls to balance this big fan on their hands. They couldn't do it alone, but they could do it together. I am so proud of them!!

Status Update.

Sorry for no postings recently. Since vacation we have been busily preparing the house for sale, preparing for a garage sale, and getting ready for school. We had our 2nd group come through the house yesterday, but we haven't heard anything. That is 2 showings in 2 weeks so hopefully that trend continues. Abby got her new glasses yesterday. They are cute and she likes them. They are blue wire frames. Katie will be in school full time now. Hard to believe. We hope the adjustment goes well for her. Saturday is our garage sale. We have sooo much stuff. The girls have been looking for things to sell, too. They plan to also sell cookies and lemonade. They figure they have enough to sell so that they can buy new bikes. The call is for sunny and 80 so they should do well. Jim and Char will be there selling some of their goods, too. Pregnancy is going well. Molly is almost 30 weeks. Right where we were when Abby came. That is hard to imagine. Little Tiger, as we call him, seems to be enjoying the ride. He is very active. Molly is very anxious to snuggle with him. We pretty much have all the big stuff now. We have been really blessed with people showering us with clothes and such. Well, that is all for now. Have a great weekend everyone.

New Adventures

This was the first time crossing the bridge for Tim, Abby and Katie. It was a neat experience. However, I always heard it was 5 miles across. I clocked it from shore to shore and it was only 4.

This photo taken in memory of one of our beloved relatives.

It didn't matter how cold it was. Abby and Katie were getting in the water when we got there. You can see it was dark out. The water was freezing, but they didn't seem to mind.

Jim and Char came and we made hobo dinners.

It was delicious.

Whitefish Point lighthouse. This would have been the lighthouse the Edmond Fitzgerald was looking for. We had a great time walking the beach looking at all the rocks and skipping them, too. The shoreline here is known for its rocks. We even ran into some professional rock collectors. It was interesting.

Upper Taquamenon Falls. A must see. Mia and Papa were with us for this. They stayed 2 nights and we had a lot of fun with them. We were sad to see them go. Molly and I reflected on our time with them right after they left. We both felt like they were moving away. Molly cried. We were sad, but I'm sure they didn't miss the hide-a-bed sleeping arrangement.

Mia and Abby on a paddle boat ride.

Fishing was fun, too.

Katie caught this bass. It was about 13 inches.

Katie also caught this perch. She didn't want to get too close to the fish. She eventually gave me the pole and had fun with mommy. Abby and Molly got a little spooked one time. The water was calm when all of the sudden two loons surfaced from the depths of the water about 40 feet from the boat real close to Abby's fishing line. This was a cool experience. We later learned that Loons can dive up to 250 feet and stay under water as long as 5 minutes. They eventually went under again and resurfaced a few hundred feet away.

If you ever go to the UP with your kids you must take them to Oswald's Bear Ranch. We had our picture taken with the Black Bear cub.

We also saw last years bear cubs. Their names are behind on the fence.

Molly, Abby, and Macy enjoy a paddle boat ride. Macy was a little stressed and took a long nap after. She eventually took another ride and she really took a liking to it.

Molly enjoyed the time by the water as much as the girls. She had time to read and dangle her feet in the water.

Katie resting on "Wally". They loved their new blow up toy.

Abby taking a break from the swimming and just floating and relaxing.

Family fishing night.

This look expresses my earlier remark about Katie and fish.

Abby caught a lot of Bluegill. She really seems to like fishing and would get very frustrated when a fish would take her worm before she could real it in.

The day wasn't complete without going out to the local ice cream parlor. It was conveniently located within walking distance.

Katie would gladly exchange dinner for ice cream.

Ok, I love it too.

They weren't this happy before the ice cream.

Macy was very happy to be home. She was great on the trip and was never a burden. We are so happy we took her.

Curtis was an interesting town. We had ORV's driving all over town, golf carts, old beater trucks, luxury autos, little rascals. One lady's car alarm was going off up the street while we had our ice cream. A little while later she drove by, it was a Honda Odyssey, and her alarm was still going as she drove through town. It was funny. I was beginning to think it was a lawless society, but on the last day we were there we finally saw a county deputy driving his truck through town. Our first day we ate at a restaurant called Whitefish Inn Bar and Grill. The waitress spilled a whole tray of water on us. She said she had only been working there a month. Oh well, just another memory.

We loved the community and plan to go back there next year if God allows. It was great to experience more of God's wonderful creation.

Sleeping Bear

The day ended at the beach (photos are in reverse order)

We lost Peyton. He got too tired to move on and went back with Papa.

Katie and Abby (coming along) loved the big sandbox. They, and the cousins, could have played here all day.

Here they are after just climbing the first big hill.

And here they are continuing to climb the endless mountain of sand.

It was a perfect day to go. 70 with a little breeze and plenty of sun.

Fun, fun, fun til mommy took the horsey away!

Abby and Hannah.

Katie and Leah.

Katie with Aunt Kris.

Abby and Katie.

Abby didn't want to ride side saddle.

The girls love horses and animals in general.

Abby wants to be a dolphin trainer so it looks like we better get more serious about swimming lessons. The new Y will be opening soon so perhaps it's time to join. Katie loves all kinds of animals and quickly gets attached to them. They could both be vets someday, but maybe all parents think their kids would make good vets with as much as kids love animals. The horse rides were a special treat. Uncle Ben's co-worker allowed all of us to come over and ride.