Casting

Abby broke her leg in a fluke slip and fall accident taking dog out on Saturday. I hate seeing my kids get hurt. I wish it could have been me instead of her. She had a terrible weekend, but got a cast put on Monday and things seem to be getting better for her. She will have a 2 week x-ray and a 4 week x-ray. Possible a walking cast after 4 weeks. Sounds like 6-8 weeks process. Her spirits are up now, but many adjustments will need to be made especially when school begins. Trying to get positive attitudes can be challenging, but I think if it had to happen at least it wasn't right after school dismissed for the summer, right before vacation or middle of winter, etc.

Hiding the pain behind her smile. She had to wear a splint all weekend before she could have a cast put on.

Life is easier in a wheelchair (at least when you have a broken leg)

Autographs are piling up.

10 months old and having the time of his life.

Katie has been a great help for Abby. Playing games and helping her with stuff. Katie has a tender heart and really has suffered right along with Abby. She hates seeing others hurt. It breaks her heart. It makes me feel good that she cares so much for others.

Ahoy, I'm a sailor

A friend of mine took Dave Bayer and I fishing on Lake Michigan today. It was fun, but I still have this feeling that I am still on the lake. We fished in 4 foot swells. That does not sound like much until you get into a 22 foot boat and you're bouncing all over. We each caught one fish. We also had 3 get off the line. Oh well. It was fun anyway. We listened to the ship to shore radio and heard a distress call to the coast guard and it was close by. At that time the coast guard boat was next to us. He took off and a little later the chopper came. It was nothing too serious. A 40 ft sail boat had smoke filling the cabin. No fire, just smoke. They had to be towed in and fixed.

The rotors quit working on the chopper, but amazingly it kept right on going.

Chopper and Coast Guard boat.

Our boat.

The name of our boat.

The Salmon I caught. Approximately 20lbs. Good size one as I compared it to the others on shore at the cleaning station. It took 10-15 minutes to bring it in. He fought the entire time. So did I. I was more exhausted than the fish I think.

Showing off.

Vacation Pictures

Wow! It has been a long time since I posted. It has been a great summer and the time has flown by. I have a lot of photos from our vacation to Curtis in the U.P., eh! We had a wonderful time. Mom and dad Walker came the first 2 nights and they went to Pictured Rocks with us on Sunday. We took a boat cruise to see the rock formations up close and they were awesome. It was a long boat ride for the kids though. It rained most of Monday, but quit just before mom and dad left. We made an attempt to build a fire Saturday night, but it had rained and was too wet. Too windy for one on Sunday. We were finally able to get one going late Monday. It rained quite a bit up there, but it didn't put a damper on our time together. Poor Katie had over 120 bites all over her body and Abby had 60. We suspect spider bites so after 2 nights in the regular bed we put them in the hide-a-bed and they didn't get anymore, but it made for a miserable time for them when they were trying to sleep and itch at the same time.
We love to get away and focus on us and do fun things together. Life slows down up there and it really is refreshing. The girls swim most of the time and we also love to visit the ice cream shop. I could say a lot more. Hope you enjoy our pictures.

Called Lover's Leap, but the captain said you wouldn't want to jump because the water is only 2 feet deep.

Called Indian Head.

Katelyn bought some beautiful gems.

Good buddies in the water all week.

Good buddies next to the water all week.

Family photo.

Nice picture.

Beautiful Katie.

Abby's favorite ice cream shop in the whole world (mine, too)

Brady is getting the hang of it.

Great picture.

Adorable.

My queen and princesses.

Katie's Perch.

Abby's Bluegill.

Little swimmer.

I love this picture.

We went to Manistique, too. Played on the beach there. Walked the board walked. Checked out the lighthouse.

I love Molly!

Found these tee pee's.

New Macy webkinz.

We had hobo dinners 2 times. This was the last night. They turned out perfect and we enjoyed every bite.

Hope you enjoyed a little bit of our vacation, too.

Happy Anniversary, Molly!

14 years ago I married the love of my life. She is more to me than anyone will ever know. I just want the world to know that there is nothing it can offer to take her place. Thank you for being my wife and best friend. I love you with all my heart!

Crooked Tree

We have a perennial winning team at the Heritage Golf Classic each year. We always win golf somewhere for our group. On the heels of trying to repeat in a couple of weeks we decided to use our prize from last year to play golf on Sunday. We played at Crooked Tree up in Petoskey. It was a beautiful day. Roger could not join us as he is still in recovery so we had Dave Crawford, who is still in recovery, join us instead. Here are a few pics.

Jim tries to recover from the fairway sand trap.

Doug chipped it close.

Jim with the green side bunker this time.

Fairway shot.

Crawdaddy with the approach.

and another.

This par 3 was more difficult than it looks. Down hill with wind and all carry to the front edge of the green. All 4 of us hit shots to within 20 feet of the flag. It was a remarkable feat.

Way to go, Doug.

Here was an "average" house on the bay. We had some incredible views and saw some unbelievable homes.

I love you, Man!!

Track & Field Day

The kids had track and field day on Friday. Wednesday was a washout and so was Friday afternoon, but at least they got most of it in. Abby and Katie are so ready for school to be done. Only 2.5 days left. As a reward for their hard work and good grades we used some (most of it) of the proceeds from the garage sale on new bikes for them. They out grew the old ones a long time ago and it was long overdue and much deserved. We had a garage sale last September at our old house and their old bikes did not sell. The garage sale we had last Saturday was different. Their bikes were the first items sold. It was a bittersweet moment. Here are a few pics from Friday.

Katie warming up.

Abby warmed up, too. That is Ella Williams mid jump (nice pic Molly)

Ready to race against her buds.

Taking instruction with her arms crossed just like she does at home. How sweet!!

Never knew this could be sooo much fun!

Abby had a great class this year and she loved it. On her way to 5th grade now.
WHAT!!!???

Time for awards.

OK!! Just had to throw this picture in. How could I not?