Vacation

I have so many pictures to share! We went to Michigan for 2 weeks over the 4th of July. It really was a great trip. The very long drive went wonderfully with our 3 small kiddos. The Michigan weather was gorgeous, and we spent lots of time outside, chasing fireflies, hanging out at the beach, and having bonfires. And of course we were able to visit lots of friends and family. We were sad to come home - and hopefully we will back there very soon! ;)

The first pictures I am posting are from my grandmother's 90th birthday party, which was the first weekend we were there. Ray is still working on editing the other photos, so I will post more later!




The party :)












My grandma with all the grandkids








Lukey!











My sister and me













Grandma and Emmy


















My Dad with an upside down Aiden
















My grandma, mom, sister









My grandma with her 3 daughters (my mom on the right)






Aiden :)

Spring Break!

Last week was Emmy's Spring Break, so Ray and I decided to spend it at the beach. :) The 5 of us headed over to Myrtle Beach and spent a fun week playing on the beach, swimming in the pool, and visiting with Ray's aunt, uncle, and cousin who were also there visiting for the week. The weather was nice, and it was great to get away! Despite the beach only being a couple of hours away, it has been a few years since we last went. Looking forward to doing it again soon.


Our ocean view










Lukey at the beach












Emmy, ready to try out the chilly water











Aiden












My sweetie and me :)















In Murrell's Inlet































Beautiful sunrise








Taken from our balcony

Vacation 2010!

We are finally back from our 3 week long vacation. We spent most of the time in Michigan visiting with family and friends, spent a day in Chicago with Ray's sister, and then the last few days in Ohio with more family. We had a great time, we were super busy, but I am happy that we got to see so many people and do so many things! Here are a few highlights and photos.

• 15 hour car trip with the kids went really well . Even Gummy Bear was good, he didn't fuss until the last couple of hours.

• Spent a day at the beach on Lake Michigan, which was fabulous!

• Shopped at lots of good places, ate ate yummy restaurants.

• Pooky went fishing with Ray's Uncle Ron. He didn't care too much for the fishing, but he enjoyed riding fast in the boat.

• Spent the 4th of July in my hometown, enjoyed the annual parade and fireworks. LOVED it.

• Took the Amtrak down to Chicago and stayed the night with Ray's sister, Stevie. Kids loved the train and all the tall buildings.

• Had a wonderful girls night out with some old friends from high school.

• Went to my family reunion, had a fun time seeing everyone.

• Drove down to Ohio to visit more of Ray's family at their annual family lake vacation. Very relaxing, Emmy and Pooky got to spend some time with their cousin, Sophia.

• My sister and I got to spend a day at Cedar Point, with no kids. It was awesome, even if I did get whiplash from one of the big rollercoasters. I am getting too old for those things. :)

Family Vacation

This past weekend we returned from our annual extended family vacation. This year, a large group from Ray's family stayed in Lake Anna, VA for a week. It was a beautiful area, we all had a good time, and I have a ton of photos of everyone sitting around, playing cards, doing nothing - but here are a few of the more interesting ones. :)



This is the house we stayed at - plenty of room for the 15 or so people who were there.


The lake out back, complete with a fishing dock and kayaks. It was a bit swampy, but there was a nice beach for swimming not too far away that I took the kids to.





Daddy "swimming" with the kiddos in the hot tub








Pooky hanging out with Aunt Noodle











Emmy, ready to go fishing with Daddy








Aunt Janet and Aunt Nancy









Cute baby! Ray's cousin Alexa's little guy, Xander.








Emmy with Xander









Close up Pooky.









Everyone together on the last day. Pooky was mad and I look exceptionally large at 18 weeks along. :)


Fun times, but good to be home!

Shopping Weekend!

For the past 3 days, I have been in Myrtle Beach, along with my mom and sister, for a weekend of shopping - with no kids! It was wonderful, just to have a quick getaway, and I was also able to get a good chunk of my Christmas shopping done! The weather was gorgeous, and we had a lot of fun. Ray's mom is visiting from Michigan, so she was at the house helping Ray with the kids. A few photos ~


Me, my mom, and sister, Christie















Mom and Christie, doing some shopping













Pretty sunset - our view from the 12th floor






Our view of the beach from the balcony - it was too chilly to go in the water, but our condo had an indoor pool, lazy river, and hot tub, so we got to relax there too!

Photostory Friday - Surprise!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

And just after I promised not to blab on about my vacation any more....

The last day of vacation was the day before Emmy's 4th birthday. Although we were having a party for her at our house later, we also decided to have a small party for her with the family on vacation.

She had recently seen the movie Wall-E with Daddy, and loved it. Right before we left on our trip, we had seen some Wall-E party decorations at our Walmart, and she got all excited and decided that she wanted a Wall-E themed birthday party. No problem.

Well, the day of her party, Ray and I go to Walmart for party gear, and of course, this Walmart has no Wall-E party decor. In fact, they hardly had any party decor at all. So, we settled for some basic red balloons (her favorite color!) and some silvery-shiny Happy Birthday banners (trying to go for the metal-robot theme here). Ray found a wall poster from the movie, and that was it. While Emmy was out with Grandma Tunu, I hung the poster, banners, and a bunch of the balloons. We also had a cake and most everyone got her a present, which were piled on the counter. I think that despite our lack of options, we did a pretty good job.
When Emmy got home, I was so excited to see her face, especially when she saw the Wall-E poster. She walked in and everyone was yelling "Happy Birthday! Surprise!". This was her reaction.
(sorry for the fuzzy shot)

Not exactly jumping up and down with excitement.
At least she sort of smiled. I think she was just trying to figure out what everyone was doing, since we were all standing there, anticipating the reaction. Oh, well.

She did later comment on the poster, and she wanted to hang it in her bedroom, which we did. The party was still a success, and my little girl was happy with her Wall-E themed party, even if it didn't turn out exactly as I had imagined. :)

Vaction Part 3 - Cedar Point and Cleveland Zoo

OK, hopefully this will be the last post about our vacation, as I am sure y'all are sick of hearing about it! ;)

The condo we stayed at on Lake Erie was right across the bay from Cedar Point - my most favorite amusement park EVER. I LOVE roller coasters, and it had been about 6 years since I was there last. My sweet and darling husband let me go, along with a few of his family members, while he stayed behind with the kids. I had an AWESOME time - I love that place! I didn't bring my camera, but I snagged a couple of photos from Ray's mom.

I went on this one (actually I think that is us, going up on the right side) - you go from 0-120 mph in 4 seconds, then straight up and back straight down. The whole ride is over in 12 seconds. CRAZY. Not sure how I liked going so fast so quickly - it was a weird feeling. And the fact that we waited an hour and a half to ride a 12 second ride doesn't quite seem right!





We went on this water ride, in which we got completely soaked. Fun times. I am in the back with my sunglasses on my head.




We went on many other rides as well, but I don't have photos. The Millenium Force is great and I have always liked the Raptor. We also went on several of the older, "lower-thrill" rides which are still a lot of fun.


On Wednesday, my SIL Francy and her daughter, along with my 2 kiddos went to the Cleveland Zoo. I was happy to go, since we get in free with our zoo's membership. It is a really big zoo, and I wish we had more time, we only got to see about 1/2 the zoo. It was also a chilly day, and a bit drizzly, but we still had fun.






Watching the elephants











Hippo












A lion, obviously. :)













The rest of the week for me was just spent relaxing, reading, and lounging by the pool. The long drives in the car with the kids really weren't too bad, although we did decide to break up the ride home over 2 days, stopping in West Virginia for a night.
Looking forward to next year's family "lake" vacation, wherever it may be!