Bike ride

We had such a beautiful day today with temps in the 70's, warm sun, and cool breezes.  Yesterday was beautiful as well and we were able to get out on the boat with some friends but sorry, I forgot my camera so no boat blog post today. After church we wanted to take advantage of the beautiful weather...

Kevin pulled out the bikes and bike trailer and we decided to take the kids for a ride.  Once we were all strapped in we headed a few miles down the road to the park to play and have a picnic dinner.

Kevin was trying to get artsy with the camera

 After some fun play time we ate a little dinner..

And a bike ride around the town would not be without a stop at the ice cream shop....

It was a lot of fun to ride around town on the bikes. I hope we have a few more nice weekends before winter so we can get back out there on the bikes. The kids really enjoyed their ride!

West Virgina

Kevin has been waiting anxiously for this past weekend to arrive. Every year the Joel Bender memorial nationals (aka summer blast) are held in Martinsburg WV, not far from the Maryland border.  We have been unable to attend for the last couple of years because of conflicts with pregnancy due dates and kiddos.  We were afraid that our move to Michigan would again throw a wrench into our ability to attend.   Have no fear though, Kevin was determined and we were going to make it this year.  After getting the new engine into the T-bird, Kevin ran into a few complications with a possible broken piston and a drive shaft that was hitting the under-body.  Kevin was able to get a smaller drive shaft by the day before we were to leave and get it installed and was able to barrow a small camera from a friend to get a look at the potentially broken piston.  From what he could tell there is not a broken piston so at the last minute we were ready to go!  The next morning we loaded up and headed out...

With T-bird in tow, we set out across Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania into Maryland to get to West Virgina.  We hit a few road bumps along the way with heavy down pours of rain, a unexpected total of $50 in tolls, Chase's DVD player dying (very bad!), and Chase coughing causing him to vomit (even worse).  After 9 hours on the road we made it to our hotel.  After getting slightly settled and bathing the kids we headed to the Friday night meet and greet.  It was a late night for all of us and everyone slept well crammed into one small hotel room.

Saturday morning everyone gathered in the hotel parking lot where we received a police escort to the park where the car show was held.

 We had a police escort but they also had police blocking each intersection we crossed. It was pretty cool!

 Leah couldn't decide if she loved or hated the wind blowing in her face on the ride over. 

 The car show was held at a really nice park, it had several different play areas for the kids and a nice picnic shelter for lunch/shade.

 It was a really great day and the kids were excellent considering lots of hot sun and no naps... well no naps for Chase at least...

  Leah took little naps in her carrier.  Kevin placed 3rd in his class and we also managed to win the longest distance traveled.  That night they had an ice cream social at the dairy barn, yum yum! 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Chase found a girlfriend that he had fun playing with all weekend.  They met Friday night at the meet and greet where they sat in a chair together and watched cartoons.  My little man is a player because we caught her leaning in to give him a kiss.  They really played well all weekend, it was nice to have someone his age there to keep him company.

Sunday was race day at the Mason-Dixon drag way in Maryland.

The T-bird pulled well but did not show the numbers Kevin was hoping for.  His best time was 12.94 sec at 106 MPH. He got in 4 runs (2 test runs and 2 rounds of bracket racing).  After leaving the drag strip we headed to Golden Corral for dinner with everyone where we said final goodbye's till next year.  

We stayed one more night to recover and have a full day for travel.  Luckily before we left Kevin was able to take the DVD player back to Walmart and convince them to give us a new one, SCORE!! The drive home was actual very peaceful and we were happy to get home!

Leah at 11 months

 As each month flies by I cannot believe that my baby is growing so fast.  In one more short month she will be 1 year old. A milestone nearly a year ago I couldn't imagine being where we are today. My sweet little girl is so full of energy, personality, and spunk.  She shows a shy side with a sweet smile burying her head into mommy when she meets someone new, but then quickly wants all the attention.  She loves playing with toys, friends, her brother, the dogs, and of course with things she should not be playing with.  She listens well to instructions, follows commands, and continues to try to talk.  She is down to one nap per day and continues to sleep very well at night.  Most of the time she loves bedtime/naptime diving out of my arms for her bed and time to love on her stuffed froggie.  We are so thankful for our sweet little angel and know that God has big plans for her.

 Leah finally got a new car seat and I am SOOOO excited because it is GIRLY :). 

Leah wanted to be like her big brother and have a snack at the "big table". So all on her own she went to the pantry and pulled out this bag of noodles and walked back to the table, climbed up into the seat and proceeded to try to open her "snack".  Needless to say I took the noodles away and got her some goldfish :). 

I can't believe that she will soon be a year old... time really flies!

Birthday parties!

Chase loves birthday parties and was so excited to get invited to Seth (4) and Jillian's (2) combined birthday bash!  It was the perfect evening for an outdoor party and both kids played hard and had a wonderful time. 

 The party was held at Seth and Jillian's Grandparents house. They had a beautiful coy pond that Chase had to check out first thing and loved looking at the fish. 

 Leah went straight to the water table filled with sand and played for a very long time. 

 After checking out the fish, Chase quickly spotted the bouncer and spent a good amount of time going crazy. 

 Our little monkey found the slide after attempting to climb up herself, Daddy helped her up to slide. 

 A little more sand for everyone... Chase spent a lot of time here as well.  He LOVES sand!

 Time for cake! The birthday boy has a wide range of allergies so there were several choices of cakes. There was a gluten free cake, a regular cake, a gluten free/dairy free cake, gluten free/dairy free cake pops, and gluten free cake pops.  Needless to say there was plenty to go around and they were DELICIOUS!

 Leah got a little taste of cake....

And she loved it diving back for more and not happy with Daddy when he didn't want to give her more.  I have a feeling she just may dive into her birthday cake :).  We had a wonderful day hanging out with friends and celebrating Seth and Jillian's birthdays.

Fall in the air

I am terrified and excited as we begin to see the transition from summer to fall up here.  The days are starting to get shorter, it is quite chilly in the morning and the evenings, and "tastes" of fall are starting to appear.  This weekend the Farmington farmers market hosted the annual corn roast. 

The farmers market was packed full of venders and making our way though to the corn roast we found some great muffins and cinnamon bread from a couple of bakeries.  Chase managed to find the chocolate vender and conned us into getting him a cake pop.  Finally we made it though to the corn roast...

Roasted to perfection

Dipped in butter...

A dash of salt

YUM YUM

Chase LOVES corn... dig in kiddo

And look who else enjoyed some corn. I quote him saying "it's a good mixture of sweet and salty." SCORE! I have been trying forever to get Kevin on board with my love for corn on the cob :).  I am excited about fall because there are lots of fun things to explore.  Marshmallow roasts, hay rides, apple orchards, apple cider, and fall festivals.  I am also sad because I am not ready for summer to end.  I have really fallen in love with Michigan in the summer and all the activities around us.  I can only hope winter surprises me as much as Michigan as a whole has surprised me.