Happy Birthday, Dan!

On Sunday we headed over to Dan and Nancy's house to celebrate Dan's 60th birthday.  It was another beautiful Michigan summer day, so we relaxed out on the deck.  Nancy grilled some delicious steak and shrimp kabobs, and Stuart and Erin came into town from Detroit.  It is so awesome to be able to celebrate family milestones together.  

Aunt Erin and her favorite niece. :)

Father and son

Nathan and Stu had fun playing T-ball in the yard.  Somehow it resulted in Nathan doing a lot more running than Stu. :)

I love this photo and the people in it.

Summer Gathering

On Saturday Lindsey, Mike and their kids Austin and Addison were coming into Kalamazoo for the night.  I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to gather my local friends together.  I also sweet talked Annalee and Dan into driving over from Ann Arbor.  The weather was absolutely perfect, and we all hung out in the back yard and let the kids run around like maniacs!  It is really kind of crazy what a population explosion this group has experienced in the last few years!  There were ten adults and ten kids--wild!  It was so much fun to see everyone playing together, and enjoying the swingset, sandbox, and of course the new dune racer.  

As is my hosting habit, we had a potluck.  We provided grilled goodies and booze, and everyone else pitched in with a side dish or dessert.  It takes so much stress out of having a party when I just have to operate the grill!  Of course, it also helps that I only invite people over who are super good friends and who are not expecting a perfectly hosted Better Homes and Gardens event! :)

This month has provided so many opportunities for me to spend time with my dear friends.  I am so blessed to know so many amazing people, and to get to share my life with them, and to see our kids play together.  It's overwhelming to think that if I hadn't chosen to attend Kalamazoo College, I never would have made such enduring connections with these incredible people.  I still keep in touch with a few close friends from high school, but my closest group of friends were my classmates and are my current colleagues at K. Ok, enough mushy emotional stuff... let's get to the photos! :)

Miles and Nathan were completely obsessed with the dune racer!  They drove it until the battery died!

Brynn is getting so big! She is such a sweet, chatty little baby.

Mommy's so funny!

Best buddies

Off-roading has its hazards.

Nathan let Miles into the drivers seat, but he maintained control of the gas pedal. haha

Miles was a little crazy behind the wheel--not so much into the concept of watching where he was going, so Dan had to supervise. :)

Sweet baby girls!

Apparently we are destined to get lots of photos where Brynn is smiling sweetly and Natalie is crying!

As soon as the boys abandoned the new car, Natalie made a beeline for it to check it out for herself.

Battery dying? No worries, when you're Hannah, you have a willing helper to provide some power!

Fun in the sandbox

Patti with Teah and Carter.

Becky and Hannah

Leah! I love this girl! :)

I love this photo!

Mike, Dan and Robert getting caught up.

I love that Andy and Natalie are deep in conversation!

Should I be concerned that Natalie loves to teethe on an empty beer bottle???

It's so awesome to see so many kids enjoying our backyard! 

Awesome Surprise

In our long journey to potty training Nathan, Todd promised that when Nay was consistently peeing and pooping in the potty, he would get him a power wheel.  Quite the incentive, right?  Wrong. Nay was not going to use the potty until he decided for himself that he was ready.  Now he has been fully potty trained (even overnight!) for a few months, and Todd decided that it was time to fulfill his promise.  Todd assembled it Friday night so that the battery could charge and be ready to go on Saturday.

Todd told Nathan that he had something to show him in the shop. 

TA-DA!!!  Nathan couldn't believe it!

He immediately got in and hit the gas pedal.

Gotta check out all of the exterior features.

Taking it off roading

Zoo Day

Friday was an absolutely fantastic day with my kiddos.  I had a vacation day, and we left the house bright and early and arrived at Binder Park Zoo a few minutes after it opened.  It was a little overcast and 75 degrees, which was just about perfect zoo-going weather.

We stopped to see the baby black bears, who had just arrived at the zoo that week.  As Nathan said, "Awww... they're so cute!"

On our way to the Africa exhibit to feed the giraffes, which was the much-anticipated highlight of the visit.

Giraffes! It was sweet to see the baby, who was on his way to nurse from his mama.

For a few dollars, the kids get some lettuce leaves to feed to the giraffes.  I wasn't sure how Nathan would do, since he can be a bit cautious, but he wasn't nervous at all!  He thought the giraffe's long tongue was really funny.

Looking for the impala.  "An animal with the same name as a car? Cool!"  haha

Natalie was perfectly content to lounge in her stroller.

While I fed Natalie, Nathan stayed entertained by studying the zoo map and figuring out where we were and where we would be going next.

"Here we are at Monkey Valley!"

My own little monkeys

Of course, my little car addict had to stop and kick the tires of an old Willys truck that was part of the display.

What was Nathan's favorite part of the day? Why, the zebra print tram, of course!

This was the closest that Nathan wanted to get to the carousel!

We only saw half of the zoo.  The kids were getting antsy, and it was time to head to the shop to meet Todd for lunch.  We'll have to head back again soon!