Toes in the Sand

We took full advantage of the weather and our location this weekend, and spent a good chunk of each day on the beach. The bay was still too chilly for the grown-ups to do more than wade in, but it's getting there, and the little ones were enjoying it fully! This summer both Nathan and Miles absolutely LOVED the beach!! After a few minutes of trepidation about the water, they both had a blast digging in the sand, splashing, and exploring. It was so great to see them having fun at one of my most favorite places on earth, and nice to have them focused in such a small geographical area that we weren't constantly chasing after them in different directions--Annalee and I were actually able to have several long conversations!

The boys checking out the water... not so sure yet.

Papa helps them feel more comfortable. Oh, and can you tell that Annalee and I both shop at Target for toddler swim trunks??

Nathan and Papa, having fun at the beach!

Grandmas in the sand

Miles decided that the water is a good place to hang out.

Finding beach treasures

Playing catch

My handsome hubby

Two great friends and two great baby bellies!!

LOVE this kid!

Todd, Pepper and I (check out the 28 week belly--that baby is growing!!)

Fowles and Appledorns

Dan, Annalee, and baby Lulu

Love this perspective of both boys checking out the canoe

Hmmm... how much horsepower do you think this thing has??

One of the highlights of the weekend was going for a ride in Papa's boat. The bay was calm, and the boys loved the wind in their hair. Both of them started to get lulled to sleep by the motion of the boat though, so they quickly decided it was time to go back to the beach where they could stave off the inevitable nap time a little bit longer!

All the boys, ready to go boating. Can you tell that the little ones were a little skeptical of the life jackets?

Picnic on the beach with Grandma Nancy

Todd, summing up our feelings about the weekend:

Fourth of July Family Time

We spent the long holiday weekend celebrating the Fourth of July up in Northport. It was picture-perfect weather all weekend long--warm and sunny during the day and cool at night (gotta love Michigan summers). We spent a lot of good family time together. Saturday evening everyone gathered at the cottage for dinner on the deck, and on Sunday we had dinner together on the deck at Florence and Basil's house. Very relaxed, lots of good food, laughter, and chasing around after Nathan and Miles.

Enjoying the new deck that Basil and Dan put on the cottage last year.

John and Nathan had a blast together. N thought it was so cool that John ran around with him and let him investigate the Toyota Landcruiser and Mazda Miata.

When we were at Flo and Bas' house on Sunday, I went into obnoxious family photographer mode and corralled everyone for some group photos. My first victims were the Lewis bloodline: Basil, Larry, John, Nancy, Todd and Nathan.

Then I got the spouses in the picture, and recruited Dan to be the photographer. I think we got some really good photos of everyone!

John notoriously dislikes having his photo taken. If I'm not sneaky enough, I end up with lots of photos like this:

When I am sneaky enough, I get some great candids, like this:

Nathan loves his Uncle Dan

There was a little territory dispute over the tractor.

Who knew that climbing on a boat trailer could be so entertaining?

Nature Center Adventures

Last week I had a few vacation days that I had to use or lose by the end of June--so of course I used them! On Monday I took Nathan to daycare and spent all day cleaning out, cleaning up and setting up Nathan's big boy room! That will get it's own blog post (of course) once I'm all finished decorating it. On Tuesday Nathan and I ran errands together and then went and visited Daddy at work. Visiting Daddy's shop is about the coolest thing that Nathan could possibly think to do, and he had a ball checking out all of the car projects in process there before we went to lunch.

On Wednesday Nathan and I met up with my dear friend Maureen and her daughter Gretchen for some fun at the Kalamazoo Nature Center. The weather was perfect, and both kids were really excited about seeing all of the animals at the barn. After lots of ooh-ing and ahh-ing and squealing over the livestock, we (well, mostly Nathan while Gretchen, Maureen and I followed along) ran around exploring the beautiful grounds. Snack time allowed Mo and I some snippets of conversation--carrying on a convo with two busy toddlers is no small feat--and N and G had fun with "monkey see, monkey do" activities such as throwing rocks into the fountain and pushing their own strollers. It was the perfect way to spend a summer morning, and resulted in a nice long afternoon nap!

Gretchen and Maureen checking out a bunny.

Goats!

Chickens! Nathan was laughing and chanting "bock, bock, bock" to the chickens--and they "bocked" right back at him--hilarious!

This picture gives the illusion of a child relaxing. It is only due to my camera's fast shutter speed that I was able to capture such a very brief moment of repose before he lept off and ran to explore another nook or cranny of the nature center!

Bunnies!

Putting stones into the fountain. Miraculously, they did not end up soaking wet after this project!

Pushing their own strollers back to the car. It will shock you to know that this is a much less efficient mode of travel than when the kids are riding inside the strollers. Nonetheless, we made it in one piece to the cars.

Father's Day & New Sandbox

Todd spent Father's Day weekend building a completely awesome sandbox for Nathan--such a fitting activity for such an amazing dad. Of course Nathan was very interested in and excited about the whole project, and wanted to "help" as much as possible along the way.

Look how sweet--they both have shovels!

Nathan measuring things. When asked how long something is, his usual reply is, "Two!"

My mom and dad came down to Kzoo to spend some time and join us in a Father's Day dinner of pizzas sourced entirely from our local farmers market.

Nathan and Grandma Gail bringing the level to Daddy.

I am completely in love with these next three photos of Nathan helping his Daddy. He took his job so seriously, and Todd was very patient with his little helper.

Nathan is completely in love with vehicles of all kinds, but an all-time favorite is the Dodge Ram. Imagine his excitement when Daddy brought the shop truck home from work to haul sand! A Dodge Ram in his very own driveway!!

Excavation, construction and installation complete--it's time for sand!

A very excited Nathan got to ride in the truck from the driveway to the back yard.

Keeping an eye on the sand installation process. The highlight for N was the fact that, "Daddy took the Dodge Ram tailgate all the way OFF!!"

TA DA!!!! The Viper and Porsche took the maiden journey in the completed sandbox.

Also, there is a lot of playing that happens on the perimeter of the box!

This photo is not sandbox related, but captures one of the many moments in our daily life that demonstrates what a great father Todd is, what a good relationship he and N have, and what a lucky kiddo Nathan is to have a man like Todd as a role model. Aren't they sweet?