Quake On The Lake

A few weeks ago was one of the boys favorite events of the year, Quake on the Lake. It is the hydroplane races on the lake near our house. They were so excited to go even though it was about a million degrees outside. We had fun watching the races but their favorite part was getting to try the rock climbing wall. There was no line so they got to do it as many times as they wanted. I think Owen did it 2 or 3 times and Jack did it about 47 :) 

New Rooms

This spring/summer I took on the project of painting the kids rooms. First I did Ella's room. She picked "plink" for her room (purple/pink). I can't find any of the pictures from her room except this one but she loves her new plink room!

 This week I finally got around to painting the boys' room. They picked orange but I wasn't quite ready to paint the whole room orange so I chose another color for the other walls. It came out really well and the boys are REALLY excited to have orange in there. Now I just need to get some stuff up on the walls. I'm just glad the painting is done!

 You can see their stained glass names behind the blinds :)

Go Tigers!

Last week we also headed downtown for a Tigers game. We had some tickets from a rain out in April that was rescheduled for Friday so Mommy took the kids down to enjoy a game in the sunshine. Here are the cuties when we arrived at the stadium.

 Ferris wheel fun :)

Unfortunately the Tigers lost but I'm sure the kids didn't care....or even notice!

Princess Ella

Uncle Paul, Aunt Sarah, Gus and Otis got Sarah an awesome Birthday gift this year. Some princess dresses (with tiaras of course) and fancy shoes and some jewelry and a cute storage trunk to keep it all in. She was SO excited to try them out!

August Vacation

The first week of August we went back up to the beach house for another vacation (tough life, I know). This time there was more furniture moving and a lot more boating. We are starting to explore Traverse City more too. Here is Daddy on the kayak with Ella.

 Some beach fun

 Grandpa & Owen and Daddy & Jack on the jetskis out on the bay.

 Miss Ella also turned three on our trip. Here is her party (which was before her actual Birthday)

 I made this photo dark so you could see the bay in the window behind.

 Just like her Momma!

 Presents from Grandma and Grandpa!

 We headed over to Ludington for the Bow family get together where we gave Ella her gift from us...a Lalaloopsie Bike!

 Woohoo!

 And off she goes!

 Back at the beach house we enjoyed some more beach fun

 With Grandpa's new sail boat!

 My camera REALLY wanted a picture of these leaves...kinda neat anyways!

 The next day the kids all got a chance to sail once the crazy wind died down.

 Ready for a bonfire at sunset

 More sailing the next day!

 Kayaking on their own now

 Owen pulled Ella around in the tube using the kayak :)

 Tired girl at lunch

 We also went to a drive in movie and saw Despicable Me 2. It was fun but SO COLD (49 degrees to be exact). The kids loved it!

 More bonfire action.

 At the park in Elk Rapids right on the beach.

 Looking at some deer along the path on our walk.

 In downtown traverse city we had to get a picture in front of "Ella's"!

 Ella on her actual Birthday. My baby is THREE!!!

 On the way home we stopped in Gaylord so the kids could climb on some tanks :)