Lake Michigan – part III

One morning we headed to an outlet mall about ten minutes away while the guys were golfing. I took Ava’s stroller, and unfortunately she wanted nothing to do with it. So as we walked past customer service, she saw one of these bad boys and climbed in. Best $6 spent that day, and that says alot, since I bought a Coach purse! It worked well because Ava is in this phase where she loooooooooooooves keys and loves climbing in the driver’s seat while screaming “I drive”! Sorry, sister, don’t think so unless it’s this car or your Cozy Coupe.

In St. Joe where our friends live, they have an area that is being developed into a boardwalk atmosphere! My mom and I were driving and saw this building that said “Carousel open!” So we went in and found this GORGEOUS carousel!Of course Ava wanted to ride! She’d never ridden one before and loved it! I love how she just stood and stared at it! My mom rode with her first, and she wouldn’t get off after the first ride (go figure!). So I rode with her the next time. We also had dinner down there that evening and she got to ride two more times! When she went back that night and saw it, she said “OH!” like she knew just what was going to happen! Cute!

The next few are just some beach pictures from a few of the days. Ava put her feet down that first night, but after that would NOT put her feet in the sand. She kept putting her legs out when someone made her try to stand!

Sitting in the sand was another story – she had no problem with that!

Like I said, she LOVED the water!!! (Don’t worry, someone was close by, just not in the picture!) She looks like SUCH a big kid out in the water like this!

We tried to get some pictures family pictures on our next to last night but Ava wasn’t so cooperative so this is about the only good one we got and it’s still not all that fabulous.

Okay! Just have our last day to go! Thanks for hanging in there with me!!!!

Lake Michigan – Part II – Trip to Notre Dame!

When we found out we were going to Michigan, Zach mentioned he’d love to visit Notre Dame. He’s always wanted to go there, and on Sunday afternoon we did just that!

The campus was simply beautiful!!

Ava caught a bunch of rides this day!

Ava wasn’t behaving so well while we were in the bookstore. She had to go outside with my dad for a while to calm down. Not every child can say they’ve had a spanking on the Notre Dame campus…… but Ava can! She was not behaving and kept running off and almost opened the fire exit and set off an alarm! Thank goodness we caught her!  This building had some neat gargoyles on the side!!

So this is the grotto at Notre Dame. People go here to pray and there are candles you can light.   

Unbelievably, this caught on fire Monday night!ww.wndu.com/hometop/headlines/99281584.html

There’s kind of a joke about me and traveling after my trip to Nashville – and now this happening at Notre Dame after we left! No one is going to want to travel with me anymore!

Some old men stopped to talk to Ava on her way to see the duckies!  

Football stadium!

Across the street from the football stadium, is this building with a picture of Jesus on it. From the stadium, this is behind one end zone and it looks as if Jesus’ arms are raised in the touchdown signal, hence the name Touchdown Jesus.

It was so fun to visit here! We had such a fun afternoon. We ended our trip with a visit to the yummy 5 Guys Burgers & Fries – yuuuum! I’m a little overwhelmed at some of the rest that I want to share – it’s a lot! But I’ll get to it when I get to it! :) happy Wednesday!

Lake Michigan – part I

So as I mentioned in my previous post, we decided to skip Florida this year due to the oil spill and instead, we went north! I’d been to Lake Superior when I was very young but that was a LONG time ago and I didn’t really remember it so I didn’t really know what to expect of Lake Michigan. Let me just say – we were not in the least disappointed! It had everything I love about the beach in Florida, minus all the things I don’t like (i.e., jellyfish, seaweed, and saltwater burning my eyes!).

We set out bright and early on Friday. This little booger slept maybe hours the WHOLE 13 hour drive (which was obviously better than the ONE she slept on the way home).

She seriously did so well though! On both trips, we only had about 2 melt downs! It helped that she rode about halfway up there in my parents’ car! :) Zach and I enjoyed a nice little drive together! Here’s little miss enjoying stretching her legs while eating!

Uncle Greg was heading the opposite way as us on the interstate and we met up for a few minutes at a gas station!  

After making our way through Friday evening Chicago traffic, we finally made it to our house, which was beautiful and set in the middle of the woods! It was SO peaceful and nice (unless you were my 17 year old sister who was about to die because our 3G coverage was non-existent. Thank goodness she was still able to get texts out!)

First time to see the beach – I adore this face!

Ava LOVED the water. Like seriously loved it. Like TOLD it “i lu you” when we left for the week. :) It was such a joy to see her have so much fun! On calm days, we’d be out in chest deep water and she was right there with us, swimming back and forth between people. She learned how to kick her arms and legs and had no problems putting her face in the water! She also loved letting waves crash over her head! 

Playing with Aunt “Ste-FEE” (she calls Stephanie Stephie, but with a major emphasis on the fee sound”

She loved finding rocks and throwing them. Here she was about to throw two fistfuls of rocks. She had rocks in her hair and everywhere else imaginable!  

We stayed in Michiana, MI, which was right on the Michigan/Indiana border. The time was SO confusing. If I was in the bedroom at the house, my phone was on central time. If I took my phone into the bathroom, it was on eastern time. Anyway, we spent a lot of time in St. Joe. The beach there was GORGEOUS!!!!!!!! Seriously. I was in love with the beach there. Anyway, we have some friends who live in St. Joe, and they took good care of us! They cooked us dinner a couple of nights and took us around. One night they cooked dinner and Ava was about ready for bed and was whiney, when they asked if she wanted chocolate cake and she said a very empathetic yes!! She enjoyed it, as did we! :)  

The second beach day was cut short due to an afternoon thunderstorm, but we still had a fun morning! We also took a fun afternoon trip that I will write about in the next post!

So that gets you through the first couple of days! More coming soon! Thanks to all the commenters stopping by from Jenna’s blog hop! I’m definitely enjoying hearing from some new people! :) Hope you have a great day!

Why I’ve been absent…

We just returned from a week long vacation! We were headed to Florida but changed our plans due to the oil spill. Instead, we spent the week on Lake Michigan and it was simply gorgeous! We had the best time! I have a ton of pictures to sort through so until then, here’s a preview!

~simply gorgeous~

More to come soon!!

Meet Stephen!

Thanks to Kelly’s great idea for SUYL to show off single boys, allow me to introduce Stephen!

Stephen is my younger brother. He is outgoing, quick witted, hilarious, and an all around good guy. His faith is very important to him and he wants to share his life with a girl who shares the same Christian values.

Ok - so what you need to know:

• He lives in NW Arkansas.
• Stephen loves God, his family, his dog, and his boat~! He also enjoys working out!
• He’s almost 26 years old and works for a nutrition company.
• He recently built his first house!
• He’s a huge cut up – he is constantly making us laugh!

This is Stephen and his dog. Stephen loves going out on the lake on his boat and taking his dog with him. He volunteers for Big Brothers/Big Sisters and spends time with a young boy who needs a male role model. He also enjoys spending time with his niece and buying her loud annoying toys! :) Stephen has so much to offer and I know there is a great lady out there for him! He is looking for an amazing woman with the same values as him. His deal mate is a Christian woman and will be someone that he can share his life with and do things they enjoy together! If he sounds like the type of guy you might like, then just leave some contact info and I’ll pass it on to him!