What A Summer!

What a busy, crazy summer.  Benjamin coming home, 2 going off to college, 3 birthdays, our 25th wedding anniversary, a new driver, band camp, scout camp, church camps, cross country camp, family trips, and just trying to make the most of the little time we have left together.  Now comes time to try to catch up with a few pictures.

My favorite part of the summer was our trip up to Fife Lake.  We didn't stay in our usual cabin because we're just too big now for it.  Gone are the days of Bella and Christian sharing the sofa bed and Peter sleeping in a pack-n-play next to my bed and Benjamin on an air mattress under the kitchen table.  But we found a great place just a 15 min drive away and right on the trails, so it was perfect.  We still got to visit the lake and the boys got to ride every day.  Sadly, Bella didn't come with us because she was taking her graduation trip with her good friend Madison to the beach in Ocean City, MD.  I absolutely love Fife Lake.  It makes me so happy.  Highlight of the whole trip was just me and Christian swimming and floating on the paddle board in the middle of the lake like time had stopped.  Such a perfect feeling.

The cabin was also walking distance from the Manistee river which is beautiful but sadly too fast, cold, and deep for comfortable swimming.  Would have been nice to have brought the kayaks.

Peter and I had to visit our favorite Fife Lake playgrounds.  This was the cutest little merry go round.  A perfect way to go on a bike ride with friends.

Having tall, strong older brothers is a lot of fun.

Christian taught Peter how to skip rocks and Peter spent the rest of the summer practicing.  Even in our tiny inflatable back yard pool.  That was actually a great spot because you can retrieve your perfect skipping rock and try again.

Analyzing shapes to find the perfect rock:

Then the boys mostly just tried to see who could throw rocks the farthest.

While we were in Fife Lake, Bella was in Ocean City and a couple stops in Pennsylvania.  She sent me a few pictures of her adventures:

We celebrated Peter's 7th birthday and Christian's 16th birthday in August.

Wearing the hooded shark towel he got from Mimi:

For his birthday, Peter wanted to go to Sky Zone - an indoor trampoline park. He didn't want a party and he didn't want to invite friends, so just Christian and I went with him. We had a great time.

For Christian's birthday, he also didn't want a party.  He was just so thrilled to be able to drive.  He had a blast driving himself around town all day wherever he wanted to go.

He had a really tough driving tester so he came close to not passing.  He had far more hours and experience than Benjamin or Bella when they tested and yet he got the most points on his test due to the strictness of the examiner.  Luckily he still succeeded. I got a sneaky picture of the tester getting after him for his parallel parking which arguably was better than most experienced drivers could do.

Before Christian got his license, I spent A LOT of time driving him around this summer.  If I could, I always tried to make something of the time.  When I had to pick him up from band camp, I took Peter along and we visited the Saginaw zoo on the way home.  That was a blast.  It's such a fun little zoo and it was nice to hang out with Christian after he'd been gone at camp.

Peter found this little mister and stood under it until he was completely soaked.  It felt great on that hot day.

The zoo had a litlte wiffle ball diamond next to the aviary.  Nothing is more fun than silly pitches and crazy antics on the wiffle ball diamond.

Except maybe pretending you're on a carosel.

Not having to drive Christian to all his myriad responsibilities freed up about 2.5 hours a day for me, so I told Peter that we needed to use that time for us during the last week before school started.  He planned outings for each day that week.  

Bowling:

Greenfield Village:

He was so excited to see how much he had grown since the last time he'd stood against that board and nearly didn't make it over the line.

Carpenter Lake Park with its giant rock garden and cool forest exploration places:

Outdoor Adventure Center:

He still loves sticking his head into these picture spots.  This one made me laugh because he nearly wasn't tall enough for it.

Lunch along the Detroit River:

Friend Henry's 6th birthday party:

Kids' Empire:

It was a great week.  A wonderful way to round out the summer.

Then it was time to take everyone to college!!!  Kelly and Benjamin drove out to Utah.  Bella and I went to Kalamazoo.  Christian and Peter tagged along so we could make a whole weekend out of it.  We had a wonderful time eating out, playing on the beaches at Lake Michigan and making the most of our time before moving her into her dorm.

It's hard when the waves are as tall as you are, so often Christian lifted Peter up when they crested.  It was so sweet to watch.

One of the restaurants in St. Jospeh had this game outside to play while you wait for a table.  We didn't even want to eat there, but Peter wanted to play, so we did.

We finally ate at this burger place up on the roof.  The view wasn't what I'd hoped for but it was nice to eat outside.  Peter was looking right into the sun, though so he borrowed Christian's sunglasses.  A bit big, but they worked.

Then we moved Bella into Valley Oaks dorms.  She's intelligent, talented, hard working, focused, organized, and responsible.  She's going to have an amazing year, but I had a hard time leaving.  She leaves a gaping hole in our home that will be very hard to walk around.

Fist picture Bella sent me after I left.  It's of her and her roommate enjoying a treat in the dining hall.  I'm so glad she's doing well.

Kelly and Benjamin had a great road trip through Kansas to visit friends from the mission and on to Utah to visit family and friends, hike in the thin mountain air until they almost collapsed, and finally move into his dorm too.  I so wish I could have come on both trips.

An unexpected trip to the mechanic for a broken AC also happened.

Benjamin paid for early move-in to Heritage Halls which was great because on actual move in day, the parking situation was crazy.  This is the only picture I got of his dorm, but he face-timed me later and showed me around.  It's a nice, big place.  He's gotten a job and has been enjoying orientation and meeting up with friends.  He sounds like he's doing great too.  I loved it when he called and said, "I just wanted to call you."  Awwww!  Sure miss these kids!

A few remaining miscellaneous pictures:

Peter wanted to be wrapped like a burrito:

Christian and the rest of the drumline played for hours to accompany the band car wash fundraiser:

Benjamin bench pressed Peter when he couldn't go to the gym:

Bella worked for a year at Lifetime Fitness cafe.  She normally just made and served food but this day she got tasked with using the vacuum and sent me this cute picture.  She loved that job and was sad to leave it, but she's got two great jobs at college - front desk at her dorm and the campus rec center.  

Before we all went our separate ways, we went out to eat one last time at Texas Roadhouse.  Peter was the only one who thought to take a picture, so this is the one I have, taken by Peter as he was messing with my phone. Other pics I have are of the bathroom, the beer signs, his nose, etc.  

Peter wanted to pretend he was relaxing on a tropical island.  I warmed up the pool and Christian made him a little umbrella for his drink.  He had a great time but then...

Christian decided to go a little further.  Using AI, he really made it appear that Peter was on an island.

Christian had only one wish for his birthday - a drum set.  We found a great one on sale at Costco.  It's digital so it doesn't bother anyone and it's been a blast. 

Peter and Pandora have had a great summer cuddling together.  Peter decided she might like to read a book too.

Meijer opened a new store 1/4 of a mile from our house.  They had a promotion on opening day that the first 100 customers through the door at 6am would get a $50 gift card.  Bella and I decided to go. Bella said we should get there at 5am.  I didn't believe it and didn't want to get up that early.  I was wrong, but even Bella underestimated the interest in such an event.  We got there at 5:30 and there were already 300-400 people in line.  We heard most had lined up starting at 4am.  There wasn't even room in the parking lot.  We had to park across the street.  Oh well, we toured the store and had fun together and tried to make the best of it.  I remembered to take a picture just as we were getting back into the car. 

Phew, that's it for this recap.  Now on to the school year!