South Haven, Michigan

We just got home from our 1st family vacation.  We went to South Haven with the whole Freed/Toll crew.   Mason had a blast being with his Bubbe, Grandpa, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins!  We started every morning with a bakery/coffee walk into town, then went to the beach and finished the day with a nice dinner on the patio.  With 5 kids under 3 it could have been chaos but everyone was good and had a great time.  I took well over 100 photos but here is my best attempt to give you the highlights :)  We are looking forward to next summer already!

The bakery for breakfast and ice cream after dinner, now that's a vacation!

Ahhh, the beach, we had perfect weather!

Besides basking in the sun at the beach, we fed the ducks, walked out to the pier and walked around town.

Staying up late to enjoy the sunset.  Yup that's right 9:30 bed time on vacation!

Family photo 

Fun with Bubbe & Grandpa

If you haven't gotten the gist by now, we had a exhausting great trip.  Lost of work traveling with little ones but so much fun.  Getting to watch Mason experience the beach and the water was a priceless memory. Jordan and I weren't the only ones worn out from this trip....

Until next year.....

Grillin Like Daddy

We popped for this Little Tikes BBQ set and boy... what a good buy!  Since it has been assembled Mason has been non stop grilling.  He watches me cook and Daddy grill and then goes to his area tosses around the hot dogs and burgers, while opening and closing the doors and grill top.  Maybe I have a mini sous chef on my hands? Next on my sewing list should be a Mason sized apron!

Enjoying the fruits of his labor... ha!

Independence Day 2011

Nothing says the middle of summer like the 4th of July and swimming!  That's exactly what we did.  This was the first time all summer that the 3 of us got to be at the pool together and just have fun.  We stayed and played for quite a while, enjoying the lazy river, the sand pit and the big pool!  Mason was getting a kick out of us dunking our own head under water.  I sort of thing he must have been wondering where we went, then when we came shooting back up, he would scream and laugh so hard.  It truly was hilarious!

I did try to get a nice holiday photo of Mason for the books but...someone had other plans :)

Happy 4th of July!

Ralph's World

On the July 3rd we went to Ravinia to see the kids show, Ralph's World.  We didn't know much about this kids rock style band but we had a great time.  The other kids there were dancing up a storm, it looked like a kiddie mosh pit in the lawn!  We went with our friends the Pawlowskis and it sure seems baby Cole had a blast too!

Looking like a big man hanging out on the blanket!

Cole enjoying the tunes

Dancing!

The water fountain.  If the main attraction at Ravinia is the band, then the second main attraction is the water fountain!  Kids of all ages, and I mean all... gathered here to touch the dirty stuff on the ground drink water!

All this fun = exhausted

Craft Blog

I have many pictures and fun times to blog about from this weekend but I still have to go through all our pics and I am sure we will have more today!

I did want to take a sec to let you know that I started a second blog.  Lately I have been on a crafting kick and thought that I could keep this blog exclusively to share our family fun and create another blog exclusively to share my crafting fun!

Please go ahead and "follow me"  (I know y'all are out there but don't follow!) or just check back from time to time if you are curious!

http://naptimecraftadventures.blogspot.com/

Strawberry Festival

Last night was a gorgeous evening, warm but a nice breeze to keep cool and not as buggy as it has been.  We took advantage of this and went to Strawberry Festival in Long Grove.  At night they have live music to listen to and a big grassy area to relax or in Mason's case walk (run) around.  Mason was in no way interested in holding anyone's hand or posing for a photo.  He did however dance to the music, charm the other patrons and play in the grass!  Oh and I didn't get a photo of it, but o-m-g strawberry donuts are pretty darn sugary good!

"No Dad, I can walk on the really uneven bumpy bricks without help"

Jammin to the music

"Mom I don't want to pose by this sign I have places to go... people to see"

Stopping to hug his bestie

What do you do for fun?

What does our family do for fun at night? We go round and round the main level of our house. Usually its by foot, Mason just runs and we chase him saying "I'm gonna get you". That is his favorite game... that is until we started doing this 2 nights ago... (Note poor Hurley was trying to run away from the crazy car trying to get him, poor doggie).  One thing for sure, this little boy LOVES his Daddy!

Mason {hearts} Dad

Since the #1 thing I hear most often is ... "Mason looks like his Daddy", I thought... well then they should be twins on Father's Day, right?!  Mason loves his Dah Dah Dah Dah

And for your cooking pleasure, I made these D-A-D cookies!  I used Royal Icing to outline and 'flood' the cookies.  A little time consuming but I learned a lot and am wanting to try to make flowers and other fun cookie objects!

Nudging

I like to say how Mason and Hurley are best friends but sometimes I just feel bad for Hurley.  I think he just wants to relax, maybe take a nap, chew a toy .... but while Mason is up and around he gets none of this.  His current line of defense is to go up on "his" chair where Mason cannot reach him, but alas that will probably be over soon as Mason is climbing more everyday.  Don't get me wrong, deep down Hurley LOVES it and he is so patient and sweet to Mason so I know he loves him.  This morning, I asked Mason to give me a hug.  What he did...?  He went over to Hurley and laid his head down on him, too cute!!  Even if Hurley was currently in the midst of hiding he welcomed the hugs and licked off Mason's leftover breakfast face.  Ah the love :)

Hot Fun in the Summertime!

We have been experiencing a heat wave!  90+ degrees for the 3rd day in a row.  While it is hot, I do love it because it means its summer...and who am I kidding, I love cranking up the a/c for a nice cool down too!  We have been keeping plenty busy.  2 playdates this week and lots of backyard pool/play time.  We did get a chance to try the big park district pool too, and well... that will be a whole other post when I finally get some photos.  Let me just tease you a bit with--Mason.has.no.fear when it comes to the giant pool.  Some intense moments for sure.

Anywho, here are some photos of our friends.  Of course no one is really ever looking at the camera but oh well.

Playdate with Ben & Sydney

Lunch time!

Playdate with our music friends

The girls

The boys

It got steamy and everyone got hungry so we moved inside to the cool a/c :)

Fun had by all so far this week!  (well it is only Wednesday still).