::fourth::

"America, America!
God shed his grace on thee."

-Katharine Lee Bates

This year...
We got to go to Stadium of Fire on the 2nd! And it was pretty awesome! We were crammed in there like sardines, but it was a good time.

Ava came with us ('cause she has to eat). She thought it was kinda loud. We had some little earplugs for her, but it was still pretty loud. She and I stood on the ramp and under the stands during some of the really loud stuff.

There were lots of pretty cool patriotic things. I especially liked the parachuters. They played a patriotic song (I can't remember which one), while parachuters dressed in red, white, and blue jumped from a plane above the stadium. The final (4th) parachuter brought the flag with him. It was pretty great. Something about seeing that flag and hearing the songs about America, just fills my heart with pride!

There was music, speeches, some beach balls being thrown around in the stands, some little dancers on the field...lots to see.

Then, the biggest reason why we wanted to go...

Mr. Brad Paisley himself.

I'm not usually a big country music fan, but this guy I like. A lot.
He was great! It was so fun!

On the fourth, we did our usual swimming, dinner in the park, and some fireworks.

(Chloe on the big slide)

(Portie-he came so fast, I only got his head under water)

(and Bubb w/ Da-da)

This holiday, again, leaves me feeling incredibly thankful. I try to always be mindful of the sacrifices made by so many for the freedoms and blessings we enjoy.

Happy 4th of July!

::date night::

Matt & Chloe went on a date on Friday night.

She was SO excited about it all week.
She wanted to wear a dress.
She wanted to wear my silver heart necklace.
She thought she better wear her "mom shoes" (heels).
She even put make-up on.

I'm a big fan of daddy/daughter date-nights for 2 reasons.
1) it's a great way for them to spend time together-just the two of them
and 2) because when the time comes for her to start dating (yikes!), she'll already know how she's SUPPOSED to be treated on a date.

They went to the batting cages and then for some ice cream.

They both had fun.

Now if I could only get him to take ME on a date!!
:)

::splash pad::

Last weekend we went to Grandma & Papa Kitty's house to celebrate Liam's 6th birthday. We had a cookout and some cake, and we went to a little splash pad not too far from their house. It was SO fun! It had a little river and lots of rocks with water squirting out of it. The kids LOVED it!!

Chloe brought her mermaid Barbie (she's really into Barbies all of a sudden). Her hair changes color in the water. There was a little current in the river, so Port would start his flip-flop at one end and follow it all the way down to the other. Unfortunately it slipped through the grate and is now lost forever. He was sad for a little bit.

Ava wasn't much of a fan. I dipped her little toes in the water and she screamed! She's happier in her warm bath.

It was SO much fun! I wish we had one of those by our house! I might take some pictures of it and send them to our city hall...couldn't hurt, right?

::9 years::

"mmmm it's always better when we're together."

-Jack Johnson

We celebrated our 9 year anniversary yesterday.

Dinner. A drive.

I love him.

So much.

::our trip::

We went on vacation last week to Michigan. I know, Michigan?? Believe it or not, it's beautiful and lots of fun. My grandparents on both sides live there, so we got to see lots of family too.

Our flight left at 6am. We had to leave our house at 3:30!! Which means we had to get up at about 2...which means I didn't sleep at all that night. Which made for a really, really long day! We had an hour flight, a 3 hour layover, then a 2 1/2 hour flight, and then a 4 hour drive. The kids did AWESOME! Matt and I were kind of holding our breath the whole time hoping we'd make it to MI without everybody on the plane wanting to throw us off. They did so good! There was an older couple sitting kind of behind us who told us how well behaved our kids were and that we were obviously very good parents. That's always nice to hear :)

The kids were SO excited about riding on an airplane! Before we took off, Portie kept saying how he wanted to float. They were talking about the wings (we sat right over the wing) and what they do and how they move. Bubb asked about a billion times during all of our flights "who's drivin' dis plane?" I got a little nervous during some of the turbulence. Chloe laughed at me and said "Mom! Don't be scared! This guy is a professional flyer!"


The first part of our trip was spent up North in Oscoda. My grandma on my mom's side lives up there-right on the beach of Lake Huron. We stayed in her little cottage and pretty much played at the beach every day we were there.

This is the view from her backyard. Can you imagine waking up to that everyday?

(A little photo of the lake that I took while the Mr.
and I were taking a walk along the beach.. Isn't it beautiful?)

There's a really nice park and playground right on the beach too. We played there a lot. The kids loved that! The park was so close and they never even had to wear shoes. There's sugar-sand everywhere.



We went to the beach, but only a few of us got in. Baby Ava, Bubb, and I weren't too into the cold water. She mostly stayed in her seat at the beach, Bubb kind of just sat on me and whined about the wind and the cold water. Matt and the 2 big kids were the brave ones who went in the water. Chloe was a little fish...she didn't even notice the water was cold.



Cozy cottage.


More playin' on the beach.




Chloe and Portie made friends with some neighbors who we're somehow related to, Chris and Kathleen. They played together for hours!



We played with the seagulls too. Sounds weird, I know. We took some bread and threw it to see how many seagulls would come after it. About a million came! It got kinda scary (like the Alfred Hitchcock movies). I'm sure everybody watching thought we were nuts, but it was kinda funny.




The second half of the trip was spent in Grand Blanc. My dad's family lives there. We got to see all the cousins, aunts, uncles, and have some of my Grandma's famous spaghetti. We spent some time just kind of talking and hangin' around my grandparents' house. It was fun to catch up.

(Grampa Bill & Baby Ava-3 months old)

Portie and Chloe caught a few z's.


We stayed in a hotel ('cause 6 house guests is a lot). It had a pool which was lots of fun.

(Our last night in MI. Matt was trying to get the kids to settle down 'cause we had to get up early.)

Michigan is really beautiful! It's so green, and there are trees everywhere! We had pretty good weather while we were there-we even had a couple of thunderstorms (which we love). We hadn't been there for 4 years, so it was really nice to see all the family and catch up. We're so thankful for family! They were all so sweet to us. We appreciate all their efforts in making us feel welcome. I didn't take near enough pictures. Hopefully it won't be another 4 years before we go again.