Macinaw City and Macinac Island

The beginning of August we went up north to Macinaw City and then to Macinac Island with Uncle Jay's family and Grandma and Grandpa MacPherson.  We had never been before, but had heard how beautiful and fun it was.  The kiddos had a blast and we tired them all out, as well as, ourselves.  I think we will go back when Uncle Bryan and Aunt Becca come out to visit.

 The island does not allow vehicles, so the only way to get around are bikes and horses.  We took a wagon tour of the island first to get a feel of what it was like.  Part of the tour included a tour of the butterfly house.  The kids all tried to get the butterflies to land on their fingers.  Gracie was not happy that Jaxen "caught" a butterfly and she didn't.

Joshua showing off his butterfly.

Morgan and her butterfly.

Jay, Jaxen, Jordan and Gracie on the wagon tour.

Macinac Island has it's own version of a rock arch.  Here we are posing in front of it as a family.

You might recognize this hotel from the movie "Somewhere In Time" because this is where the majority of it was filmed.  It is the Grand Hotel and is a beautiful but expensive place to visit.  They had wonderful garden's to tour and a nice dining area to eat.  Here we are posing in front in the gardens.

Here are Grandma and Grandpa posing in front of the fountain with all the grandchildren who were present.

Later, we went on a bike ride around the island.  Ryan and I pulled two kiddos in Burley's and Jordan tandemed with Morgan or Jaxen or Gracie at any given time.  It wasn't too hard, but I was sure glad I have been running in the mornings and was in somewhat good shape.

Emily on her bike pulling to kiddos.  I haven't ridden a bike since high school, so it took me a few miles to get used to riding again and pulling someone behind me.

Ryan on his bike.

To get to the island you have to ride a ferry.  The kiddos loved coming and going.  Here we are getting back to the main land after a full, but tiring day.

On the way home we stopped and did some site seeing.  Here we are in Sault Saint Marie looking at the locks that allow boats to pass from one lake to another due to the differences in water levels.

Here we are at Manistee walking back from the lighthouse to the beach.

The kiddos found this slide entertaining at the beach in Manistee.  They all wanted to try it, but when they got to the top they were a little afraid to go down.

Month of July and the Triplet's Birthday

Grandma and Grandpa MacPherson came to Michigan for the month of July.  They stayed in a Residence Inn nearby that had a swimming pool.  The kiddos all loved the pool, so we were there almost every night to go swimming.  Morgan, Gracie, and Joshua even enjoyed a few sleep overs while they were here.  They loved having the one on one time with Grandma and Grandpa.  Here are some pictures of the the kiddos at the pool with Ryan. With their life jackets they were fearless.

Gracie, Jaxen and Joshua wanted their birthday party at Chuck E Cheese this year, so that's what we did.  We invited family and friends to come and celebrate.  The kids all loved eating pizza, playing the games and then getting prizes at the very end.  They also loved all the birthday gifts they received, especially the bubbles.

Gardening Makeover

I decided to give our Garden a makeover.  After 10 years in our house, and after three years of not having time to take care of a garden, we decided to make it family friendly and nice looking.  With the help of my Sister-in-law, we started the project while Ryan was  away for business.  Here is the beginnings of the Garden.  Lori did a great job cutting the wood and putting it together.

Here is a picture of the garden boxes after getting all the dirt inside and rearranging some plants and pulling weeds.

Here is the final product.  All the seeds and plants are planted.  Now hopefully we will see a nice little crop and little hands won't pull them out of the ground.  I think they turned out rather nice, if I do say so myself.  Great Job Lori!!!! and Thanks for the help.  I couldn't have done it without her.

Potty Training 101

Our summer started out with potty training Rachel. I was not looking forward to it, but when your daughter walks up to you and says, "Look Mom, I changed my own diaper."  You know it's time to start.  Here is a picture of her standing by her sticker chart after her first successful potty.  It is definitely a lot fuller now. 

Here is a picture of her waiting to go potty.  She usually wants to be alone and to look at a book or magazine.  She is her father's daughter after all.

Here is a little potty humor.  The kids decided to become human toilets and pretend that they are all potty training again.  Enjoy.

What do you get with 9 rolls of paper towel and 4 kids?

A Fun Mess!!!

Joshua was away at school, so I did a little laundry, helped the kids pick up toys, got them all dressed, hair combed and teeth brushed, made beds, vacuumed, then went to get myself ready for the day.  To keep them busy, I put on Kung Fu Panda and went upstairs.  I took my time knowing there was nothing to get to until this afternoon when the kiddos had their end of year class parties.  After about 45 minutes, Jaxen came up and wanted to ride bikes.  I told him to clean up his mess downstairs and we would go outside.  Off he went.  Gracie then came up and said she too wanted to ride bikes but there was a mess downstairs.  I told her to pick it up and we would go outside.  Off she went.  5 minutes later, Gracie came back up and said it was too hard to pick up and she was tired, so I called Morgan upstairs to tell her to help.  She came up and firmly said that there was too much paper to pick up.  My mommy alarms were triggered, and I went downstairs to see what was up.  Here is what I found:

I fun pile of paper towel to jump in and throw around.  Trying not to yell or laugh, I had to admit it did look like fun, but they all needed to pick it up.  Three garbage bags later, the mess was cleaned up and we were able to go outside and ride bikes.  I know this is a test, but the Lord sure does have more faith in me than I do in myself.  I'm still trying to figure out why they all came in three years.  It really is testing my patience and endurance levels, but you gotta love them anyway.

Preschool Graduation Again!

It's that time of year again.  School is officially out for us and summer begins.  For Morgan this means graduating from Preschool and preparing for Kindergarten next fall.  For Mommy this means finding constructive activities to do all summer, while waiting for school to start in the fall.  Here are some pictures from Morgan's special night.  (Some of them are not so great.  I think our camera that is five years old, is on it's last leg.)