Cottage Classic

This weekend was a classic cottage weekend.  The usual suspects were there, Brian and the kids, my sis and family, my sis’s in-laws, Lee and Harv, and Ellen.       

Notice the bump on Alexander’s head, the fat lip, and scabbed up knuckles?  The boy has a need for speed on his balance bike.  I feel this may be a common look for him!

     

We love Friday night there.  The promise of the whole weekend ahead, reconnecting with friends and family, and getting our weekday sillies out.

Saturday was a 90 degree day which meant a FULL day on the lake.  It was perfect!  We tubed, knee boarded, and then landed on our friend’s beach for the afternoon.

   

   

   

 

 

The biggest excitement on the beach was Karen and Ed’s 8 week old baby Lucy.  Everyone was in love with her!

  

 

Sunday my parents came out and brought lunch, Natalie, and Grandma Jackie.  We celebrated Father’s Day with food, family, and more lake and boat time!

Sof is funny with Grandma Jackie.  First, they’re on a first name basis.  She only calls her Jackie!  Second, they have a routine.  Sof backs up to her legs and then Grandma pulls Sof up on her lap. It’s working for them!     

This girl was looking cute as a button and having great fun playing on the step.  That is until all the other kids walked out the door in their bathing suits.  Then she was just mad.  Really mad.  Sorry Bug, you’ll always be the baby. 

      

I have no pictures from the water sports that day because Em and I stayed back at the house with Grandma, but I hear it was great fun!  The big news was that Adrienne added skiing to her repertoire of water sports.  She promised she would do it again so I can get a picture next time!  

We are now into our first full week of summer vacation and settling in.  More on that another day though:)  I’ll leave you with Nolan and Sof.  Everyone needs a big boy in their life to teach them how to hide behind the couch!

Lexi the Gymnast

Lexi had her end of the year gymnastics Olympics.  It was amazing to see how far all the kids on her team have come this year.  We’re so proud of her!   

 

    

We had to go home and have brownies and ice cream to celebrate!  She’s not sure she wants to continue next year, but after I saw the growth I making the decision for her!

Last Day of School

Today marked the end of our school year.  Adrienne has finished 7th grade.  She informed me I was only getting one chance to get a picture, so I better make it good.  Of course it was beautiful, but I snapped a couple extras anyway!

      

Lexi put on her sparkliest top and her sparkliest bottom.  I don’t love them together, but it’s so her right now.

    

Sof had to have her picture too!

 

And for my Beach Buddies, here is our last day in pictures…

Hello There Summer, Glad To See You Again

It’s official, summer is here!  No, we are not out of school yet.  We still have 2 more days, but we made our first trip to the cottage, which in our book makes it summer. 

We had a purpose for this trip.  A buddy of Mark’s from work, Josh, and his lovely family used our cottage for the week.  They have 3 kids, and one is adopted from Russia(Siberia to be exact:).  Josh was someone that eased Mark’s anxieties about adoption, so in a way I owe Sof to him!  They live in the Chicago area, so this was our chance to meet them in person.  We had a great time to say the least.   

Adrienne and her friend Sadie kneeboarding with an audience!

  

Sof settled into to lake living like an old pro.

   

Lexi used her mothering instinct to win this little sweetie over!

  

Adrienne and Sadie continue their obsession with gnomes.  Wierdos.

Guess we have to get used to the rigors of days on the lake!

Lexi and her buddy Savannah continue their obsession with Chocolate Chip muffins.  Now that one I can understand!

 

Sof was thrilled to discover that she can reach these pedals also!

The big girls with the two Russians.  Joey was quite the ladies man.  He won these girls over no problem!

It really was a great weekend, but reality hit this morning.  We needed to leave pretty early to get back.  My school was having a closing ceremony that I wanted to attend.  It was a great tribute to a great school.  There wasn’t a dry eye(and there were probably over 300 people there) in the place when our 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders sang “For Good”.  What more can I say about that?

  

So, before I can get back to lake living, I need to pack up my classroom to be moved to our new school.  Okay, shout out to my partner in crime who spent Saturday in our room packing about 60 boxes while I was soaking up the rays:)  Don’t worry, she’s well compensated, I let her work with me.  Hee hee.      

On another note, Grandma Jackie had a small stroke on Saturday:(  They called for an ambulance from her place, and my mom met her at the hospital.  She had quite a bit of numbness and confusion.  She seems to have bounced right back, and all her tests are coming back very positive.  It’s just a reminder that at 88 things like this happen, and can happen anytime.  We’re looking forward to going back next weekend and spending some time with her.

I guess all that’s left to say is…

Happy Summer!