A Day at the Beach

We spent a day at Sturgeon Bay kayaking and swimming. Grandma had to be put in baby jail, too. :)

"Let us out of here!"
On the way home, Jonathan played this game with Luke, which he thought was absolutely hilarious. It was so adorable! That boy adores his daddy.

Soo Locks

We went up to Sault Ste. Marie and got to see the Soo Locks. It was really cool--pretty amazing stuff.

While we were there, we got to see a 1004 ft. freighter go through.

There were some geese nearby that Luke was so excited about. He kept saying, "quack quack". Too cute.

We ate lunch at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant called Frank's Place. Jonathan got to try his first pasty (rhymes with nasty and tastes that way too, in my opinion). haha They are the main thing to eat in the U.P.

Boating

We were blessed with some gorgeous weather and got to enjoy boat rides, the sand bar, and lots of sunshine!

"You mean I have to wear this thing for the whole boat ride??"

Luke and Daddy relaxing at the sand bar.
"This is the life..."
Luke trying out Uncle Andy's jet ski.
All that boating is bound to wear a kid out...Luke actually fell asleep on the boat ride to the sand bar and needed a little cat nap in the cuddy before swimming. :)

Cousins, Cousins Everywhere!

Luke had a great time playing with his cousins. It was absolute chaos at times--and three of his cousins weren't even there!!

Luke and Julia were surrounded by toys, but opted for this super fun box to play with instead! :)

These two are becoming best friends.

Grandma and Grandpa with four out of nine grandkids.

This was a typical scene of our past week. Grandma actually watched all six while we went golfing!

At Last!!

Two weeks shy of his first birthday, Luke has finally started saying "mama"!! I seriously wondered if he would ever say it! Now, granted, he has not said it in front of Jonathan, but he did say it while I was on the phone with my mom, so she is my witness! This must be my early birthday present from Luke. :)

As Promised...

Here are pictures of Peyton's third birthday and a belated Father's Day.

Okay, we aren't totally weird. We were actually dog-sitting for Jonathan's sister's dog; we did not invite him over especially for Peyton's party! :) And my cousins came and spent the night, hence the random bed in the middle of the floor.

Luke was not exactly in the mood for pictures. These were the best I could get. Luke does love his daddy very much, though, and thinks he's the greatest in the world!

Luke's Eleven Month Pictures

Here they are finally! A little late, but here none-the-less. :)

Luke at 11 months:

*eats all his meals with us and eats what we do (so much easier--yea!)

*still refuses to say "mama"...whenever we ask him to, he just laughs

*is not walking by himself and doesn't even seem close yet, though he still loves walking with help

*loves to laugh and thinks that when we raise our eyebrows up and down, it's the funniest thing in the world

*likes looking at books

*is into everything!!!!

*drinks from a sippy cup

*is starting to learn his animal sounds. So far we are learning what ducks, monkeys, sheep, rabbits, and lions say (those are the animal toys that he plays with a lot). Sometimes we get confused, though. This morning we asked him what a rabbit says (he usually sniffs and wiggles his nose) and Luke goes, "roarrr!!". Oh well, close enough. :)

We love you baby boy and can't believe you are almost ONE!!

Lets Go Back!

While I was trying to unpack from our vacation, Luke decided he's ready to go back!

And just for fun, some pictures of Luke trying to break out. He goes over to the baby gate every day and shakes it. He recently has been messing with the knob, trying to figure out how to open it that way. Thankfully, it's a sturdy gate and the knob is tricky even for us to open!

Weekend In Indiana Part II

These are just a few pictures my sister took our second weekend in Indiana. We went out to my uncle's farm for a huge family bonfire. (Not sure why one is larger than the rest...oh well.)

I love this picture Emily took!

She's the best sister. Ever.

The Rest of our TN Pictures!

Okay, here they are! Enjoy...

Luke was super excited to get the trip started! (His face in this picture cracks me up.)

Chillin' in Cherokee, NC

I'm sure I was telling him something very wise...

The scenery was breathtaking...God does awesome work!

Our companions for the trip: the Chrises and Linnea. (Don't you love how she's looking at her parents so adoringly? Too cute!)

We looked at lots of cool cabins and other buildings, which was fun. Peek-a-boo!
Cooking us some grub on the grill. Luke and Linnea had a great time together! They became great playmates. :)
I love how Luke is stuffing his face in this picture!

We went to Gatlinburg for a day to walk around and look at all the shops (and get some free fudge samples of course!).We decided to ride the tram to Ober Gatlinburg. The view was beautiful on the ride up!

Once on top of the mountain, we had a snack and looked around some more. (Don't worry, Luke didn't actually eat the Twizzler!) :)
After a bit, we decided it was time to head back down. We were excited because we heard the view down is even better. About that time we heard a loud boom and:

Pretty sure we were stuck on top of the mountain waiting in line for over two hours!! One would assume that they would have a good back-up for getting people down the mountain when the tram isn't able to run. Oh no, instead they have one short bus that seats about 20 tops. It takes a good 20 minutes round trip to take one load. After an hour or so, they started running a 15 passenger van as well. I must say, the kids were amazing! They were so good--they even got compliments by the people standing in line behind us. Well, we finally got in the van to ride down. Once at the bottom of the mountain, we looked up to see the tram working again. Sometimes the cards just don't fall your way. Speaking of cards, once we got back to the cabin, we needed some serious down time to recuperate. So Chris and I beat the boys in some good ole euchre. :)