Abby 10, Estee 1

We had much to celebrate as Abby turned 10 and Estee turned 1 the next day! I can't believe it's been a year since Estee was born!Here is the GIANT Birthday cake to celebrate both girls at once!
Estee got her own big piece to eat all by herself! She was wondering if this was OK at first.....
...but before too long she realized it was OK and fun to tear apart and it tastes really good too!

Everyone loved the new swing Estee got for her birthday...


especially Estee!!


It's so fun to have these girls 9 years apart! They are so much fun.

Lagoon!

We had such a blast at Lagoon. We went with my sister Jill and her two oldest kids Josh and Jenessa. Lindsay and Mollie (Dan's sisters) also went, but they kind of did their own thing. I don't know why they didn't want to hang out with all of us? My niece Jenna watched Estee all day so we just got to go on all the rides all the time. It was so much fun, even Jake went on every ride he could. He loved the old white roller coaster and the colossus.
Abby and Jenessa on the log ride.

This is a great shot on Jet star II. Jenessa is in the way back, then Abby, then two strangers, then Jill and in the front Josh. I love the look on Abby and Jenessa's faces.




Here Abby is ready to ride the old white coaster, with some strange guy who refuses to look at the camera, or even acknowledge we were taking a picture.

Dan and Jake on their first ride of the day--you can see Jake's eyes peeking through the spaces of the seat in front of him. This was his first big coaster ride and I think he's hooked for life now.

These girls loved this ride! Abby rode it eleven times and Jenessa rode it twelve times!! The people running the ride got to know them. I had to get a picture of them on the Wild Mouse.

Jenessa, Jill and Abby on the Sky Ride.

Me and Dan on The Rocket--re-entry. It was the funnest and scariest ride of the day.

These boys are getting worn out from a long day at Lagoon. Jake is holding the two stuffed animals that Andy won when he shot the basketball twice!!

To see the rest of the Lagoon pics click here http://picasaweb.google.com/janieward1313/LagoonJuly07

Fishers

While we were in Utah we went and visited our good friends, the Fishers, who use to live in Ann Arbor. They were such great hosts and we had so much fun with them especially going to there cabin up Little Cottonwood Canyon. Thanks Fishers for a fun Utah weekend!

Nicole and I shooting the breeze in the Cabin

We kept Estee contained in the big box/coffee table with the lid off. Tyler was entertained by Estee in the box it was great!

Dan and Peter hiking up the big mountain with babies, Estee and Tyler, in tow. Mitch is up there too.

Nicole and Madeline heading up the mountain.

Can you find Jake (Fisher) and Andy in this picture? They climbed this big cliff, I actually had to stop watching because it was a little scary watching them climb up so high.

Cecret Lake (yes spelled with a C).

For all our Fisher's house pics click here http://picasaweb.google.com/janieward1313/FisherSCabinJuly07

My Sisters and Mom

I had so much fun seeing my sisters and mom on our trip.

4th of July in Utah

We had a fun vacation and got to Utah just in time to celebrate a fun 4th of July--Utah style with LOTS of family, food, a parade, and carnival.

My sister Josie holding Estee and me watching the parade

Cute Cousins!! Jenessa, Nicole and Abby trying to score some candy at the parade.

McCall and Jake, notice how Jake is saving his otter pop for later in his little tiny shirt pocket.

We got a nice family picture after the festivities at my moms house. We also took a picture of everybody in my big family with all my siblings and cousins. We wanted to get everyone because we didn't know when we would have everyone together again. Right when we got the last shot and everyone said "no more pictures" Jake came strolling around the corner--He had missed the pictures with everyone! So I guess everyone wasn't in the picture.

To see more of our 4th of July pics click here http://picasaweb.google.com/janieward1313/FourthOfJulyAndSistersLunch

Tracylee's visit

Estee with Tracylee--they had a great time together :)

Our good friend Tracylee came to visit and we had so much fun with her. We met her while we lived in Utah. She has since moved to California and for the last 3 months has traveled all over Europe. In spite of that seemingly spoiled life she is really nice and fun and it was a blast to have her come and see Ann Arbor.


Eating lunch at Shalimar--Yummy!

While the kids were gone....

While our 3 big kids were off playing in Utah here are some of the things Dan and I did.

first of all this (Estee sleeping) was a rare occurrence so we had to get a picture--so sweet when they are sleeping!

We took the train to Chicago, which would have been really great except for Estee really, really wasn't crazy about the whole train ride thing.

Look at Estee trying to squirm out of Dan's arms this happened for four hours there and four hours home, so FUN!

This picture is cute of Dan trying to make her happy playing patty cake on the train.

We had breakfast at the Grand Lux Cafe on Michigan Ave. in Chicago. It is so yummy and so fun!

Our good friends Brook and Kyle met us in Chicago. Here we are on an architectural boat tour together--it was so fun and interesting.

Here we are all dressed up for the year end party for the Otolarygology Department.

Dan with some of his friends at the party.

Dan golfing

This post is too long so more on the next one......

They're Gone!

Andy, Abby and Jake all went to Utah on Friday. Aunt Lindsay flew out and then flew back with them (thank you Lindsay). They are staying for almost a month without us! Then we will drive out to visit and all come home together. Estee is wondering where her friends went. When she sees their pictures or hears them on the phone she laughs--so cute.

Here they are at the airport at 5:30 AM. My babies are leaving!! Sob, sob.

They had a wonderful flight and arrived safely. Lindsay even paid for them to all watch TV on the little screens in front of their seats.

Jake being goofy at Grandma Ward's house.

Abby and Jake playing in Grandpa's pond, they don't look like they're having any fun at all, do they?!

Guess Who?? Ok, Ok, it's Andy with Grandma's wig on. (she is losing her hair because of Chemo).

We miss them tons,but I must say we are enjoying a clean and quiet house, but that would get old and boring after a while.

Chicago, via Dan's conference

We went with Dan to Chicago for a conference.

Abby and I walked by this beach, it looked really fun. We didn't stop because we were on our way to Navy Pier.

Here is Abby posing at Navy Pier, it was beautiful weather that day.

I took the kids to Shedd Aquarium while Dan had meetings, it was so much fun I bought a year pass. So if anybody wants to go.....
Shedd Aquarium is the big white building right on the lake front.

This was the kids favorite part of the Aquarium, the Caribbean Reef. There was a Diver in there that you could hear over the loud speaker. A fish would swim by him and he would tell you what kind it was, and cool stuff like that.

My favorite part was the Beluga Whales. They were so cute. I wish I could say that was me there feeding them, but I can't.

We met our friends the Pankratz (minus Kyle, we missed you) and went to lunch here at this yummy Thai place, even the kids loved it.

Then we made our way to the Lego Store. Of course the boys were very attracted to this Star Wars part of the store.

Jake taking a break with the Lego man.

For more details of our trip visit Abby's blog: http://abbyzine.blogspot.com/

For all the pics of our trip click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/janieward1313/52707