Grandpa's Visit

Grandpa has been here visiting us for the last 9 days and we have had so much fun with him! All the boys had a fun adventure planned to go to the island of Isle Royale at the very tip top of Michigan--way "up north" as they say here in MI. It's a 12 hour car ride just to get the ferry that takes you on a 3 or 5 hour ride (depending on which ferry you take) to get to the least visited National Park. After driving all day to get to Copper Harbor they spent the night there so they could board the ferry at 8 am the next morning. Well, the ferry was full (hard to believe--I know) and there would not be another ferry for two days. They decided to drive back, slowly this time, through the UP (Upper Peninsula) and see all the wonderful things there are to see.



First they fished at Copper Harbor and it was so much fun for the boys! Look how beautiful it is there.

They said fishing was the funnest part for them!

These two look like dogs with their heads out the window--they put their heads out the sunroof and Grandpa got a good shot!

This could be a post card! This is Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

This is Lake Superior. They stopped by the side of the road to swim and it was this amazing beach! They said it was a little cold at first but they got used to it fast and had a wonderful time swimming in the giant Lake Superior! Here is a video of Andy getting use to the water!

Tahquamenon Falls
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

The Soo Locks

Oh, look who we found in Charlevoix, MI. We will be catching a ferry out to Beaver Island with and we will post all about that later! The boys had a great time on their boys-only vacation (even without camping on Isle Royale) and had a lot of fun with Grandpa.

My Friend Abbi

In March, at the age of thirty, my friend, Abbigail Israelsen became suddenly ill and on a ventilator fighting for her life for 18 days. She was in the hospital for 21 days, but thankfully she survived. It has been a long and emotional recovery that continues everyday.


She has joined the ARDS Foundation team to attend a fund raising walk on Sept. 21, 2008. For every donation that is made over $40, Abbi will give the donor an original drawing created specifically for them. The drawings will be done on 100% cotton rag paper with pen, pencil, and ink. You will receive your drawing in the mail by mid October, 2008.
After donating towards the Hike for Lung Health, email Abbi (abbiisraelsen@yahoo.com) with three words that she will use to inspire a drawing as a thank you gift.If you would like to see some of the drawings she has done you can look at her drawings website. The drawings will be shown at the Anton Art Center for a special fund raising exhibition Sept. 12-Oct. 3, 2008. All proceeds made from the exhibition will be donated for ARDS research. If you would like to read more about Abbi's journey through ARDS visit her website.

Estee's shoe fascination

This little girl LOVES shoes! A constant plaything in her life there is always a shoe in tow, either on her foot, in her hand or both. And not only her shoes she also loves my high heels, Jakes soccer cleats, Dan's big giant gym shoe--ANY shoe. I have never seen a kid be so into shoes--I am seriously worrying for her to be grown up and discover just how many great shoes are out there!





I took her with me the other night to get some new running shoes. We went to Famous Footwear where they have lots and lots of shoes. She was giddy with excitement when we walked in the door--she had a crazed look in her eyes. I had no hope of controlling her, she was in her element and she would not be slowed down by anyone. It was seriously the funniest thing I have seen in a long time! First she went right for the high heeled boots (!!), then went for high heels and pretty shoes trying them on and leaving a trail of destruction behind her. Then she couldn't contain her excitement any longer and she began running around giant sections of the store (luckily we were the only ones there). I just kind of pretended I didn't know who that noisy child was, and continued looking for my running shoes, content in the fact that I could hear her and therefore knew she was not being kid-napped. I had my camera in my purse so I pulled it out and got of couple shots of Estee in her shoe fest.

I love Estee's little pink crock in the middle of all these black high heels.

I told her it was time to go so she tried to hide here--she did not want to leave the shoe store.

Birthdays!

We had a wonderful week, last week, celebrating Abby and Estee's birthdays!

They have birthdays only one day apart and we celebrated all week. I can't believe my baby is two, oh wait, yes, I can believe she is two. She reminds me by the minute that she is a two year old. Abby has almost passed me up in height and she has reached me in shoe size. She wore my shoes last week--and I wear a size nine!! She is eleven years old!

Here are some pictures from some parties we had for the girls!

I made these cakes for the girls actual birthdays, Estee had so much fun tearing hers apart!

Abby and her friends at her 'friends' party.

Abby's two favorite presents 1) this little video camera 2) this shirt that Dan brought home from San Francisco that says "Alcatraz swim team".

The girls even got to do their favorite thing on there birthdays--SWIMMING!

One last party and one more cake to celebrate our girls. Abby chose the ? candle--so Abby. They loved having friends over to celebrate with cake, ice cream, and blueberry pie.

Estee had so many of her little friends to play with she was in heaven! These girls are so cute playing in the water.
This is Baby Sam (and his daddy) quite possibly the cutest baby on earth. Look at that smile!
Abby took a short break from reading to have some cake and ice cream. She got some new books for her birthday and cannot stop reading them until they are all read. She laid in the hammock almost he entire party reading!

He made me so proud!

I don't know if I have really expressed on this blog how busy Dan's work keeps him. Instead of sharing all the details about his work schedule, we'll just say he works a lot. Before I go on, let me just say in his defense, that most of the time has little control over his schedule. It's just one of the glorious perks of being a surgical resident, having four kids, and a wife who like to spend money. I have to admit, that most of the time I just complain about him working so much and forget to remember the benefits. To be perfectly honest, the only work I want him to do, most the time, is some moonlighting for extra cash! Gosh, when I write it down I sound so greedy.


This week, I was reminded of all the other work that he does--I mean besides the moonlighting. One of his research projects was published this week and I was excited to see it recognized. The study its self was about using a laser to treat wrinkles so, go figure, the news media picked up on it. When Dan called me from a conference he is at in San Francisco saying that several news organizations had contacted him I was kind of impressed, but when I saw his study and name in ABCnews, medscape, reuters, web md, and us news I was really impressed! I am just so proud of my hard working husband. So, Thanks Dan for working so hard, and making me very proud!

Now, BACK TO WORK!!!

Baseball!

Jake is playing on the greatest little team ever--the Aces. They totally rock and Jake is a great little batter here he is up at bat.



Round the bases he goes. I think he is so cute in his little batting helmet and serious look.

Taking it in #2

And now the boredom of the outfield begins. He seriously looks so bored out there. Dan and I keep yelling for him to watch the ball, but really there isn't a whole lot going on, even when he's playing 2nd base.

Still here doing his best to not look bored.

Oh wait, here we have some action, and we didn't even have to remind him to watch the ball--he just did it all by himself. Gosh, a proud moment indeed!

And, we end the night with high fives to the other team.

Well, there you have it, that's the short version of my Friday nights!
Go Aces!!

I love the crib tent!!

Definitely a new favorite item of mine, the amazing crib tent!

A few weeks ago Estee started climbing onto the side of her crib and turning the light in her room on. She would love to do it at 5 am and start yelling Abby's name! Needless to say that got old fast. So, with all my motherly wisdom I decided for the safety of my baby (And sanity of Abby) I would take her out of her crib and just put her mattress on the floor. I knew this would be hard, but I was prepared for a battle!

After two weeks of no crib I have officially lost the battle. 23-month olds have no business being out of a crib, I fought hard but man, I have been beat.

The crib, which I had put on arborlist to try and sell, and had just got an offer on it, went back up with only minor glitches. Thanks to the help of my other three children and Dan (yes, group effort).

Then I (ok, mostly Dan) put the most wonderful invention ever on the crib...................a crib tent!!! Which I got on craigslist for $10! After only a day with that thing on I feel like a new woman, which is why I am blogging again. Estee went to bed last night so easily and only cried for about 30 seconds. She then took a nap for three hours today!! She hasn't done that in a long, long time, it was amazing I actually had to wake her up to take Dan the airport.

Some of the victims of Estee's freedom from the crib.

Everybody thought I was taking a nap, oh no, I have been busy!

Thank you crib tent for making this never happen again! I love, love, love the crib tent!!

More Abby.....

Abby is constantly making me laugh, usually their is no better reaction to her than laughter! Here is her latest decals on her bedroom door.

The "You have messed with the Guns of Death" sign has got to be my favorite. She is referring to herself because her muscles have gotten bigger since she started swimming every day.