so much to catch up on

 It feels like it's been a very busy season of life. No way to catch up on 2 months, so here's a bit of what's been going on:

MAY:

$6k for a new septic field. Pro- I now finally understand what a septic field is. Con- still planting grass seed and dealing with that mess

mother's day kisses!

August's first pet! A little caterpiller he named Frankie. (RIP Frankie)

Doug took down my old falling apart garden boxes and made me new ones from cedar

This boy finished 1st grade

Rollar skating end of the year party, so fun

Beautiful girl

My sis and I went on a women's exercise/Christian wife/mother retreat in NC. It was SOOO good to spend time together and fellowship with other women believers

Here we are with the woman who helped me get back into shape after pregnancy with her GlowbodyPT workouts. (we were totally fangirling!)

Had a date with this guy.

JUNE:

Grow garden grow!

Father's day

My brother and family was in town and we all went to Wisconsin for a family reunion. They sold the family (my grandparents 100 acre) farm last year so we all went one last time to say goodbye. It was bittersweet, so many memories in that barn. I miss my grandparents. 

We had a lot of fun with cousins at the waterpark resort we stayed at

Bummed my brother lives so far away, but always so fun to get together again

It was my first time at the Wisconsin Dells, this was a view from the Upper Dells boat tour

Later we hiked at Devil's Lake state park

this was after we hiked up to Balanced Rock (we got soaking wet with rain on the way down, but no one fell or was struck by lightening- WIN!)

Pretty girls by the flowers at our airbnb

We also went on a Wisconsin Duck boat tour, fun!

And toured a lavender farm

Then we went on to Minnesota to visit 2 other cousins (and get a picture for our US family travel map!)

It's been a busy couple months, but enjoying the summer.

FL Keys getaway

My parents took the kids and Doug and I flew down to the Keys for the weekend.

First stop at Tijuana Flats, oh how I wish we had one in Michigan! They have cookie dough flautas which are amazing. 

The view at our airbnb on Key Largo

First day in the Everglades

Hiking

Alligator

Soaking up the sun!

We went out for BBQ and had a nice relaxing evening.

Watched the sunrise, got breakfast and drove down into the Keys where we rented paddleboards

We saw so many sea creatures from our boards! Starfish, jellyfish, 4 sting rays, a nurse shark, conch. It was very cool. 

Then we went to John Pennekamp beach and Doug did some snorkeling while I did some beach reading.

We went out for a sunset dinner

And Doug whacked down a coconut from our airbnb's tree and enjoyed some fresh coconut water :)

We were up at 5am to drive back to Miami for our flight, and back safely to snowy home and our happy kiddos :)

Sedona, AZ

 I'd been seeing lots of people's pictures at Sedona and I've wanted to go for awhile. We planned a 5 day trip over our 6 year anniversary, with the kids of course, lol.

We traveled on August's birthday, we had celebrated a few days before with friends and family. I picked him up a slice of cake from the grocery store and brought our "4" candle, and we sang again :)

The view from our airbnb:

First hike, Cathedral Rock. Gorgeous.

We went up to about that high tree line, then it seemed too dangerous to go further with the kids on our backs. Still beautiful. 

Chapel of the Cross

Bell Rock path, probably our least favorite hike, just long and deserty. We went to the base of the formation, BUT I think if we would've wrapped around it we could've went up a bit? That might have made it more cool, but we were too tired at the time.

Went to Walnut Canyon National Monument and saw the ruins/dwellings in the cliffs

 

I touched that prickly pear and had 2 splinters in my finger!

Delicious salad/sandwich at Wildflower Cafe, but my favorite meal was at Picazzio's Healthy Italian Kitchen.

Slide Rock, looked so neat in the brochures, but that was probably for when Sedona is in the 100s, it was very cold when we visited!

The hike at West Fork was probably our favorite, towering cliffs, fall colors, 13 stream crossings, beautiful.

We tried 3x to do the airport overlook hike, just kept missing it as the sun set at 5:30pm and we'd always be starting out too late. Glad we finally got it. 

Mini-celebration for our 6th year!

Last hike: Boynton Canyon, part forest-part desert, and long and hard

Made it to the end!

All hot, dirty, and sweaty

Seeing these wild Javelina made Doug and August's day

On the way to the airport we stopped at Montezuma's Castle. I wish someone would make a life-size replica that people could actually walk through, how cool would that be!?!

Neat to look at still.

We had our typical run through the airport to our gate, so fun with children on your backs, and masks (not!), but we made it and had no issues at all coming home. Nice. 

Got in late, and now spending the day doing laundry, unpacking, and getting back to life at home :)

Thankful for a good trip, and praying for the future of our country that God will bless and lead whoever gets chosen for the next 4 years!