weekend getaway

Last weekend we did a mini getaway to South Branch. We stayed in a old cabin that smelled musty, but it had 2 bedrooms and was on the beach. The guy running the cabins was so friendly and the night we arrived invited us on a pontoon ride. It was a relaxing nice weekend. Highlights included going out to dinner (finally not just take out!!), hiking at Iargo Springs, and Lumberjack Monument, eating out and icecream in Tawas, a wood-fired maple syrup place, and driving through Rifle River park. It was nice to have some time to getaway.

book club girls weekend

Finally all 7 of us were able to go on our book club girls weekend! We are mostly a group of 6, since one member moved to Chicago, but we have an annual one night away and miraculously all the calendars aligned. This year we didn't want to spend as much time in the car so we stayed a little closer to home in Bay City. One of the girl's parents lives there and has a new house with a huge basement, so instead of staying at a hotel or B & B, we stayed there. Which not only saved us money, but was super flexible and ended up being a great option. See ya next year parents ;)

We spent time in nice restaurants, hanging out at her parents, we made ourselves an amazing breakfast with freshly laid eggs, and then we went and did a canopy walk at Dow Gardens. It was beautiful. All in all lovely, but too short, time together, good talks, and actually got 5 hours sleep straight since I was baby-less (!) and only woke up once to pump.

Good times. So blessed to have these Godly women in my life and to get together every month so faithfully for our bookclub, going on 10 years now!

catching up

I feel so behind on life. I have stacks of dishes to wash, stacks of receipts to enter into the budget, a dishwasher to unload, a dryer of clothes to fold, and two little babies who are happening to have their nap overlap which seems like a miracle lately. My poor boy had a fever last night so he was up at 1:30am screaming, but luckily baby girl went down pretty easily and then after her 5am feed, slept till 9am. Awesome.

Anyway, time to wind down a bit and write. I still like writing the blog, I just wish I could do it faster! I've never found this blog interface to be very user-friendly.

We had a great start to June with my brother and his family being in town. We went to the zoo, and then we all rented an Airbnb by the lake and had a good weekend away. (Except for when Jeanie was awake from 1pm to 11pm and was crying on and off the entire day from being overtired. I just don't understand this phenomenon, just close your eyes and go to sleep!) But overall it was a great visit and good time together.

Love our zoo

August was surprisingly not into this splash pad at all

My siblings, together again at last!

The boardwalk from the rental home to the lake

Grandma & Grandpa with all their grandchildren <3

August did love this big bucket o' sand toys I got for him, he could've scooped sand for hours

This month Jeanie also met her Uncle Brian who was home from his trucking duties for a couple days

And August has been eagerly checking the garden every morning for any new ripe strawberries :) and to check on the presence of a couple resident toads.

The first flower from my boy, awwww

And baby girl is 2 months already!!

Feeling busy but blessed.

Weekend trip to DC

Our friend Josh got married this last weekend. I think it's so special when people get married in their 30s, and all weddings are worth celebrating! We road-tripped to DC and stayed with Jill at her sister's house in nearby Virginia. We went to the wedding and had a little time in the city between the ceremony and reception. I knew we were going to have a family day in DC but my expectations were very low. I wanted to see some monuments, eat at food trucks, and see street performers. Never did I expect that while watching a street performance Doug would be pulled into the performance and jumped over!

They were like "sexy white guy, get over here", I guess that's what you get wearing your nice wedding attire while walking around. I don't know how to link videos on here, but all those guys got jumped over by a guy flipping over them. It was pretty fun.

A little more pre-reception city exploring:

The wedding was at a fancy Army and Navy club, delicious salmon dinner, a live band.

The next day we drove back in to do a little city exploring. We wasted a lot of time trying to find parking. That was frustrating! Finally parked at the capital and walked 2.25 miles down to the Jefferson Memorial and back.

Sadly the street truck food was just meh, but the day together was nice. No cherry blossoms, but it was sunny and hot!

The next day we drove back. August took a couple naps and mostly entertained himself, which was a little better than the drive there. This was encouraging as I am trying to talk Doug into another fall colors road trip this fall!

We shall see...