Cruise 2012

One of our favorite activities is going on cruises especially with family.  This November, we were able to go on a cruise with some of Chris' family.  His sister Janene and her husband Curtis, his brother Ben and his wife Shani, and his brother Spencer and his wife Bonnie all went with us.  We had such a wonderful time just hanging out with them and had the added bonus of going to Honduras, Mexico and Belize.  We had a great time with activities like zip lining, cave tubing, ATV riding, snorkeling, creating our own scavenger hunt, learning napkin folding, hip hop dancing, various circus tricks, shuffle board, playing multiple games and most of all talking excessively about everything.  We are ready to go again with them any time.  Thanks to Shani, we have hundreds of pictures to remind us of our fabulous time, but I'll only post a couple.

 The three brothers.  Can you see the resemblance??

 Chris and his sister, Janene, the only sister on the trip.

 The back of the ship.  The water was SO blue!

 The boy table at lunch.  What a great group.

The girls

Alyssa turns 3

Alyssa turned 3 and she is such a sweet girl.  She was so excited to open gifts that she just tore threw them.  It wasn't until afterwards that she actually noticed what she got and started playing.

 With her sister and 2 brothers.

Dressed up Rapunzel with her new dolls.

Halloween

This is a little late, but I'm catching up...

 Minnie, Cheerleader and Train Engineer

 Baseball player (it was nice that we had everything already!), Andrew's ultra creative shirt that said "costume" (my eyes rolled more at seeing him than ever before!), cheerleader, train engineer and Minnie.

 Chris and I even dressed up which is unusual.

 Grant and Chris were a team on pumpkin carving.  This was Grant's creation.

 The girl team.

The two older boys chose to carve a ghost.  Fun times.

Fall Pictures

I LOVE fall!  I love that the temperature is cooling off, I love the leaves changing, I love back to school...I just love it all.  I decided to take my kids out to get our fall pictures done so that I can enjoy fall all year round.

 I just have to say Grant wasn't very relaxed and his smile is totally fake.  Oh well.

Not perfect, but at least no one is crying and they are all looking at me.  

PS.  Thanks to Kori for giving me picture editing lessons.  I'm so lucky to have such nice, smart friends!

Willis Tower

On the kids day off today, we decided to head to Willis Tower to check out the new ledge (new to us). We got to look all around, see all of the city, learn a lot of interesting facts and then go out on the ledge.

These two girls just walked on out there with no fear.  I am continually amazed by Hailey's daring personality.  At Disney, she went on every thrill ride and screamed for more.  Same thing here...no hesitation about being 103 stories in the air and looking straight down.

Carter was SUPER tentative.  He would only stand on the very edge and never went out again (I'm not judging...I was freaked myself).

View of the city

On the ledge.  I seriously felt like I was going to throw up.  Logically, I knew it was safe, but my body really reacted to being up that high and walking out on a see through ledge.

No fear.

These two were doing push ups while all of the adults looked on in awe.

First day of school

It has begun...the new school year.  Carter started 7th grade, and oddly enough, he wouldn't let me come to the bus stop to take pictures of him leaving.  :)

Grant started 1st grade and he was so much happier this year.  It was a relief for him to know the kids and the school.  Smiles all around.

Hailey was so excited to find out that she was in her best friend, Jenna's, class for the 4th year in a row.  

These cute 5th grade boys were a little embarrassed about getting their picture taken, but they still played along.  What a great group of kids.

Sand Dunes

To celebrate my Dad's 29th birthday, we decided to go to the sand dunes in Michigan.  What is better than sun, sand, and water?  The men helping little Alyssa.  I will say that for as much as she whined, she walked up the entire dune on her own.  

At the top!  We all made it although it took a little encouragement to get Grant up there.

My Dad at the top with the kids.

Taking a little break.

Chris and Andrew

Hailey and Carter

Earlier in the day my dad complained that I only took pictures of him while he was sitting down and that I should get him doing "something more exciting."  He promptly fell asleep and I couldn't resist getting the "action shot".  :)

My mom and Alyssa snuggling