Berlin's 4th Birthday

James & Amanda didn't have the family over for Berlin's birthday so we just went over on her birthday to have lunch & give her gifts to her. She likes sparkly dressing up things so I made her a "dress-up" dress.

Eli's Second Birthday Celebration

We got together at James & Amanda's to celebrate Eli's 2nd birthday.

Lots of fun & noise! Eli (& the rest of the kids) had fun

with all his new toys. Future soccer star!

It was the year of the dinosaur toys. This

is a plastic puppet that roars.

Roaring back at the dinosaur

Eli wasn't too sure about this dinosaur. It roars & moves.

He was fascinated with it but kind of scared too.

Scary dinosaur or "roar" as Eli calls it.

"Scaring" grandma with the green dinosaur

Blowing out the candles -he was kind of

upset when everyone started singing for him.

Eli enjoys his ice cream & cake

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We celebrated Owen's 3rd birthday this past Sunday. Lots of people!:) Later in the day we went outside & played in the snow. Egan & Owen try out Owen's new trike. The bell was a big hit with all the kids.
Eli likes this view from the back of the trike.

It took a while to blow out this candle!

Berlin enjoying the sledding.

Eli & Egan

Tim gives John & Owen a shove.

Amazing how much alike John & Tim look in this picture.

Tim & Egan

John gave his old snowboard a try but it wasn't

very slick. Les tried giving him a start.

Eli enjoyed sitting in the brush & eating snow.

Tim takes all the kids for a ride.

Egan giving the snowboard a try.

Berlin

A little hockey at the pond.

Egan & Owen

John & Owen

James & Elijah

Berlin making a snow angel

Owen making a snow angel

The guys hitting the puck around now that they

got the sticks away from the kids. :)

It's been a while since I've posted so I decided to just start from now. We had Kate's girls overnight last weekend. They did some painting/print making & we took a hike through the woods, checked out the ice on the pond & shoveled off a little skating rink & did some sledding. There wasn't a lot of snow but enough to slide down our little hill. Grace & Eva making snow angels

Hiking though the woods to the pond.

Eva & Papa on the sled

Making a "train"-Grace, Kaylee & Eva

Kaylee

Eva

Grace

Grace

Painting

Kaylee's masterpiece

Eva

Grace

Tawas Get-away

Bob & I by the AuSable on our getaway

Bob & I took a spur of the moment overnight

trip to Tawas City the end of August. We finally

had a beautiful summer day. It was a little

cool but not bad. We went to some antique stores

in town & walked out on the pier. The next day, a

Monday we drove up to Oscoda & took River Rd.

inland along the AuSable River. There's supposed

to be a lot of bald eagle nests along the river &

we were hoping to see one.

We stopped at a couple turnouts & at the Lumberman's

Monument, Canoer's Memorial & Iargo Springs.

Really a nice trip with some beautiful scenery. Looking down at the AuSable

Bob tries his hand using the lumberman's tool at the

Lumberman's Monument.

View of the river from Lumberman's Monument.

Bob enjoying the view from one of the

roadside parks.

We were very excited to see a bald eagle at the

Canoer's Memorial! It was fairly easy to see & we had

also brought binoculars. It was neat to watch him

ride the wind currents farther up into the sky.

Iargo Springs was very interesting. They had

board walks all through the woods so you could see

the springs as they flowed into the AuSable.

There were 282 steps down (& up!). I'm glad

we didn't know that before we went down

or I might not have attempted it! We counted

on the way up. Thankfully they had resting spots! :)

It was worth the effort.

the view

Boardwalk through the woods

Another view of the river

I thought it was cool to see how the river

winds through the woods.