Sophomore Year!

We took sweet daughter G back to college and it was so much easier than last year!  I only cried on the inside. :)

We had fun moving her in and helping to get a bit settled.

Room-mates!

I am thankful that she is thriving so at college, and knowing that she is right where God wants her has made it so much easier to leave her there.

Family Outing - Last Hurrah of Summer Vacation!

After reuniting with daughter H after our camping trip, we had the opportunity for our entire family to visit an historical venue together.  We rode the carousel, ate frozen custard and old fashioned candy, saw old fashioned houses and farming techniques, and generally had a fabulous time. Everyone was happy and having fun, and for a mama that is the best.  It may be one of my favorite summer memories.

Lake Michigan vacation, days 7 and 8

We ended our vacation week with dear friends and a fun outing to the big kids' version of Chuck E Cheese.

We had a blast racing each other in go carts.  I was dead last, but didn't care!

My specialty is apparently putt putt golf, as I was a winner in this event!

What a restful and FUN vacation!

Lake Michigan vacation, days 5 and 6

On days 5 and 6 we met up with our cousins to conquer Sleeping Bear Dune.  Contrary to my previous thought, Sleeping Bear is not the tallest sand dune in America.  The tallest one is in.....wanna guess which state?.....

Colorado!

Weird, I know.  But this is apparently the second tallest, at 450 feet, and the tallest one that is by water.  450 feet is a loooong way to climb up!

Here are the cousins about to run down.

And they're off!

Keep your eye on the pink shirt.  That is Little Man.

Here I have zoomed my camera all the way to get a bigger shot of Little Man as he neared the bottom.  Hubby and I walked down about 50 feet and took pictures from there.  Mostly I experienced Sleeping Bear with my eyes. ;)

The arduous climb back up!

 I conquered a much (ahem) smaller dune!

A bit of antiquing.

Dinner out for my wonderful husband's birthday!

And after the restaurant, a drive in movie!  Double feature:  Finding Dory and Pete's Dragon.  Awesome!

Another beach town, this time after a rain.  The only rain we had during our vacation.

Lake Michigan vacation, days 3 and 4

These pics are pretty self explanatory.  I spent HOURS in this position...reading, talking with my husband and various children, thinking, praying, and praising.  It was glorious.

We enjoyed some geo-caching while on vacation.  If you don't know what that is, it is basically using GPS to locate a listed latitude and longitude point at which you should find some kind of container with a log book inside to record that you found it and were there on such and such a date.  Some of the containers are very well hidden and are difficult to find, while others are listed as "micro" and are hard to find because of their small size.  The container pictured here was a "small."

We had a delightful evening in the historic district of a beachside town.