Family vacation up North 2011

"Good morning Grandma Val. Read me a book!"

July 15-23 we all made our way to the cabin for our family vacation. It was a wonderful, hectic, hot 9 days and we can't wait to do it again next year. Here a are a bunch of photos showing off all the fun we had.

The lovely Auntie Casey introduced Griffin to art of Play-Doh. They played for an hour and a half! He loved it.

Bathtime! There isn't a bathtub at the cabin, only a shower. So we had to get creative by filling a tub, and setting it in the shower. Ta-da: a bathtub.

Gus gets worn out watching everyone swim. Next year he'll be a more willing participant. What a good boy.

Cousins.

Having some fun in the sun!

Noah having a TON of fun squirting the adults.

Thanks for picking these up Auntie Casey!

Precious.

Sweet little girl. For being the only girl, among the roudy boys, she holds her own. She really tough-and cute!

What. I'm not supposed to stand inside the turtle?

Smiles at the beach.

Katie and Ruby floating.

It's amazing what a year can do for a child. Last year up North, Noah was afraid of... well everything. But this year, he was fearless (in a good way). He became quite the swimmer! Jeff surely got a good upper-body workout with the 100's of times Noah jumped to him off the dock.

Ben and Griffin enjoying the water. It was BEAUTIFUL that week. The water was about 79 degrees, ahhh.

Taking a boat ride!

Our trusted tour guide.

Gus at 7 weeks old. What a honey.

I love this picture. Lounging with Grandma Val.

It is not an easy task to get 4 children, under the age of 3, to sit still for more than 5 seconds. This was our attempts of a mostly naked group photo after some brightly colored popsicles.

My naked boys! This is one of our favorite things. Baths are done, lotion is on, but just want to play in their undies/diaper.

A quick family picture before Ben leaves for home. He had a golf tournament the next morning, so he went home a few days early.

One last "love" before he goes.

Katie and Jeff took the Noah and Ruby on a bike ride to Nisswa. They had a blast!

First time fishing! It was cool for the first 3 minutes, then boring after that. The fish were biting like crazy, just not on our hook. They kept taking our bait!

We never did catch a fish, but he sure liked going fast in the boat.

Back at the dock, Mom was fishing with Noah, Casey, Gus and Katie. They caught 5 fish! Griff got in on the action after the boat ride. Grandma Val knew how to catch the fish.

The boys walking up from fishing with matching poles.

Dad and Gordy talkin' trees.

There were a few dead trees that needed to be taken down, so they hired a tree service to do just that.

The "Nanny" Casey, wearing Gus and watching the other two. They weren't going anywhere though. They were way to excited to leave because they were watching the guys in the boom truck cut down the trees.

Needing some time ALONE, away from the noise and kids while we were making supper. And stealing a kiss on the front step.

SMORES! Cheese!

Ahhh!

Yummm!

5 Weeks

Well, our little man is already 5 weeks old. I can hardly believe it! He is such a good baby despite the crud that he's had. We have been battling a yeast infection, diaper rash and thrush for the past 3 weeks. I'm SO over tired of dealing with it. But we are on the mend!

Gus is laying on the quilt Grandma Val made for him. Isn't it just beautiful?

Bright eyes!

I like hearing funny things.

This morning while I was nursing Gus, Griff was playing with a toy semi and police car. He was driving the police car in and out of the back of the semi.
I asked him, "where are you going?"
"To a garage sale," he said.
That's my boy!

I called Grandma Val to tell her, and she replied, "well I taught you something right!"

We're havin' a baby!

Arriving at the hospital at 5:30am after my water broke at 2:20am.

2:08pm- a baby boy!!
August Richard 6lbs. 8oz. 19 inches long.
It was such a different experience from my first labor. The nice part was that after I delivered Gus, they put him right on my chest, and he stayed there for 20 minutes. Then I nursed him for nearly an hour, then they cleaned him up and weighed him. It was just wonderful. We had a lot of quiet time as a family.

Daddy and his second son.

Just had myself a little baby. So happy!