Where has July gone???

Warning, warning, warning...this is a SUPER long post full of pictures!!!

Wow, I can't believe it is already the end of July!  Where has the month gone???  I know it's been a long time since my last post, but we've had good excuses...we've had two fairs, a camping trip, and our annual Michigan vacation.  Throw in the 4th of July and some get togethers with family and friends, and you have one packed month! Here are some photos from our busy, busy month!

These are from the 4th of July!  What a fantastic night...the weather was perfect!

Ben had his dentist appointment early in the month, and did great!  No cavities, which makes this mommy super happy!

My niece showed sheep in the county next to ours.  This was her first year, and she did a wonderful job!  She loved the project and definitely has the "sheep" bug...looks like this may be the beginning of a 10 year project for her!

The week after Katie's fair, we had our fair.  I'm on the fair board, so it was an extremely busy week for me.  Thank goodness for Andy, for taking care of the boys most of the week while I ran around the fair all week!

Here are some pictures of fun times we spent with our friends...we just love summer!!!

Last but not least, we finished up the month with our trip to Michigan.  We absolutely love Ludington!  A week is never long enough!  Of course, we went to Sand Castles Children Museum, which is a favorite of all the kids.

We added a stop at the Historic White Pine Village this year, and it was a nice place.  The kids liked seeing what it was like in the 1800's...very educational!





Of course, no trip to Ludington is complete without a stop at House of Flavors!

To sum it all up, July was a busy month but it was full of family, friends, and memories!  It was worth every late night and early morning...I think this picture sums it all up...a month on the go is worth it, but you definitely need rest at the end of it!









Fair Time!

This past weekend was the township fair.  It's always a good time to visit with friends and see the projects and animals that the kids have been working hard on. 

 Two techies

 

 Taking a break to play with the "guys"

 

 Max showing his lamb...cool as a cucumber!

 

 The little ones got to hunt for quarters after the show.  They had a blast!

 

Ellie and Ty working hard in the heat!

Helping the volunteer firefighters clean up after the show...I think that was the highlight of the day.



Kyran's first haircut

Yesterday was a HUGE milestone for our family.  Kyran had his first haircut, ever!  I have to admit that I was not very excited for this event.  Kyran had the most gorgeous curls and they made him look like such a little baby doll.  I knew as soon as they were gone, he would look like a "big boy", and I was right.  But, it was time for the curls to go and time for this mommy to accept the fact that her baby was no longer a baby!

 The before picture

 

 The first cut!

 

Look who's a BIG BOY!

 

Interesting side note, I went back and looked at Ben's baby book and saw that he had his first haircut around the same time, 16 months.  We just try to keep everything fair and consistent, ha ha.

Dale Hollow 2014

We just returned from a quick vacation to one of our favorite spots, Dale Hollow Lake.  We were able to go with our great friends, Chad and Callie, and we had so much fun!  The weather was gorgeous (except for some rain one day), the water was amazing, the sun was hot, and the laughter was endless...we all managed to come home with sun burns (despite a smorgasbord of sunscreen, which we used often) and plenty of funny stories!

 

 

 

Here are some pictures of our trip.  If you've never been to Dale Hollow, I would highly recommend it.  The water is so clear and there are tons of coves that you can just tuck into and enjoy the sunshine. 

 

We found a really good deal on a "Relaxation Station", but we didn't realize just how big it was going to be!  It took up the entire boat when we were inflating it (thank goodness for an electric pump), but it was worth every penny!  We spent hours on it one of the days, which might be part of the reason we all came home with sunburns, lol.  It definitely made you feel relaxed!

 

We stopped on the way down at the Corvette museum so that we could see the sink hole.  Andy and I had been there before, but the sink hole was definitely worth another trip.  It was huge, 60 feet deep!