Sunday, September 13, 2009

Michigan '09: Part Two

The story of our July trip continues... (Part one here)

On Monday Holly and family came down to Grand Rapids to see an old friend who was in town. Ann used to lived in the same townhouses we did about 8 years ago, but has since moved to Utah. It was so nice to see her. Her daughter was born around the at the same time as Kobe (along with about 6 other kids at church) and she brought her daughter with her. Fun to see her again too.
Back at Holly's house we dropped off the kids with Nathan and headed out to dinner with the girls. Sadly Beth and Caity couldn't make it, but we had fun with Leanne and Leslie.
It became an interesting evening when the waitress told us that the original chef had quit and if we would tell her what we wanted from the menu, she would let us know if the current chef made it very well or not. We felt like we were taking big risks when ordering, but it turned out OK- not great, but OK. By the way I did get to visit with Beth (and her kids) for a little while the next morning which was very nice.

We returned home to find the kids having a ball under Nathan's watch.

As is the tradition when the moms have a GNO, Uncle Nathan creates a delicious dessert with the kids help. Oh my goodness, the frosting he created was AWESOME!! I couldn't stop eating the leftovers the rest of the week. Chocolate, fudgey, peanutty, kind of a no bake cookie taste. Right up my can-not-resist alley.

We turned it into an impromptu birthday cake. Jaleigh and Jackson almost always celebrate their birthdays together. (Jaleigh is 3 days older than Jackson.)

Jaleigh was excited about her present!
Jackson loves his new Curious George DVD from the Averys.
The next days were spent either at the beach or on the 'set' of Wipe Out. The older kids spent all of their time at the house filming and editing their own version of Wipe Out. Reagan and Jillie have become pros with iMovie ( I still have no idea how to use it) They've been making all sorts of movies. Holly is so grateful that this film is too long to post here or on YouTube because of some of the costumes Ethan chose to wear. :) She'd much rather the world did not see that. It was great though to see them all working together and being creative. The best part is that they were so busy creating this film there wasn't any time left for bickering and competition. They just got along.

The beach was fun as usual though it wasn't extremely hot weather. Dad joined us for the day, Mom came up after work to join us for dinner and a beach sunset.

And I can not forget to mention blueberry picking.
I don't think I could ever have enough blueberries!!
LOVE THEM!
The strangest part of the trip was that I didn't get to clean or organize any of Holly's house. (I did try to do some reorganization in Mom and Dad's newly remodeled kitchen.) I kind of missed organizing with Holly though. Hol, plan something for me to do next time.

Overall a great visit with the family. It always feels a little too short,
and too long til we get to do it again.

6 comments:

Shannon said...

Every time I read about your trips to Michigan, it makes me want to visit myself! Blueberry picking, the beach, AND yummy dessert sounds perfect!

Annette said...

Love the pictures! I'm so excited to find your blog! I'm still trying to figure out whose kids are whose. But they are all adorable! I remember berry picking in Michigan-goot times!

Caity said...

It looks like you had so much fun! I was so sad to have missed the GNO :( Alas, family calls. Next year!

Angie said...

The beach looks like so much fun!! All the cousins hanging out together too, I love that! And hello, blueberry picking!! Fantastic! I need to see if there is any of that down here too!

Sunny said...

So So Jealous! One year I'm going to join you guys! PROMISE! And Derek can help with the kids during GNO. You can come to my house and organize something. You can organize EVERYTHING! :) It needs some serious organizing! :) When are you going to make a trip out here to have fun? Probably when I have more kids your kids age. :) I'm working on that! :)

Pam said...

How much I miss you all! Thanks for making the long trip. I treasure every minute, but always happens while I am working. I am just going to have to retire and enjoy you like Dad does (lucky man).