Up in the UP

We crossed over to the upper peninsula to camp on the banks of Lake Huron and because it was The 4th of July we had to light some fireworks. 

Mackinac island (pronounced like mackinaw)

One word to describe Mackinac island is dreamy. Seriously we have already started plans to go back. The island is the only place in the US that doesn't allow any motor vehicle- no cars, motorcycles, scooters, nothing! Only bikes and horse drawn carriages. The island is known for its fudge so that's what main steet smells like. Yum! We hiked around and fell in love with this island, the lawns were perfectly manicured, flowers the size of your head,  the most beautiful homes and picturesque hikes. We had the perfect day. 

Annie could not get enough of all the wild flowers. 

Lake Huron. 

The movie Somewhere in Time was filmed here. Recognize the Grand Hotel? 

Michigan- Dayton and Detroit

I have been wanting to visit michigan for years and we finally made it happen. On our way up we stopped in Dayton Ohio to visit the Air Force Museum. It was really cool. Hundreds of air planes and really interesting stories. 

Mac saw this plane and blurted out its name! We started laughing and poor Mac was embarrassed after we told him why it's best not to say that word. Mac is such a sweet innocent boy and a good reader;) 

Next stop the Tigers stadium for a baseball game. This was what drew was most looking forward and turned out to be the perfect early birthday present. 

It was a beautiful stadium, my favorite so far! 

A hike

Drew had church meetings on a Saturday and I was itching to get out so I took the kids to raven run to hike around. We found a new hike and it was absolutely beautiful! 

We found some natural water slides that needed some more water to really work but still had fun- Annie is just in her underwear but looks naked. 

Right about here, the sky went dark and dumped buckets of water on us. As we ran through the woods we could see the fireflys- it was magical. We laughed and ran until we got to the nature building. We thought we would wait the storm out but saw that it wasn't going to end anytime soon so we made a run for it. We were drenched but what a memory! We all wished drew could had been there with us. 

Baby number 4

This baby Boy has already taught us a lot about life. He has taught us more about patience, love, hope and faith. We have been praying for this little guy and when I got pregnant we've had a few scares that again turned us to prayer and our faith. I'm grateful for this little baby, he's  brought drew and I closer to eachother and to our Heavenly Father. We can't wait to welcome him to our family in November! 

When we told the kids that the baby was a boy, the boys were excited and Annie started crying "but I told you I wanted a sister!" Me and Annie were positive it was a girl. This pregnancy has by far been my hardest. I was sick and sooo tired all the time! I could have slept all day and still feel like I could use more sleep. Now that I'm 20 weeks, I'm feeling better and almost back to my normal self. Pregnancy is a sacrafice for the whole family but totally worth it! 

G turns 6

For grays 6 the birthday he wanted a mad scientist party. We invited 10 of his friends and waited for the big day - this was the hardest part:) the party was crazy! The kids all got their own goggles and we did experiments with them. It was a hit! 

G's birthday fell on Father's Day this year. Mac and gray sang a duet in church/ it ended up being a solo by Mac but he did great- we were really proud of them! 

It's fitting that gray was born on Father's Day. He is a daddy's boy. Drew knows how to settle him down and when gray hasn't seen drew for a couple of days ( due to late meeting or out of town) he gets irritable and quite difficult to be around. He needs his dad. 

Gray is such a funny kid. Loves telling jokes but can't get the words out cause he's laughing so hard. He can make friends easily. When you first meet gray he's shy but shortly after getting to know him, he'll talk your ear off. I love this kid so much. So glad he's in our family!