Great End to a Fun Summer!

The last weeks of summer are coming to a close and Austin's first day of school for this year is next Wednesday.  We've been having lots of fun to finish off the summer...

We're still working on figuring out landscaping plans, as are our neighbors who built their house last year and are starting from scratch on landscaping.  The landscaper they've hired is a friend of theirs, so he left the Bobcat in the back yard so our neighbor could use it himself to work on some of his landscaping.  Well the kids thought that was pretty interesting and had lots of fun climbing in the Bobcat.  Tammy captured some great photos with her new camera!

Sarah lately decided that she wanted a PB&J like big brother...she thoroughly enjoyed her first PB&J sandwich!

This past weekend, Nanny and Grandpa treated the family to a fun filled family vacation weekend at Ruttgers Bay Lake Lodge, a really nice lake resort only a couple hours north of home.  We had an absolute blast and the kids were in heaven!

We found the big wooden swing overlooking the lake as soon as we arrived.

We got the tube out on the water right away...and Sarah even participated (at least while it wasn't moving/towed by the boat).

Uncle Kevin tossing Austin in the lake.  He loved it!  

He was a little fish the whole weekend and cried when we made him get back in the boat to warm up when his lips were blue!  Check out the pre- and post-tubing photos...

 Pre...

 During...

 Post...

(check out the windblown hair look!)

Happily, Sarah is no longer terrified of the boat and, by the end of the weekend, was pretty excited about "bapa's boat".

She even helped Grandpa drive (and honk the horn).

Nanny got in on the tubing action.

Love birds Michelle and Brian smooching while tubing.

Family fun on the tube.

Sarah wanted to "kick kick" and her favorite part was sitting on the side of the tube kicking her legs in the water.

Dancing on the boat with Uncle Kevin.

On Saturday, Grandpa rented a jet ski for the whole day (10am-6pm) and Austin was on it for the entire time (with the exception of a brief break for lunch).

Riding with Uncle Kevin.  Austin later told us that "Uncle Kevin let me give it some juice."  He was so excited he got to help drive the jet ski.

We got the water skis out too.  Brian had never tried waterskiing before, but he was a natural.  He got up with very few tries and then impressed us at how quickly he advanced.  By day 2 he was trying to drop a ski or get up on 1 ski and by day 2, he managed to put the handle between his legs and ski with no hands.  We also chased whoever was skiing with the jet ski so we all had fun together - some on the boat and some with Austin on the jet ski.

Michelle did a great job skiing too.

Even I got up on the water skis.  I haven't tried water skiing in about 12 or so years, so I was definitely sore afterward, but it was fun!  I got up on the 2nd try (leaned back a bit far on the first try) and then was up for quite a while before my back couldn't handle it anymore.  I'm getting old!

Austin on the jet ski with Auntie Michelle

Kevin showing off his skills on the water skis.

Brian and Sarah hanging out on the boat.

More jet ski fun.

Sarah didn't get much time in the water, since we had everybody tubing and water skiing, but she got some time to swim in the pool with Mommy for a bit.  More "kick kick"...

Back in the tube again on Sunday.

Then a nice walk home from lunch at the golf club restaurant at the resort.

And ice cream treats before we headed home.

It was so wonderful to spend a fun weekend with family.  We hope to do this again in the future.  We're hoping to get Auntie Keng back from Thailand soon.  We missed her on our trip!  

We got settled back in at home and have had a busy week already.  Work has been crazy for me because it is back to school time and the kids need their sports physicals, school paperwork, vaccines, etc.  Steve has plenty on his plate at work and has been working from home at times to get it all done.  

In other news, Michelle and Brian closed on their first house today! Congrats on your new home! 

And last, but not least...Notre Dame football is coming back soon!  The kids are ready to cheer on the Irish, though they've outgrown all their ND clothes.  We'll have to fix that. Sarah can say "Go Irish!" randomly throughout the day or when prompted, but she still has trouble pronouncing "Irish".