Goodbye for now.

We've returned from this.

Such a great week, that seemed to turned into the 'fishin' mission' trip.

Pierce, unsurprisingly loved it. 

But Hope was a legitimate surprise.

She is all girl, so we were all shocked at how well she took to fishing. Not only did she enjoy it, she was also very good at it.

And I even gave it a shot!

Check out my MASSIVE fish! Yeah, I'll just stick to cheering.

Of course Paul is good at all things outdoors, and he loved it.

RICO.

But you know the best part of the week was spending time with our Northern family.

We average seeing them only 2-3 times a year, so these visits are always very special. And always too short.

We will countdown the days until our next visit!

Goodbye for now.

Cirque, I will be waiting for your call!

Given the gorgeous views here

 

 

I fancy myself a real Ansel Adams these days.

I may have taken like 75 pictures of the sunset the other night. But, COME ON, it's gorgeous.

You know, basically our evenings have been on repeat.

Fish, swim.

And repeat.

With the occasional detour thrown in.

But probably the most fun these kids had the entire time was when daddy jumped in the lake with them and tossed them around like a sack of potatoes.

Hope was flying like she belongs in Cirque Du Soleil

And even came close to catching a frisbee a time or two.

CIRQUE, I will be waiting for your call!

Paul gave it his all tossing Pierce too, but those extra 20 pounds make a big difference!

But he finally managed some air too.

And I'm guessing that watching his kids fly through the air gave Paul the urge..

Because there he went. Just like a child.

But that's the thing, the child just seems to come out here.

It's been so nice watching the kids play their heart out

And so nice watching Paul here too.

He just seems free here, and I know he misses this outdoor life.

It's our last full day here, and we are all gonna miss this.

My mom loves roosters!

We decided Wednesday morning to get up early and head out to a little petting zoo. We thought getting there early would give us some 'cool' time. But um, no. 

 

So we just tried our best to ignore the sweltering temps and make the most of it.

Pierce decided real quick that these animals licking his hands wasn't for him

Good thing for him they had some handy-dandy pulley system to feed the animals.

 Even Hope was 'icked' out a few times

As her face clearly says.

Mom, they had these roosters all over the place and each time I saw one I thought of you!

I'd be rolling along having a good ol' time

And then, "MY MOM LOVES ROOSTERS!" would come out of my mouth and I'd take a pic.

Hotter than hades out there

 But good thing for us, we can have fun no matter what.

You know Pierce is gong through this stage where posing for me just isn't happening anymore. But he will give me this, and I'll take it.

Thankfully, Hope's still game.

It was a fun morning! Glad we are getting all this time to make memories with our Northern family.

 And one last rooster, well because, "MY MOM LOVES ROOSTERS!"

An adventure.

Let me tell you about an adventure.

 

An adventure of 4 men and one little boy.

 

An adventure of water and fish stories.

 

An adventure that meant leaving the house at 2:30 in the morning.

 



Which is exactly where the adventure lost me. 

 





Tom, Paul, and Pierce left the house at 2:30 in the morning, so they could set out for an epic fishing trip. Now personally,  I can think of NOTHING I would leave the house for at that time, but when I saw these pictures of the sun rising over lake Michigan I did pause for a second and consider it.

No joke, that's legit beauty.

But they weren't there for the beauty, that was just a bonus.

Paul said in all his life he had never seen Lake Michigan so calm.

Said it was like floating on glass.

And for the first time in his little life, Pierce had the chance to experience it firsthand.

Check it out!

Seriously, what a cool experience for a little boy!

 

They cleaned up good!! 

But more importantly, at least to me, he had the chance to make such awesome memories with his dad and grandpa.

And that goes for the girls too.

You know since our eyes glazed over at the mention of 2:30 in the morning, we had to make our own fun.

(See what happens when you ask someone else to take a picture for you? You end up all wobbly and fuzzy.)

But fuzzy aside it was a fun day of shopping and girl time, and most important we didn't have to leave the house at 2:30.