Fun in Florida!!

We took a trip down to Pensacola Beach with the Chase family (Adam, Alli, and Madelyn). We decided to be brave and drive the 12 hours to get there. Overall it was not too bad. Jackson is not much of a car sleeper so he was up for a lot of the trip. Our ride home took about 16 hours total and he slept for a grand total of 30 minutes the whole time!! Most of the time he was pretty content to watch his movies, we only had a few crabby outbursts. Madelyn on the other hand, is a great car sleeper and slept most of the way there and back. Here is a picture of the kids all buckled in and ready to go to Florida-they were saying "yeah Florida!!" even though they had no idea what Florida was :)

I love this next picture of the kids, Jackson looks like Mr. Cool and Madelyn is so adorable.

Adam set up massages for Alli and I so we got to have a relaxing afternoon to ourselves to be pampered-it was lovely. This was about the only day we were dressed in real clothes, with our hair done, so we thought we should get a picture.

Our two little beach bums ready to go!

Jackson spent all of his time in the pool climbing up the side and then jumping in to Mommy or Daddy's arms. (this got a little tricky when he tried to jump to Mommy in the six foot section!)

Jackson called Adam "the Adam Daddy" and Alli became the "Alli Mommy", or sometimes the "Adam Mommy". He also started calling me "my Colbi Mommy". For some reason when asked what his Daddy's name is, he will tell you-Michael Zapock. We have no idea where it came from, but he is still saying it over a week later. He is going to get me into trouble! Madelyn loved being around Matt, but she called him "Mac". Matt had to leave a few days earlier than us because he started a new job. The next couple of days, Madelyn walked around the condo looking for her Mac.

Swimming with the Adam Daddy.

Floating with the Alli Mommy in the pool outside of our condo tower. They did not stay in the rafts for long. Jackson wanted to jump, and Madelyn likes to run!

Ready for another day at the beach.

Adam started burying all the buckets, because he got tired of running back and forth to fill them up. The kids thought that they were great to sit in.

Mommy and Jackson in the ocean. Jackson was a little intimidated by the big waves at first. He liked to be in them if someone was holding him. After a while he got braver and we stood and jumped over the big waves.

They also had a lot of fun playing and rolling around in the sand. We made some sandcastles, which Jackson of course had to knock down immediately. The sand on Pensacola Beach is so white, it is amazing, it almost looks like snow. It is also VERY sticky! We started going to the beach and then stopping in the pool on our way back just to try to get the sand off.

(Those are the condos that we stayed in behind them) Thank you very much to the Chases for letting us use their condo-we had so much fun!!!

Jackson and Madelyn got along so well the whole trip. As soon as one of them would wake up, they would be asking for the other. They ate all of their snacks together and played with their toys together. Here they are in their jammies watching a little Noggin before bed.


Thank you so much to the Chase family for inviting us, we had so much fun. Hopefully we can make it an annual trip. Though next time, maybe we should fly :) I can't wait to see Jackson and Madelyn grow up together!!

More summer fun

We have not been at our house in Toledo much this summer, but when we were, we had a lot of fun. Jackson enjoys splashing and playing in his swimming pool.

He also likes the sprinkler that Aunt Carli and Uncle Joe got him for his birthday. He does not like to go right through it by himself, but he likes to run around it.

He really liked when Keycoo carried him through.

Lake Fun!!

Here are some more pictures of the fun that we have had at the lake this summer. Jackson loves it at the lake, he is a beach bum.

Daddy and Jackson took advantage of a windy day to try out the Buzz Lightyear kite he got for his birthday. (I think Daddy needs a little practice)

Uncle Joe and Aunt Carli were giving Jackson rides around the beach area in a tube. He was having so much fun, laughing and giggling-Uncle gave him a wild ride!

The theme of the lake party this year was pajama party, so we had a good time wearing our jammies out of the house.

Jackson wore his new Batman jams to the dinner on Saturday-it had a cape and everything! Thanks Uncle Mike, Aunt Mary, Moses, and Lila.

Daddy helped Jackson play the kids games in the morning, Jackson won lots of prizes and had a lot of fun.

I had to include a picture of baby Kota-she is so adorable.

Keycoo helped Jackson drive the speedboat.

On the fourth of July we headed in to the Hillsdale Fairgrounds. They had some bounce houses and other activities for kids. Jackson was enthralled by the mini ambulance, it talked to him and drove around.

Daddy gave Jackon a lift on the way home.

Jackson likes to be very safe when he swims :)

Digging a hole.

Jackson loves to be wrapped in his towel after swimming.

We have had such a wonderful summer at the lake this year, it is hard to think that I will be going back to school in a few short weeks :(

Reunion at the Lake

A couple of weeks ago, the Hulses, Hannas, and Weisses met up for a mini reunion at Lake Pleasant. We had such a good time catching up with everybody-so glad you could make it!
Peter brought all the cousins apricot shirts from Patterson.
The four boys had so much fun playing in the bouncehouse.

Playing at the beach. The boys were all little fishes!

We had a few really hot days, so we spent lots of time floating in the water, staying cool.

Peter showing the boys his guitar, and playing songs too.

Floating off of the "tontoon" boat.(pontoon)

Out to eat to celebrate Adam's birthday. The delicious Saucy Dog.

It was so great to see everyone, we can't wait to get together again.

More lake pictures

This is my new favorite picture of Jackson. I went in to wake him up from a late afternoon nap and he was out cold sleeping like this.

We had another wonderful weekend at the lake. Jackson loves being there, he wants to be outside all day and night. He was wearing the adorable swim outfit that Grandma Smith got him. It has swim trunks and a matching life jacket that attaches to the suit. He loves it and calls it his "swim jacket". He refused to take if off all day. It got chilly so he wanted his sweatchirt over the jacket. It really limited his range of motion, but he did not care. He kept in on until it was time for bed.

A teacher I work with was getting ready for a garage sale and asked if I was interested in a few things. Jackson got a new ride-a jeep. We also got a new spongebob bounce house. We had such a great time playing with them this weekend. Thank you Melanie for such a great deal!!

Jackson does not quite get how to steer yet, but he is good with the gas pedal :)

Notice the life jacket while bouncing.

My silly boy :)

He's a lake baby!!

We spent Memorial Day weekend up at the lake. Jackson proved that he belongs in the family-he is a beach bum!! We had such beautiful weather all weekend. We played on the beach and at the park. There were lots of kids around. I am going to have to really watch, because Jackson wants to imitate the older kids (jumping off of docks, throwing mud at eachother, etc.)

We floated on rafts in the beach and put the little slide into the water. The lake was suprisingly pretty warm for May. Jackson's favorite thing to do is stand at the shore and throw things into the lake. It started with rocks and sticks but evolved into throwing all of his "dinos" and other toys in. I think Mommy and Daddy are going to spend a lot of time this summer fishing things out of the lake so that they don't get lost.

Jackson wanted to be outside the whole weekend, we could not even get him inside to eat lunch or dinner. It is going to be such a great summer at the lake. We are very lucky to have such a great place to go (and to have so much time to spend there as a family this summer!!)

Jackson is so well coordinated thanks to a great birthday gift from his Gubbi.

Fun at the Y!!

Last week Jackson started swimming lessons at the YMCA. He is in the Perch class :) He is absolutely loving his class. We have gone twice now and he talks about it all week in between classes. He has no fear of the water at all, he goes under with no problem at all. He is practicing different strokes as well.

During the last class the instructor got out the slide and Jackson got to go down a bunch of times-he had so much fun!!! There is only one other little boy in our class and he had a bit of a meltdown and ended up leaving halfway through class, so it was like our own private lesson.

Last session, Daddy and Jackson were going for a toddler gymnastics class. They did stretches, and played on the mats and played basketball. I got to go to one with them over my spring break so I took a few pictures.