Aug 21, 2008

Crooked Lake

Well, it has been more than the estimated time period for updating about our trip to the lake, but better late than never. So here it goes.

We went up to the lake on Monday, located in none other than Lake, MI. (yes, it's shaped like a 2) It was about a 3 hour trip, made a bit longer by the 3 bathroom stops we ended up having to make on the way. Once we got there we found out that our cabin had been double booked and that the people who were in our cabin refused to move. So, instead of the 8 sleeper cabin we got what I would assume was the 6 1/2 sleeper cabin. The half would be for the baby bed that was shoved into a closet in our room.

So, Mandy and her kids ended up all sleeping in the living-room on couches and roll away beds,
Jacki and Carl got the squeakiest bed in the history of the world, Jake got the bottom bunk of the bunk bed that was in another closet in Jacki and Carl's room and Alex got the baby bed. Carl and I were the winners of the whole deal, getting a soft bed that didn't make you roll towards the middle and say "SSSSCCCRRREEEAAACCCHHHHYYYYSQUEEKERSPROING" every time you moved even the slightest bit!

(our bed)

We spent the rest of Monday playing down at the lake. It was really nice, with lots of snail shells there for the kids to collect. There was a bit of a "seaweed" problem in some spots which made both Lauren and I squeamish, but nothing that couldn't be handled. That night was Carl and I's turn to cook, so we made Chicken Alfredo with garlic bread. Mandy, Grams and Gramps went to Soaring Eagle casino that night to spend some of their hard earned cash and actually made it back with about the same amount the left with. Of course this is about the time we found out about Jacki and Carl Sr.'s bed, so Carl and I fell asleep with tears in our eyes from laughing so hard.

The next morning, since everyone else was super tired from being out all night at the casino and then having to sleep on crappy beds, we traded breakfast duties with Jacki. After breakfast we went down to the lake for a little while and then drove to go tubing. Of course we got lost on the way, as fate would have it, and arrived and hour late. But, there was no problem and off we went for 3 hours of tubing fun. Both Alex and Trey lost a shoe on the trip, but Alex was able to get his back after Lauren waded through muck and weeds and all sorts of gross toe squishing filth to go retrieve it. (Thanks Moen) Poor Lauren, after her generosity, ended up losing the charm on her bracelet, and that caused a few tears. But, otherwise we all had a blast!

The rest of the evening was spent cooking lunch/dinner since we didn't eat lunch before we went tubing. It was a wonderful mixture of beef stew, burgers and dogs. Yum! We spent a little time using the paddle boat and motor boat we rented for the evening and then headed off to bed. I think that the next time we do something like this, we will have to spend an extra day, because none of us were ready to go home the next morning. The trip home was as uneventful as the trip there and that is good because it means that we got home safely. All in all, a great trip!

Aug 19, 2008

Camping at Crooked Lake

Here are the long awaited photos of us at Crooked Lake. Tomorrow I will give a tell-all about the trip.





Ok, you know what? Adding all these would be ridiculous. But, if you go to our flickr account, you can see them all much easier...yes, we'll do it that way!

Aug 8, 2008

singing in the rain



Ok, so this will be hard to hear in some parts, but I couldn't help recording a bit of our life with Jacob. Every event, every moment of Jakes life has a soundtrack(even playing in the sprinkler). He is always singing songs, making rhythms and just generally adding music to our lives. Enjoy!

Jacob in the sprinkler

Here are some shots I took of Jacob in the sprinkler our neighbor set out. I guess I did this as a sort of proof, as Jacob normally hates getting wet like this. He has never liked running through sprinklers, and hates to get splashed. Seems that he's finally growing out of it.


Aug 5, 2008

Carls New Addiction

This is a pretty fun game that our niece Lauren got us in to. I am not too good at it, but Carl can spend up to an hour doing it. Try it out and see what you think.

Magic Pen

This is a screen shot of one of the levels.

Aug 2, 2008

It's Here!!!!


WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Aug 1, 2008

I love Carl!




Just Venting

Ok, we have lived at our new home for 8 months now. In this short time my stove has ruined not one, but two pairs of my shorts! Can I tell you how many respectable, public at large allowed to see pairs of shorts I have? Two. So, as logic would dictate, those are the two pairs of shorts that the stove would go after. So, now I have no shorts. I actually broke down and sobbed in utter frustration this morning over it. You see, it's the stupid handle. It has no cap on the end or anything, so if I walk too close to it, say I'm trying to slip past Carl like I was this morning, then it immediately grabs hold of me and tries to eat me! Oh well. Guess I should look at this as a good reason to go buy more shorts.