Abigail's First Movie

 Abigail loves the Cars movies so when we saw that Disney had produced a new movie called "Planes" about the world about Cars, we just had to go. We figured she was old enough now to go to the theater and see it on the big screen. 

 We called a babysitter for Elijah last minute (like, "Hi Sarah, can we pick you up in 15 minutes?") and headed off. 

 The beginning is so exciting it caused her to sit on our laps (plus, I don't think she liked those fold-up seats) and she stayed on our laps the whole movie. Someday she won't want to sit on our laps so it was nice. 

Last Minute Races

 Derek tore his meniscus so he hasn't been able to run (or walk) very well so I decided to run two of his races (non-competitively) instead of him, switching to the 5k distances of course! Thursday night I ran the Run4Reading for West Side Christian School where I did my student teaching 9 years ago. 

Then, on Saturday we headed out to the Ottawa County Fairgrounds so I could run the Park2Park. It was a beautiful morning run through Waukazoo Woods. 

 My cheering section...

 Not bad for 9 weeks pregnant and feeling yuck... I broke no records (not even my own!). 

Eleven Months Old

 I can't believe this little dude is almost a year old! We're switching to formula for his bedtime bottle now so my body can focus on growing this next baby instead of nursing him. He's totally fine with the switch and loves his solid food too so he's happy. I think his daddy loves the bedtime snuggles with him now too. 

Here's Abigail at 11 months old. 

Hoffmaster State Park

 We headed up to Hoffmaster State Park for the weekend to camp with a group of friends. Most of the guys started out as coworkers and friends long ago but now I don't know who's closer: the guys, the girls, or the kids since the moms get together every week and the kids have grown up with each other!

 This little guy didn't even make it the short walk out to the beach before falling asleep. 

 All in all it was a great weekend, full of fun. Perfect weather for camping and sleeping and sitting by a bonfire!

Tim McGraw Concert

 Sarah (Derek's sister) and Derek and I enjoyed a night out to see Tim McGraw in concert. It was  a nice night, unlike the last time we had been to the Allegan County Fairgrounds when we poured down rain on us.

 

Our AbbiGirl

 Abigail loves playing outside

 and making silly faces

 and ice cream bars

 and snuggles

 and football games

 and peanut butter and jam sandwiches

 and her big girl bike

and smiles. 

Our Little Eliju

 Elijah loves cars

 and food

 and independence

 and tricks ("So Big!")

 and trucks

 and tickles

 and sleep

 and his dinosaur

 and lunchtime...

Wilderness State Park (part two)

On Sunday, the weather was still dry but a bit overcast. We were happy to be rid of some of the big mud pools around our campsite! We had a big breakfast before heading to Mackinaw City Bible Church. We played a little Dutch Bingo with some people in the congregation and the kids always like checking out the nurseries and kid programs at other churches.

Then after church we hit the beach!

 Here's our little family: ready to grow by two more feet next spring! 

 These two kids loved splashing in the shallow bay right by our campsite!

 On Monday, Labor Day, we had planned on doing the Bridge Walk. We didn't do it the previous year because I was 7 months pregnant. However, when we woke up so very early to get ready and catch the shuttles and it was dark and cold and rainy and windy... I chickened out thinking about pushing my "babies" so high up in the air in that cold, windy, wet weather! So we did the next best thing: we slept in and then drove the bridge. It was a slow procession following all the shuttling school buses but we all were able to watch all the people walking it (yes, they looked cold!). I even spotted some neighbors of mine from South Olive in the crowd. 

 So where did we go on the "other" side of that bridge? Tahquamenon Falls of course!

 Both kids enjoyed the hiking we did there (the rain stopped here and there). Yep, they both slept the whole time our carriers. 

 But they woke up to at the end to see the waterfalls!

 On Tuesday, we hit up the Wilderness State Park General Store for more donuts before packing up. 

 Do you think she loves these fresh little donuts or what? Well, the frosting anyway... the driver and his navigator ate a few donut "bottoms" that weekend. Ahem. 

We took the scenic drive along the north shore through Petoskey and Traverse City on the way home. We even went up to Mission Point and stopped along the shore to check out a few State Parks we'd never seen. Nobody was in a hurry to get home.