Cottage Time!!

On Sunday we made our first trip of the year to the cottage.  I love that we have a place like this to get away from the city for a day or a weekend.  We packed some food for lunch, a couple games and diapers for Otis, and took off. 

We had to measure the kids on the door.  Otis has grown a whole foot in the past year!  And, as always, it's fun to see the marks from the past.  Grandpa as a two year old in 1947, Daddy as a two year old in 1980.  And Ingrid as a two year old in 2008.  Family history on this door!

The kids had fun just hanging out, getting into the croquet set, coloring, and going to the parks.  It rained a bit so we made some muddy sand castles in the sandbox.  Fun!

Yesterday we had a great morning, too.  We took a nice long walk along Lake Michigan with the dog and enjoyed the sun and the sparkly lake.  Have I mentioned how awesome it is living three blocks from Lake Michigan?  Our walks are gorgeous, and the view from the park is amazing.



Our Busy 4th Weekend

Brendan doesn't have a lot of extended family, and those he does have live far away.  But each year they get together at the cottage for the 4th of July.  For some reason we haven't gone in a long time, but this year we made sure we did.  I'm so glad we did!  We had a blast.

Ingrid was in love with the kids.  Brendan's cousin has four kids and their youngest is six.  Calvin and Ingrid had fun chasing each other around the house.  Over and over and over.  Never lost its charm.

Otis was awesome and slept wherever.  He took a nap in a bed one day, he fell asleep outside another day.  All that fresh air and activity wore both kids out and they slept like logs. 

We did lots of swimming.  We did lots of hanging out in the backyard.

Otis practiced sitting.

The weather was perfect.

And when we came home we took baths and put on new summer pjs and lit sparklers. 

I'm exhausted and I still have four loads of laundry to do.  Back to reality.

Back From Vacation!

We went to see friends and family in Wisconsin last week, and boy did we have fun!  We left on a Friday afternoon, which worked out really well.  Ingrid was mellow in the car, Chicago traffic was light and easy.  Although getting Ingrid to a new place at 10pm and expecting her to go right to bed was a little stupid.  She was up until midnight and then up bright and early at 6am, but luckily Grandma and Grandpa are up then, too.

Fun highlights from the trip--going out to eat with our friends.  The dress Ingrid is wearing is an original from Bron and Pepper!  Right before we left for our trip we got a package from them with this dress, a cute tank top, a skirt and some hair clips.  I was in heaven, thanks so much guys!! 

We also went to dinner with Brendan's parents to this place on the river that has a really good fish fry.  Oh fish fry, I love you!  True Wisconsin!  Ingrid is in love with her grandparents, in case you can't tell...

And at the cottage fun was had while wearing nothing but our bathing suits.  Ingrid had a blast going to the beach and running through sprinklers and playing at the numerous playgrounds.  And she slept like a champ after all that fresh air!

A really fun memorable thing we did was take her to the Kid's Dance.  The cottage Brendan's parents have is in an association that has been there since the turn of the century, when all the people from Chicago would come summer by the lake.  Apparently this dance is something they've been doing since Brendan's dad was about ten years old, and they still do it!  And Ingrid loved it!  She danced her way through two Chicken Dances, YMCA, and the Hokey Pokey before she got wild and started throwing herself all over the concrete floor.  That kid has some moves!!