Perfect poses & birthday

There's that moment in time, when once in a lifetime, you catch the most perfect moment in time. Lucky for me, I was there and the person catching the moment was me.

This was all part of my 37 29th birthday no less! We were on our way to get birthday ice-cream with Grandpa and Grandma F and just happened to pause in front of a doorway and snap some photos with my phone. I have to say, we can't stop looking at these photos!

Burning off the ice-cream with a walk down by the water

More birthday meals and surprises, for me!

Dinner by boat to Quay Street 

 Birthday meal at Grandma and Grandpa A's

Birthday presents from all (three!) of my girls!

 My birthday flowers from Aaron

And a birthday self-portrait on my 37th year

Harbor Springs

(Playing catch-up... from Aug 10th weekend)

How many years has it been for us going to Harbor Springs every summer? We had to figure it out... this was our seventh annual trip! It's wonderful to have such generous friends that share their "up north" home with us. We've made such great memories in the past and we got to add to that this year too. The only thing lacking was the Johnson clan, and they were missed. We also missed extending our vacation by going to Kurt and Sarah's, it just wasn't the same. We did swing by Traverse City on our way home to visit with Granny. She made sure to tell us that she is 91 and a half years old!

Our traditional "standbys" in Harbor Springs are to make one day a beach day in downtown Harbor Springs and another day a trip to our FAVORITE ice-cream place, Yummy's. (Or as I like to call it "Happy's" because Yummy's makes me happy!) However, this year, we didn't even leave the borders of the Birchwood Community! It had everything we needed to keep us occupied and happy - hikes in the woods, golf, swimming, tennis - sounds like a relaxing vacation to us!

Deck overlooking the golf course and Lake Michigan

We don't get to witness sunsets living on the east side of the state, but the sunsets here on the west side of the state are stunning

These are the sorts of delicious treats we enjoy on the deck at sunset

All the "big" girls - Katherine, Mary and Kayla

Technology kept the girls entertained

 Girl Tea Party! Emma and Khloe even joined in

The girls took a tennis lesson one day

 The boys thought they would be rebels and  "sneak" on the golf course at night. They were surprised - and we got a good laugh - when the sprinklers came on!

Granny is doing well! We were happy to see her!

Endless summer fun

At 16 months, Khloe LOVES to wear anyone's sunglasses that she can get her hands on!

 Labor Day weekend boating - for the last time in 2012 - in Lake Huron with the Gumbis clan

 Just another fun family boating day!

 She doesn't like the helmet on when she ridaes in the bike carrier on the back of my bike, but today she voluntarily choose to wear it on her head for no reason while she played in her car... for almost 20 minutes! It was so cute, and too funny!

 Wearing new summer shirts from Grandma A. Kayla picked out hers and Khloe's outfits. Almost every outfit Kayla picks out for herself includes wearing her "clicky" shoes. 

It was a close call two weeks ago. It started feeling like fall... leaves starting to drop, cool mornings... we were worried. But then, summer showed up again! Whew! It was a great two days for the splash pad! It was Khloe's first time there and she LOVED it. She ran NON-STOP for an hour, over and over and over again through the water. She would've kept going but the big girls ran out of energy before she did! Big buckets of water dumped on her head, she laughed. She got pelted in the face with spray guns, she laughed. She couldn't see there was so much water dripping off her hat, she didn't care. It was as if all her dreams had come true. All the girls had fun!