Yesterday, Ben went to his first "friend" birthday party. It was for his friend Will who turned three. There were lots of cute decorations and party favors, but I forgot to get my camera out until the end of the party. We all put on super hero tattoos after we arrived and Ben received a cool mask, spider ring, and Spider-Man bracelet. Then the kids played outside in the kiddie pool, on the slip-n-slide, and on the swing set. It was a fun morning visiting with friends!  At the end of the party, they got out a pinata that is supposed to open by pulling the correct ribbon. In this picture, the birthday boy is pulling one of the last ribbons.  Jeremy (Will's dad) lifted Ben up to pull the very last ribbon. The pinata did not open! No candy yet for the patient kiddos.  Jeremy tried to beat it open with a bat before just ripping the top off with his hands. Too bad the whole "ribbon" idea did not work. It seems a lot less dangerous than giving the kids a bat. :)  ...

My parents came down for a visit and we had fun spending the last couple of days with them. I've already heard Ben say way too many times this morning, "I'm sad Grandma and Gramps had to leave." Since it has been so hot out, I didn't plan too many activities. Instead we had fun hanging out and playing at our house. We did get out for a couple things, though. On Monday morning, Ben and I took my parents to Grabill Country Sales. After looking around at all the interesting things at the store, we enjoyed some cinnamon rolls and donuts in the cafe area. They were delicious. And of course we fit in a trip for dinner at Carlos 'O Kelly's. They really miss eating there since the one in Grand Rapids closed recently. It would be fun it we lived closer so that we could spend time together more often! Thanks for visiting! :)

Last week Sunday, we left Indiana for a few day family vacation in northern Michigan. We were celebrating Curt's parent's 40th anniversary with all of his siblings. We rented a house in the Crystal Mountain Resort that had six bedrooms and enough space for all of us. There were lots of activities such as golfing, playing at the resort pool, and spending a day at the beach. The day that we went to the beach started out cloudy and windy. I was wrapped up in a towel, thinking that this was the coldest day that I have ever spent at Lake Michigan in the summer. But, later in the afternoon the sun came out and it turned into a beautiful beach day. Ben loved every minute of it. He was literally rolling in the sand.  Curt and Ben testing out the cold Lake Michigan water right after we arrived at the beach in Frankfort.  Some of the fam playing football.  Jacob jumping from a hill on the sand dune.  Peyton's turn. We walked with Ben down the pier to the lighthouse. I d...

It has been quite a while since we last visited the zoo. This morning we finally had time (and nice weather) to go. Since Ben has not really been staying in his stroller that well, I decided to go without one and see how the visit turned out. He did get tired near the end, but other than that I thought it was wonderful. I didn't have to try to chase him around while maneuvering the stroller. He stayed right by me and we had such a great morning!  Visiting with the mongooses. He liked to watch them digging holes.  Bill and Ina relaxing on the hill.  Trying out one of the tents.  When we were hungry for a snack we found the perfect bench up on a hill. This was our great view.  The giraffes were once again not interested in coming close enough to be fed with the lettuce. That has happened each time we have visited this summer. Hopefully Ben will be able to feed them at least once this summer because he was pretty bummed.  Someone is hatching from hi...

 We went to our first TinCaps game of the season on July 4th. We usually get seats in the lawn area, but we decided to give the regular seats a try. I thought it would be nice to have a closer view of the game. The seats we got were just a couple rows up and right behind home plate. We enjoyed being so close and now I'm not sure we'll want to ever go back to sitting in the lawn. They had fireworks planned after the game and they did not disappoint! We didn't get home until almost midnight. That is much later than we usually ever stay out, but it was worth it to enjoy some holiday fun together. :)   My boys enjoying a hot dog before the game. It was nice that hot dogs and pop are $1 on Mondays.  Trying to get a family photo. The sun was so bright it was hard to see.  The first pitch of the game. After the third inning, we got up to let Ben get some wiggles out. We all got an ice cream cone and Ben ended up with a lot of his on his face. :)

Our garden is really starting to flourish. We've only been able to eat some cherry tomatoes so far, but there are lots of other veggies that will be ready in the next few weeks. On a negative note, we had a rabbit adopt our garden. One night he even dug a little hole in the dirt and laid down between the beans and tomatoes...until Curt chased him out of there! He (and probably some other bunny friends) ate up all of our bean plants. I'm bummed about that because I love garden beans. We thought about planting more, but I think they'll just come back and eat them up. They don't seem to be eating anything else, so that's good.  Basil, peppers (red, green, and hot), and carrots  One of the red peppers (still looking green) is getting pretty large.  Lots of yummy tomatoes are growing.  A few zucchini have showed up too. Wednesday was Curt's birthday. He was able to take the day off of work and it was fun to celebrate all day together! We spent the morning...