Harbor Springs Vacay 2011

The first week of August (yep, I'm waaaaayyyyyy behind) we went up north for our second week of summer vacation.  B's family from FL and OH was all there, so we spent most of our time with them (though we got to spend a little bit of time with my fam too!).  The weather was amazing, the fam was great, and it was nothing short of awesome to spend 10 days in a row with B and SYT!!

What my buddy looks like on our morning walks.  He is always great in the stroller in the morning (after dinner?  not so much!!)

 

We stayed over in Harbor at a house that B's brother and his wife rented (his parents and his other brother's family stayed about 10 min from this house), and it was super close to a fabulous playground.  Spence loved it and it kept him occupied for a LONG time.  He loved climbing underneath things and peeking his head out to do peek-a-boo.  Too cute!

(Okay, seriously, when did he grow up?  He looks like he's 3 in this pic!!)

B and I went away for 24 hours down to the Leelenau Penninsula to taste wine, have a fabulous anniversary dinner, spend the night in a hotel, and, best of all, sleep in!!  N&K watched Spencer for  us, which was wonderful.  He did so well (we were nervous!).

The weather was great, the wine was fabulous (our favorite two wineries were 45 North (their pinot gris is the perfect summer wine) and L.Mawby (all sparkling wines)).

Drinking wine in Lilly and Seersucker on a gorgeous summer day?  Don't mind if I do!

We spent lots and lots and lots of time on the beach and at the pool.  Spencer loves the water! 

Playing on the tire swing up at Pond Hill Farm.  It's a petting zoo, working farm, pick your own fruit, type of place that is just wonderful.  The kids all love it!  Spencer just loved the swing and sitting on one of the tractors pretending to drive. 

This is N&K's daughter (our niece) and Spencer just loved staying with her.  She's a really sweet baby and tolerated constant kisses from him!  It was nice having another baby around as LGT and SYT often napped at the same time, so K and I were able to hang out together while they were napping.  Thank goodness for sister-in-laws.  Mine are fabulous! 

Thanks for tolerating my picture heavy posts of late!!

 

 

Harbor Springs on Dwellable

Kate Spade Sample Sale!!

If you are looking for a new purse, a new baby bag, a new wallet, a simply gorgeous dress, or new baubles, you simply MUST check out the KS sample sale right now!!

There are some amazing deals to be had but the sale ends tomorrow, so hurry on over.  Plus, with shipping at only $5, this sale cannot be beat! A few of my favorite are below.

Gramercy Park Stevie

Small Nylon Mae

Beachcomber Stevie

Maryanne Baby Bag (this does NOT look like a baby bag, does it?  I just love this and the price is amazing!)

(Can you tell I'm in the market for a new black purse??)

Darling iphone 4 cover

Fabulous yellow jacket (very Betty Draper)

Darling night on the town top

If I didn't have a very similar pair, I would scoop these up in a heartbeat!!

Fabulous with a LBD or a great black cashmere turtleneck and jeans!  This would be a stunner at holiday parties!

Really, really cute stuff over here, but remember, there's only one day to shop, so head on over!!

Lobster Party 2011

Boy, oh boy, it was H-O-T when we arrived at the party.  We got down to the beach around 6 p.m., and most of us filled up a cocktail glass and headed down to the lake to put our feet in and chat while cooling ourselves off.  After about 20 minutes of feet cooling, we went up to take pictures on the dunes, refill our cocktails, have some appetizers, and chat it up with the fam.

Spencer, 15 months

Harbor Springs, MI

All the cousins together.  The three older ones were so delightful with the two babies.  It was lovely to see!  You can see the darling lobster bows in this picture.  The girls all loved them.

PGT and LGT

(different middle names though)

All smiles from my two amazing boys.  God in Heaven, thank you for these two blessings.  There isn't anything better than their happy smiles!!!!

A and his girlfriend, A came in from the East Coast for the party.

Family pic

About 8 p.m., my mom came up to get SYT and LGT to take them home for the night.  It was definitely night night time for the little ones.  We were then able to eat our lobster dinners and dance with the band.  Around 9:30 the other little ones left to go home as did B's parents and one of my SIL's.  The rest of us stayed to dance some more and then........the rain started!!!  Not the best thing to happen at an outside party :(

Sister-in-laws make life SO much better!!!!!!

It started pouring around 10 p.m.  The band had to stop playing early which was a bummer.  It did cool the weather off for the rest of the week, which was nice!!  We all had a wonderful, wonderful time as always!

Hysterical!!

via Baby Brewing

Now this is funny!!!!

Spencer is 15 months!

My little guy, how you grow so fast!!!  You are no longer a baby (though you'll always be "my" baby), you are a toddler through and through. 

Eating:  You're still a great eater and don't refuse much.  You still do your green monster smoothie every day and a milk smoothie too.  Your newest phase it wanting to lick the hummus or peanut butter off the pita/toast and then give it back to me for more of the topping.  It's quite comical.  I'm so glad that you are a good eater, buddy!  We're pretty anal when it comes to junk food (ahhhhh......first time parents!), and we definitely had to let go a bit when we were up north with all the grandparents.  They definitely didn't see the need for our strictness, and I do realize that we won't always be able to control what you eat or what you like, but I do hope that giving you healthy and nutritious options now will help to set you up for better choices and healthier tastebuds in the future. 

Sleeping:  We're down to one nap a day, though occasionally you'll still do an extra afternoon one or fall asleep in the car on the way home from daycare.  The nap can be 1- 2 hours, though once last week while we were on vacation you took a 2 hr and 40 min nap.  Daddy and I both went to check on you more than once b/c we were worried!  You were just WAY overtired and needed some catch up time.  You are still going down around 7 or 7:30 and waking up sometime in the 6 o'clock hour.

Milestones:  You got your 5th tooth this week.  Finally!  It's been on the verge of coming in since the 4th of July.  Unfortunately for you, it meant a horrible night's sleep and a bad diaper rash.  Teething stinks, little guy!  Your 6th tooth looks like it'll be in sooner than later, but I'm not holding my breath. 

You now know how to blow kisses, say "thank you" in sign, and have about 11-12 words under your belt that you say regularly and correctly.  While we were up north, we would pass you around the dinner table to give good night kisses, and at the end of the week when we would say that it was time for night night, you would walk around the table yourself to make sure everyone got a kiss.  It was adorable and oh so charming! 

The other night you climbed onto your bike and balanced on it by holding the handlebars and having one foot on the seat.  You wanted us to push you around like that.  I am not ready for you to be a little daredevil!!  Yikes!  You can say bike pretty well and always point them out whenever we see them around.

Favorites:  Swimming in the pool or in the lake has been a HUGE source of entertainment this summer.  You (and mommy!) wish we could do this every single day.  You move your hands like you are swimming and you blow bubbles without any difficulty. 

I don't know if you'll ever get tired of saying "ball"!  You just love them and love to point out anything and everything that looks like one. 

You love to be outside and it definitely helps to calm you down when you are upset.  I'm hoping you always love the outdoors, buddy!

Stats: 24 lbs 6 oz and 31 in long (47th and 49th percentiles), wearing 18 month clothing for the most part, in size 4 diapes and size 3-4 for shoes (you have tiny, chubby feet for sure!!)

Fabulous Friday

Things that make me happy today........

*A cool morning (59 degrees) that required Spencer and I to wear coats to work and also allowed for a GREAT nights sleep.  Even better?  It's going to be 82 by the afternoon.  This is my version of perfect weather!  It was supposed to rain here most of the weekend, but it's looking now like we'll have some rare, scattered rain with lots of sun in between.  Yea!!

*Being home for a weekend (my first one in a month) and being able to get stuff done.  I do have to round both days at the hospital, but we have only a few patients to see, so I should be able to get lots of cleaning, errand running, and yardwork done. 

*Hearing "Born this Way" on the radio on my way to work.  I always listen to NPR in the mornings, however this morning my car was on the radio and this song had just started.  Lady Gaga is one weird chick, but I do love a lot of her songs!! 

*I just won a bunch of cute outfits on ebay for SYT.  Yea for adorable bargains!!!!

*B is enjoying a weekend away for a bachelor party.  He's SO excited.  I'm excited because it means the wedding of two fabulous friends is coming up in one month!!  It also means that the countdown to Mad-town is ON.  QBS, I will be messaging you for area recs very, very soon!

*Ford is making the Flex in navy blue!!!!!!  They obviously found my blog post that talked about it and decided to do it especially for me (tee hee!!).  Now if only they would get on that wood paneling, my dream car would be waiting for me!!  Nice work on the blue, Ford Motor Co.  Such a classy car color, IMO. 

Have a great weekend, friends!! 

Babies, babies, and more babies!

Nope, not for me!  Something must be in the water, though, because 5 people I know have recently announce their pregnancies.  I am thrilled beyond belief for all 5 of them.  I just love hearing this news because I know how excited the parents are, and I know how much fun they will all have being new parents (for all but one family, this will be the first baby!!)

The best part about this news is that for two of the families, I have been praying and praying and praying that they would get pregnant and have healthy babies.  Both have experienced infertility and have gone through multiple rounds of IVF.  One even delivered twin girls at 21 weeks that couldn't be saved and then miscarried soon after with another baby.  I have no idea how hard it is for those families to be around pregnant women or to be around new babies as I haven't experienced this myself, but I cannot imagine it is easy at all.  I knew there was nothing I could physically do to help these families get what they wanted (but trust me that if I could be a surrogate for every family out there, I would!), so I knew I had to pray as often as I could and with my full heart, mind, and soul, in hopes that God would answer the prayers of these families.  He did, and I have said a hundred "thank yous" over the past few weeks to Him!!  One of the other set of parents tried for over a year and finally were blessed with great news.

I still am praying for the health of all these little ones, and I still have one family (J!!) that I am praying for.  I just really felt called to share all this wonderful news and to say thank you out loud!!  There really isn't much better (in my opinion) than finding out that people who are ready to be parents are getting that opportunity!!

Lust List: Kitchen Edition

Below are a few items I've been thinking about, longing for, wanting for my kitchen. 

A pasta maker attachment for my kitchen aid.  Good friends have one and they love making homemade pasta.  B and I love to experiment in the kitchen, and with fall coming, I can totally see us using this on the weekends to make our own lasagna noodles, linguine noodles, and ravioli. 

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An ice cream maker.  I'm blaming this one sorely on Annie.  Her homemade ice cream recipes always look amazing, and how good would peach blueberry ice cream or peanut butter ice cream be when it is fresh, fresh, fresh.  I've had a few people tell me that they own ice cream makers that they've never used and that I shouldn't get one, but that's why it's a lust list, right?  And if any of you have one you never use and want to send me, you just let me know!!  I'm an ice cream-aholic and dang proud!!

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New bread pans.  I've been needing new ones for awhile, and these from Williams-Sonoma always get rave reviews.  I only have two big loaf pans and need at least four for my bread baking days.  I have a gift card to WS, so the next time I'm at the mall, I just have to remember to pop in there!!

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Ooooohhhhh, how pretty is this trivet??  Certainly pretty enough for a dining room table on a holiday or for a dinner party.  It's certainly better than the current trivets I have (yep, that would be an old potholder!!).  I get such a heady, lovely feeling when I peruse Le Crueset stuff.  I want it all!!

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New kitchen towels and oven mitts.  Ours have just gotten so ratty and I'd love to send them to the rag pile and get pretty new ones so that I'm not embarrassed when people come over.  I'll have to head to TJs sometime and see what I can come up with. 

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A new toaster oven.  Our moms both went on and on about how awful our last one was, so we got a new one.  The one we have now may look better, but it sucks (excuse my language).  It's tiny, it doesn't toast well, and the tray it came with is warped beyond belief.  I hate it.  I really want a new one, and the one below gets good reviews without being over $200. 

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So, those are my current "wants" for our kitchen.  What are yours?  Do you have a great toaster and want to divulge why it's so great?  Do have/love any of the kitchen aid mixer attachments?  Do you have a favorite dish towel?  Let's "dish" :) 

Long time, no blog

Just back from a week away, in up north heaven, naturally.  I've been a not-so-great blogger as of late, and I apologize :)  I've got a few great pictures of our week up north, I've got a few fun tales to tell, and I've got a SYT update.  Hoping you all are still around, having a wonderful summer, and care to read my babble!! 

Back soon!!!!

Article on BV

A well written article here about Bay View.  The above picture is one from the article as well as one of my favorite cottages.  Truly, is there anything better than a gorgeous porch?  I think not!!

Harbor Springs on Dwellable

No longer a skeptic....

The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

So, I've read all the posts from other bloggers, and I've heard all the hype from my friends, but no matter how many times I've looked at the books, I didn't think they even looked interesting, let alone like something that I wanted to waste my precious reading time on. 

As oft quoted from Pretty Woman, "Big mistake. Big. HUGE!"

These books are frickin phenomenal.  I kept saying to B in the car, "Seriously, these are some of the best books I have ever read."

I ordered them from the library and finished the first two in 4 days. I literally could not put them down and stayed up way past my bedtime with the first book because my heart was racing, my mind wouldn't shut off, and I knew I had to get to a safe stopping point before I would be able to fall asleep. 

I have the third one, MockingJay, on order and am going to be miserable waiting for it to come in.  I have a visceral need to know how this trilogy ends.  Plus the second book ends with a HUGE cliffhanger, and one of my favorite, favorite, favorite characters is in a wee bit of trouble.  Ugggg.....

I wouldn't say that these are beach reads.  To me, beach reading is "I can still chit chat with those sitting next to me and then hop back into the book and then drink my diet coke and then give snacks to my babe and so forth".  These books are not that way.  They're so engrossing you won't be able to talk to those around you, you won't care about eating or drinking, and you'll pretty much ignore your children (bad, bad, bad mommy!!)  These are the kind of books where you put the kids to bed early, hunker down in bed, and read for 3 hours straight. 

I promise, you will NOT be disappointed by them.  Yes, they are a science fiction type book but please don't let that stop you.  The characters are well written, and I can't see people not falling completely in love with so many of them.  Prim, Rue, Peeta, Cinna, and, of course, Katniss.  Just writing the names makes my heart happy.  Did you all fall in love with the characters from Time Travelers Wife?  If so, you'll feel the same way all over again. 

So, have you read them?  Did you love them?  Who is your favorite character?  Am I going to love book 3 as much as I've loved the other two?  Discuss!!