Summer is almost over

I can't believe I start teaching on Monday August 22nd. This summer has flown by! I've enjoyed so much quality time with my two girls Emily (4) and Mary (almost 15 months). Unfortunately my allergies were horrible this summer, but it didn't stop us from doing a lot of fun things. We may have missed out on a couple of things or scaled back; which may not be a bad thing. Keeping up with the blog got put on the back burner, but here are a list of things we did do the summer of 2011:

-Emily played in her first t-ball league

-Mary took her first steps (13 months old)

-went to a couple of parades

-swam at Friend's Lake in Chelsea

-enjoyed swimming at my parents pond

-Joshua & Caleb (my nephews) came to stay for a couple of days

-went to the 4-H Fair

-played at the Chelsea Treehouse

-went to the library (only one time)!

-went to the park - several

-I went to my first Mom Prom

-swam in our inflatable kiddy pool at our house

-made some new friends (new neighbors) with the Strong family - kids Saleh (6), Boaz (4) and Simeon (1)

-reunited with old friends - met Jill and her twins Luca & Dominic at the Detroit Zoo

-went to the Nathans Trail BBQ

-enjoyed walks with our neighbor Anne & her dog Lola, I take Emily in the stroller, Mary in the back pack (which she loves) and Lucy on the leash

-swam in two different neighbors pools for the first time

-swam at Travis Pointe with mom, sisters and cousins

-went to graduation parties

-planted, grew and harvested a huge garden and enjoyed making lots of real food recipes - some new veggies this year included = kohlrabi, parsnips, turnips, and spaghetti squash

-attended Kevin DeVoogd's baseball game at the Adrian College softball field

-Emily attended VBS at Lambs of Our Savior and Peace Lutheran Church

-enjoyed the 4th of July at Dave's lake house in Indy with the family - boating, hot tub, Indy zoo, park, Blast on the Bridge fireworks, and more!

-Tiger's game with my family

-I played sand 2's women's A volleyball in Ann Arbor on Thursday nights

-went to Sounds & Sights in Chelsea

-met up with old friends at The German Park in Ann Arbor (Stefanie Horvath & family)

-went to cousin Brian's house and got a farm tour, veggies from the garden, Emily got eggs from the hen house and more

-enjoyed the Marshall (mom's side) family reunion with penny dig

-Chelsea Summerfest at Timbertown park

-sand volleyball on Monday nights at Jane's house

We still have lots of fun stuff left too - camping with the church group this weekend, Chelsea & Saline fairs, the German park, and much more!

Jim recently got a new job at Consumer's Energy working on corporate strategy which was a promotion! It was great news and he is very excited about his new position. It's been tough because has been more hours and time away from the family.

I may try to add pictures from the last couple months if time permits. If you follow me on Facebook you've probably seen most of the pictures. I hope to update the blog with a few recent events.

I hope you enjoyed your summer!