A Day With James

During last school year the boys and I had the privilege of babysitting James (Jeff and Kim's little boy) on Wednesdays. Jacob and Ethan became really attached to him and consider him part of our family. In fact, they often complained that James had to go home to his mom and dad at the end of the day. During the summer we try to get together with them about once a month so they can spend some time together. We were excited when they asked us if we could watch him on Wednesday while they were at the school preparing for the upcoming year. Here are a few pictures of what went on while James was with us.

We saved a bunch of our "baby toys" just for the days when James comes to visit. Jacob and Ethan get a kick out of playing with them all. In fact, I am surprised that there were any available for James to play with.

This is the three of them being artistic. Ethan was a little upset that James was ON the mat instead of BESIDE the mat, but he remembered that "James is little and didn't know any better," at least that's what he told me.

This is lunchtime. By this time of the day, James starts looking a little tired.

See what I mean?

Girls Weekend

This past weekend The Rachels, two of my best friends, came over for a little overnight scrapbook extravaganza. We were afraid we would have to cancel because we were having some major storms. In fact, tornadoes ripped through the Charlotte and Potterville area and farther northeast causing major damage. We had planned to go up to Okemos to visit Hobby Lobby and my favorite scrapbook shop and the storms were going right across our path. Fortunately, the storms passed by quickly and our weekend went on as planned. When we got back from our field trip it was about 10:30 in the evening. I was sure that we would put our stuff away and head off to bed, saving the actual scrapbooking for the next day. I was wrong.

This is Rachel G. scrappin' away.

This is me. Obviously I am at the "I'm so tired I'm giddy" point. We stayed up until 3:30 a.m. Yeah, I said 3:30 a.m.


This was the YUMMY sandwich that we had on Saturday for our lunch. Rachel G. made it just after breakfast so it could meld all the flavors together. I was ready to dive in right then, but I restrained myself until lunchtime.

This is us on Saturday just before they went home. We are each holding up our two favorite pages. I think we all finished at least 8 pages. I had such a good time. It isn't often that we get together without the husbands and kids and get to just be silly girlfriends. I will treasure this weekend and hopefully, we will plan another.

Pizza Beach -- a place for kids of all ages

Our good friends, Jeff and Kim, asked us to go to Pizza Beach for one more day of fun before summer ended and school resumed.

They said it was a place for kids to play.

They said the boys would have fun.

They were right.

Race Weekend

Finally, race weekend has arrived. Curt has waited for this for 363 days and it was a difficult wait. Chad, Brad and Curt decided that this year they were going to go out for qualifying and practice on Friday. It was a great day for them to go; it was cool and sunny, just what they had hoped for.

Right when they walked in they saw a huge Lowe's Chevy display that had Jimmie Johnson's car as the centerpiece. Curt was able to have his picture taken with it. Pretty cool.



While they were walking around they happened to see Rusty Wallace signing autographs for fans. Chad was able to snap this picture with our camera.



This is turn four at MIS, close to where Curt, Chad, and Brad sat.



Saturday night we went over to Doc and Georgia's house for a Sunday School Reunion party and Georgia decided since it was race weekend, the party would be race themed. This picture is of our closest friends. On the left are Stan and Sue, Curt and I, Chad and Rachel Green, and Brad and Rachel Hunt. It was a good time. Afterwards, the boys went out for their annual shopping trip for race food.

The race was rain delayed on Sunday and then postponed until Monday at noon. Unfortunately, the rain didn't stop so they postponed it again until Tuesday at 10am. That means that the guys were at the track Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. It was a good race once it finally ran. Kurt Busch, Brad's driver, ended up in Victory Lane and Jimmie Johnson, Curt's driver, had a solid top 5 finish at 3rd place. YEAH!!

Bourne Ultimatum

We went with our friends Chad and Rachel Green to see Bourne Ultimatum yesterday. Whoa!! I LOVED IT!!! Curt and I watched the first two Bourne movies this week so we would be caught up with what was going on. That was helpful because it had been a long time since we'd seen them. In fact, they are more connected that we had thought and we had both forgotten quite a bit of what happened. I have to say that these three movies are on my top ten list. If you have the chance, go see the movie.

The Big Beach

We went to Hoffmaster State Park in Muskegon on Thursday. We had been trying all summer to get over to the Big Beach (as we like to call it), but it was either too cold, too rainy, or we were just too busy. Finally, we made it. It started out overcast and a little chilly, but the water wasn't bad unless you have something against hypothermia. After a while the sun came out and warmed things up a bit.


Jacob had a blast playing in the water. He loves the waves crashing all around him. He runs and jumps and lays down and floats in on a wave. It is so fun to watch him play. Last year Jacob stayed right at the edge of the water on the beach, but this year he was brave about wandering in a little. He didn't even seem to mind being knocked over by the waves or getting splashed in the face. I wasn't sure we were ever going to get him to leave, but eventually he came up to us and said he was ready to go. Of course, his teeth were chattering and his lips were purple.

































Ethan preferred staying on shore. When he did go into the water the waves would knock him right over and he didn't like it. Daddy took him for a walk down the beach and he seemed to enjoy that. Although, he was worried about being eaten by the seagulls. He also spent quite a bit of time playing in the sand. He was very fond of filling his bucket up with sand and taking it to the water's edge and then dumping it. Curt and I figured he was just doing his part to stop beach erosion.

Of course we couldn't leave Hoffmaster without going to the Nature Center. This was the highlight of the trip for Curt. From the time we start talking about going to the Big Beach, he talks about going to the Nature Center. I haven't figured out what he loves about it so much other than he spent time there as a child. They have turtles, snakes, fish, some stuffed birds, a gift shop and a room that you can push buttons. It is right up his alley and I think his enthusiasm about the whole place has influenced the boys because they get all excited about it too.

After we left the beach we went to our favorite "family" restaurant, Applebee's, had a yummy dinner and then drove down to Grand Haven. We took a walk on the boardwalk and looked at all the boats. Usually we get some ice cream, but we were so full from dinner we didn't have room for it. On the ride home both of the boys fell asleep. I love it when we wear them out!! A perfect end to a perfect day.

Going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!!!

Tuesday we went over to Detroit and visited the zoo. The day started out a little cool, but as soon as we got there the sun came out and it warmed up some. It wasn't so hot that we were miserable, but it was warm enough that we sought the shade when we could.

This is my Mom and Dad (Debbie and Ralph) and us in front of the big fountain. The breeze picked up and sprayed us, the cool water was a little shocking.

This is Jacob and Ethan with a gentle rhino. Actually, it's a cutout poster that they were standing next to, but it looks real.

We saw all the animals, including the largest gorilla I have ever seen, but I couldn't get a picture of him because of the glare on the window. We walked through the kangaroo exhibit, got some great pictures of the lions and tigers and bears (oh my!), did a lot a of walking, rode the train. We just had such a good time.

When we got home we grilled some brats and burgers which were fabulous (Thank you Curt!) and then had a little campfire so we could roast marshmallows and eat smores. The boys were running around the yard having a good ol'time. I have no idea where they found the energy because I was ready for sleep! It was a wonderful day.