Exploring, Dora Style....

It was a beautiful autumn day, so Em and I decided we needed to go on an adventure, and do some exploring - just like Dora. :) We bundled Ashlyn up, put her in the backpack, and headed out into the great forest to find our adventure.....

Emma and Ashlyn, dressed and ready for anything. (Thanks for the hats Linds!! Can I order more? )

Don't giggle!!

Ashlyn says, "I got your back, Mom."

Em....taking off on our adventure trail.

We explored our way to the food plot that Brad and our neighbor planted.....you can see our house through the trees. Here we discovered some deer tracks, flowers, and Em found her walking stick.

Emma and her walking stick. Ready for the next trail.


It was the PERFECT fall day....bright blue sky against the amazing oranges, reds and yellows.

"Don't worry mom....nothing's going to get past me. "

Ashlyn slept most of the hike. :)

Emma, investigating. She was so curious and really got into the "exploring" along our way.....
"Momma, let's explore for some deer tracks.", " Momma, let's explore for flowers." It was a lot of fun, and she found many treasures; deer tracks, mushrooms, a feather, hunting blinds, daddy's tree stand, a caterpillar, and we even flushed a deer. A great adventure all around.

A two track behind our house.

Can you feel the crisp air?

Our road.



That's our mailbox on the right

Backyard.

I was surprised at how green it still was out in the woods....hopefully that means we're not quite at peak color, and we'll get a few more weeks of the amazing beauty of autumn. I just love this time of year, but wish it lasted longer. I also love watching my girls grow and discover things.....on our hike, Em looks at me with this look of realization and says, "Momma, we're in a FOREST!" I loved it! I am so thankful we have a little chunk of forest to call our own for my girls to explore, and for little minds that like adventure. Once again, God is good!

The Hayes Corn Maze

Last Sunday we met some friends at the Hayes Corn Maze in the BIG town of Rock. Okay, so the town is really small but we had some big fun. :) We took Emma there last year - she remembered so many details!

This is soon after we got there....she was SO excited.

Ashlyn, just waking up in her carseat.....She was a good girl. She even drank her bottle while on the hay ride!

All the kiddos playing in the boat of bubbles.

Look Mom!!

All aboard!

Sammy and Emma, climbing the hay "mountain".

She made it!!!!!!

YEAH!!!! They were so cute!

Emma.....laughing at her daddy.

Emma and Andrew, playing in the barn.

It was such a great day! We didn't actually go through the maze - it's a seriously large maze and not a whole lot of fun for the kids, but someday they'll love it. We were glad to get to catch up with the Cain family, get to know Sarah and her boys, and enjoy a beautiful fall day together. If anyone is interested, they can check out the website, www.hayescornmaze.com. The maze is in the shape of The Big Boy this year. Crazy how they can do that!

Time Flies....

Yep, I've been slacking on the blog. :) We've had such a busy and fun end to our summer.....many friends, and family visiting, more swimming and camping with friends, Emma went tubing behind a jet ski for the first time......so here are a few pictures from the last few weeks.

My cousin Tricia got married September 12th, and my sis was the Matron of Honor. Isn't she a beautiful bride?

Ashlyn at the reception.....yep, EVERYTHING goes in her mouth. :)

Tricia and Emma - our Dancing Queen, with Emma Grace dancing along.

Emma Kay and Emma Grace, dancing the night away.

Tricia and Dan Olson

Aunt Lindsey and Ashlyn

Emma loves the book, "Pinkalicious". So, a few weeks ago we made some Pinkalicious style cupcakes.

Em, at the lake.

Emma and Ashlyn, the day we went to Fayette State Park with "Grandma and Grandpa Over the Bridge"

Hope you all enjoyed the end of the summer like we did. Brad finished the garage with the help of more friends and family. A big thanks to Mike, for spending an entire day of his camping "vacation" up here wiring the garage with Brad. Mary and I had to suffer by going shopping. :) We are loving the change of seasons in our little neck of the woods, and are enjoying the warm weather. Now that Brad has shot his bear, he's gearing up for bow season. We'll keep you posted. :)

Bear Hunt

More Fun....

We had a chance to get away over a long weekend. We took the girls the the waterpark in Mackinaw City, and camped at Wilderness State Park. From there we made our way to Grand Rapids to visit family and go to my Physical Therapy class reunion. A great time!

We had a tailgate picnic when we arrived at the waterpark. Emma was so excited.

Brad helping Emma down the slide.

Ashlyn, hanging out in the shade. It really wasn't that warm, so Ashlyn stayed out of the water.

Mom and Emma

Brad showing Emma how all of the sprinkler stuff worked.

Me and Em in the Lazy River!

Self Portrait.

When we first got the the park, Em went from really excited to afraid to try anything. After a bit, she got to enjoy the wave pool, lazy river and one slide. She wanted to ride a big slide with Brad but was too short. Every year she gets a little more courage.....

Emma with her first smore of the trip.

Mmmmm, camping breakfast.

Yep, we tent camped with a 5 month old. Ashlyn did really well. We had her pack-n-play in the tent with us, which worked great. We had rain the second night, and some leaks in the tent, but overall we stayed dry and survived our first camping adventure of the year.

Daddy buried Em's legs.

Packing up to head to GR.

Grandma and Ashlyn.

Emma, Grandpa, and the unfortunate wood chuck.....or some would call it "ground chuck". :)

My PT reunion was a ton of fun!!! I loved seeing everyone again......Emma played well with all the kids. Here is she with Ryan and Charlie.

Here Andrew is showing Emma his new sister Leah. Emma and Andrew were born weeks apart......I have pictures of them as newborns in their carseats together, and look at them now. It was so nice to see my classmates and friends, meet their families......crazy how things can change so much, and yet stay the same. Great times.

We also got to spend time with nearly all of Brad's siblings and their families( we missed Mark, Amber, Hallie, and Addi, but we were happy they were having a great time celebrating their 9 year anniversary!!) If only we had more time......there were a load of people we didn't get to visit, as always.



Update on Brad's baby......the garage. :) It's coming along really well. Construction is done, and now it's time to get going on the wiring.

Front, facing the driveway.

Side view - small garage door out to the trail.

Side facing the house.