Fall activities

Well, it's been a while since I've posted...but here's what's been going on...

Before school started, Abbey and a friend were Models in a store's fashion show...she looks way too grown up here but she did a great job and had fun and we got a discount!!

The first day of school Abbey and Kelly got on the bus at 7:25a.m. They are both enjoying school and have good teachers. Abbey started playing flute in band this year and Kelly is continuing with Trombone.

Jenny got on the bus an hour later..you can see the cats are wondering what everyone is doing up so early and why they are outside!!

Jenny is loving third grade. Her teacher is Mr. Sewick and she loves him and is having fun.
Kelly is playing basketball on the Beagle 8th grade "B" team. She is number 31. They've lost all their games so far but they are working hard. The "A" team has won all their games so I'm sure Kelly's team will win soon. They just need to work on making all their shots!

Tonight, we are headed to the Homecoming parade that Kelly is in. It's around 6o degrees...thinking about bringing the winter coat!

Hopefully I'll post parade pictures next!

Dana's Lake

Backwards...here's our day on Gurnsey Lake with the Porters and the Batz's. We call it Dana's Lake because I can't remember the name most of the time!!!
Here's all the kids (minus Jenny) at the end of the day...it was warmer in the water than on the shore! Abbey is taking care of the Porter's dog, Gracie.

Dave took a sunset kneeboard ride....isn't that a cool picture?

Rod driving Dave around on the knee board

Dana driving the boat...good job, Dana!

For dinner, we did "Try something New" and did mini burgers...or as Billy Mayes would say "BIG CITY SLIDERS" (miss ya, Billy). We had little burgers and had recipes for all different kinds of toppings. We had a Cobb Salad burger, Southwest, Buffalo Style, and one more. It was fun to try all new toppings...or ALL the toppings as Dave Batz is doing here--the infamous "Garbage Burger"

All the kids did their own variation!

Jenny tried kayaking and loved it but her arms hurt when she was done. The wind was quite strong...but now she has big muscles!

Dave driving the boat in...we've had it for 7 years now!

Rod and Michael on the new tube "Revolution" which turns around as you ride!

The Batz's!!

The boys coming back from a ride around the lake.

This is how the day was...sun would peek out but also have black clouds hovering over us...we had fun despite the black clouds!

Abbey kayaking

Jenny

We had fun! Thanks for the invite, Porters!!

the Big Mac

Guess where we spent the weekend? Looking at Big Mac..the Mackinac Bridge.

On the spur of the moment, we decided to take a trip up to Mackinac Island. The last time we were there was when Kelly was 6 months old. We remembered a lot and had to take some fun pictures in the same spots. It was fun!

We rented bikes and rode 8.2 miles around the island.We stopped to take a few pictures...you're supposed to be able to see the bridge in the background but it was a bit too gray!

The water was amazing to look at, it started out clear at the shore, then turned a little blueish green, then blue, then dark blue...fascinating to watch as you ride!

The is Arch Rock...beautiful!

Jenny ,Kelly and Abbey did some climbing...

Then, we were so hot, we had to get some ice cream!
We really did have a fun time. It was fun to remember being there with Kelly, riding bikes through town with her in a Burley, crying the whole time in town, sounding like a siren! She did better when we got near the water...just like now!!

We stayed in St. Ignace(across the bridge), did fireworks at night and the next day, went to the Mystery Spot. We were used as examples to show weird sensations of a different pull of gravity. Here Jenny is balancing on two legs of a chair...




Kelly and Abbey are standing on a level platform, but Abbey looks taller here (don't tell Kelly!)And Dave climbed up the wall...crazy!
It was a quick trip but one we've been meaning to do for years. We had lots of fun!

The NEW tube!

Dave's friend Matt who works at Airhead sent us a new tube...check it out!

Some comments after a ride:

"I can see why they might call it the 'Vomit Comet' rather than 'Revolution'"

"Totally awesome ride"

"Everything was still spinning when it stopped"

"It was a trip!"

"Now THAT was a fun ride"

Thanks again Matt for helping us be the envy of the lake! A great time was had by all!!

This tube will be available for sale in Sept! We got to try it out early!!! And we loved it!

A few more pics

Here's a few more pictures from our summer...

All three girls went to Camp Geneva in Holland. Here's Kelly, Sydney and their counselorHere's Abbey on her top bunk
And here's Jenny on her top bunk

Jenny's girl scout troop had a "camp day" and make Campfire hats

We went to the Hutt reunion in New Era..Dave brought the boat and brought some of the cousins skiing, tubing on the UFO

We jumped in Lake MI

Double tubing behind the boat (on stony lake)

Lots of fun was had by all

These guys were on the boat more than they were on the ground!


And these girls had lots of fun, too!
We've had a fun, busy summer so far!

MI Adv...Just for Eric! Oh, and Jenna!

We had a great day at MI Adventure yesterday! It was a beautiful day for riding some cool roller coasters...here's the crew (Jenny, Taryn, Sydney, Jenna, Kelly, Dave and Jon Riekse) waiting in line for Zach's Zoomer...Abbey chose the cars instead!It was a perfectly hot day for the water park...we had a blast riding all the cool water slides and of course the lazy river and the wave pools. A few brave ones went on the Funnel of Fear!Abbey loves the swings
Jenny and Taryn got to meet Charlie Brown!And we've taken pictures of all 6 girls in the frog hopper since we've had all 6 there together...although this might be the last year because all together they weighed too much! When we get our scanner up and running I'll scan a first picture and we can compare!

It was a fun day...so, here you go Eric (Dave's cousin) and Jenna...here's the post!! Just for you!

Celebrating the 4th

We had a fun July 3rd on Gun Lake with the Riekse's. We went out after dinner and watched the fireworks on their boat.

Here are Jenny and Taryn...

Kelly, Sydney, Abbey and Jenna

Abbey took a picture of the moon on the water.


And here's a shot of the fireworks...it was fun!

No pictures of the 4th but we went to Dave's Aunt Lorraine's house and they set off fireworks all day...no exaggeration! We got there around 1p.m. and left around 11p.m. and they we setting things off the entire time (Except for a short time when we saw a police car drive into the neighborhood next to them). We had a lot of fun.

Now, we're getting ready to send Abbey and Kelly on a mission trip with the Jr. High group at church. They're going to Cleveland. I'm not sure what they are doing but they need a hammer! They get home Sat and both leave on Monday for Camp Geneva. Keeping busy!