Cousins Jam

Cam & I spent a wonderful few days up in Phoenix seeing family. My sister was in town visiting her latest grandson who sadly I failed to get a picture of. It was great to see everyone as it is always far to long in between visits. While we were there my niece, Malory finished her art class at the local library and had an open house. We went along and were truly blown away by all the amazing projects they did. She is only eight but quite the budding artist.

Here's Malory is front of one of her projects:

Camden just loves to be with his cousins. He has so much fun and always hates to leave. For some reason this visit we brought along his guitar. Well, each of them then had their own guitar. It was so cute!

Here's Casey, Malory and Camden having a little jam fest:

Dad's Clothes

The other day we found the old coveralls that Doug used when he spent a summer working at a copper smelter. Camden thought it was such a hoot to wear something old of Dad's. He especially loved it when we tied the sleeves and pantlegs together. He laughed so hard I think he peed his pants. Ahh...memories! You know it's good (at least for Camden) when he pees his pants. :-)

SVH Swim Team

I can't believe another year of swim team has come and gone and to be honest I am glad it is over! We weren't one of those "good" swim team families that planned our life around swim team. We missed three weeks due to trips. Even being gone for that time, it still seemed like a long season. I guess it was because Camden struggled a bit this year. Coach moved him up to swim with the 7 &8's during practice to give him some additional challenge. Well a challenge it was! They teach them the butterfly and breaststroke which Camden really had a hard time with. Initially he was very excited to move up but then he found out how much harder he had to work. Let's just say he didn't like that. Camden is such a perfectionist. If he doesn't do it well the first time...he doesn't want to do it and he really doesn't want to do it if it's hard. Hmm...This does make me a tad nervous for the future. He did enjoy swimming both freestyle and backstroke. But when it came to the other strokes there was a whole lot of complaining around here. Well, next year we are going to have to think long and hard about whether or not to do it again next year. We shall see...

Here are a few pics from the season:

Waiting - waiting - waiting! We do lots of this during swim meets.

Camden swimming his favorite stroke...backstroke.

The 6 & under boys w/ Coach Chris at the end of the year swim party:

4th of July in Chicago & Indiana

This year for the 4th of July we headed to the Midwest. We enjoyed multiple get together's with family in Chicago, Beverly Shores, Indiana and Grand Rapids. It was a busy week but a good one! We started the week in Chicago which is always great fun. Chicago is a wonderful city with such great things to do with kids. Each time we visit we always try to squeeze in a museum or two and this visit was no exception. We were able to get to The Field Museum and the Aquarium which were both fabulous. Camden really enjoyed them and was extremely sad when we ran out of time at the Field Museum. After Chicago we headed to Grand Rapids for a "return to my roots". I'll post more about that later. But suffice it to say it was bittersweet. I was able to reconnect with a sweet Aunt that I hadn't seen in nearly 20 years and see where my Mom grew up. What a blessing! Following Grand Rapids we headed to Beverly Shores to celebrate the 4th of July with some of Doug's sisters and their families as well as many extended family. Doug's Aunt & Uncle have a beautiful place there on Lake Michigan and it is always such a treat to visit and reconnect with them. Before heading back home on Monday, we were able to get together with my Aunt & Uncle in Chicago as well. The visit was far too short but still was very enjoyable.

Here are a few pics from our busy week:

Here we are at the Aquarium w/cousin, Maddy and her kiddo's, Trey and Rachel:

Doug and Cam at the beautiful Presbyterian church on Michigan Ave. which is just down the way from Doug's Aunt & Uncle. Actually Doug's cousin, Ron & Maddy were married here.

Camden & I enjoying the trolley ride to the Field Museum:

Doug & Camden at the Field Museum:

Doug & Aunt Betty enjoying some beach combing on the 4th of July:

The Fam!

This is our brother-in-law, Paul chucking his son, Connor in the air. Connor just loved it when Paul did this. I couldn't believe how high he threw him!

On the contrary...here's Cam's response to Doug attempting to do the same thing. (Umm...you need to let go of Dad's shirt in order for it to truly work. :) Too funny! Some kids are just more cautious than others and Camden is definitely the more cautious type.

Here's Camden & I getting ready to take part in some family fun....Red vs. Blue or Girls vs. the boys in the family.

Here's cousin, Robyn attempting to organize the teams:

And here's some of the family enjoying her attempt at it.

This contest was to see who could eat their cookie the fastest without using their hands.

Camden definitely didn't win. He is the slowest eater with or without hands!

The view from Aunt Betty & Uncle Ronald's pool/patio area. Yep, That's Chicago you see in the distant.

Doug's extended family always spoil us when we come visit. This year they rented one of those gigantic slides that you can put a hose on and slide down. The kids really enjoyed it and the adults did too. In fact, we were enjoying it many days later as well. It's so great to get older! :-)But I guess it didn't help that we were doing somersaults, flips and basically flying off the end of it.

Here's Doug doing his cannonball slide. I am pretty sure he flew off the end with that one!

Doug's sister, Lisa was a total mad woman. She was doing cartwheels, back flips and all sorts of crazy stuff. I wonder if we should have reminded her that she is over 40! :)

Here's Camden enjoying the slide as well:

Here's Doug's sister, Lisa (the mad woman) and Maddy following some serious sliding!

Cousins: Rachel, Marley, Brynn and Adrianna:


Cousin, Ron and daughter, Rachel:


Camden and Trey have become such good buddies. They really enjoy playing together.


Camden, Rachel, Adrianna, Trey & Connor: