Lazy Days on the Lake

I cannot imagine a better place to recover from our international travel. My Uncle's lake house was beautiful and such a relaxed environment. He prepped car seats for the boys and a crib for Shane. Love his resourcefulness and desire to have us feel at home. The boys LOVED the lake. I love my uncles choice in chair color =)


Breakfast time!


Morning lounging time with my cousin Greg, Casey and Shane


Pool table provided long hours of entertainment and not as many squished fingers as you may imagine.


Spending an evening on the boat


Nick was super excited


Great photo of my uncle with his beautiful home in the background.


Shane at the helm


Nick was thrilled to have a shot at it too


My Uncle and his 'boys'


Lake time was perfect for the boys - they got in just high enough to enjoy the waves


And got out for cuddle time.


Can you tell Shane is bathing german style?



Thank you again for a wonderful few days for making us feel loved. We were well rested and ready to hit the 1 hour and 20 minute flight to Hartford. Talk about easy!

College days

We all want to relive college right?? Well thankfully I have some of the best folks around me to do just that - but right now on a different level.

On Sunday we coordinated to meet with some of my favorite college buddies and have a little picnic on the diag. It was a muggy michigan day, but the kids loved running around while we got to catch up. 5 of us, 8 kids! Yikes, how did that happen.... Yes, we know.....

So here they are! Vito and Shane, me, Nicole and Michele.





Here are the 8 kids - I would love for you to link them up with their mothers, but let me help you out (starting at the top left) Jack (Nicole), Abby (Michele), Luke (Michele), Jake (Michele), Lane (Nicole), Sam (Nicole) and if you have been reading my blog you know Nick and Shane are my two little ones.. Jack and Nick - thanks for the big smiles! You boys win!





We checked out the M on the Diag





I didn't make them polish it this time....





Maybe next time.





Love this photo, Shane, Shane and Sara. At one point we were walking over together and I was telling nick about the awesome convertible corvette that Shane drives. Nick turned around in the stroller looking at his brother Shane asking him when the heck he got a car!! Loved it!





I love how your personality fit among a certain group of friends may never change. You may not the the sarcastic one anymore - but when with these guys, you better step it up again. Nicole made a comment on how we were such a nice blend of cool, jocks, nerds, popular etc... this of us on North Campus know where those chips fall. But for me - I couldn't love this crew anymore. We were missing a few that day - but trust me - if you weren't there, we were thinking of you!!

So here is Nick spinning the cube





Of course we had to grab a few more Michigan T-Shirts. As we were in the store each picking out a shirt, Nick asked me if he could have a hat too - little did he know, he could have asked me for ANYTHING in the store and I would have said absolutely! So here he is in his new M hat - Shane got the ball =)





The stadium is totally new since I had last visited the amazing place. We wanted to investigate, but sadly it was closed (unless we paid $6,000 to get married there - yes, you have seen the article)





Check out the gizumbotran (HUGE SCREEN) under construction back there - why watch the field?





Right in front of the M





I wanted to post these pictures as well, obviously I didn't take them - but this is what i remember the stadium looking. It was huge, but unassuming as you didn't know how HUGE it was until you walked in and heard the roar of the crowd





This is what it looks like now - yes, I guess it was a matter of time before michigan wanted the 'grander' exterior.





Lots of red brick and lots of grand.
Seats almost 114,000 folks - it feels amazing being just 1 in that stadium.




After the stadium - we headed to Good time Charlies (an old place of employment for myself and Alaine) to get their famous count twists - while we waited, we HAD to enjoy some Stucchi's Ice Cream (dessert first!) Nick has never ordered anything BUYT chocolate - however today he couldn't resist the super man option!



Check out that blue tongue!


Here we are picking up dinner!


The day ended with some playtime at Nicoles house a mere 3 miles from Campus



Its amazing, within 24 hours we went from enjoying wine on my back porch in Germany to watching the kids ride the jeep in her front yard. Good friends really can span the miles.

away we go

Now lets begin the adventure home - We drove the two hours to frankfurt and 'simply' went through security. easy peasy! Now onto the hard part. Entertain these two for the next 8+ hours..... the flight was BOOKED SOLID. I was thrilled to have Chris and Nicole on the flight, but they were 6 rows behind me - bummer!! Shane and Nick slept for the first 45 minutes at the beginning, for anyone who has had the pleasure of an international flight knows that isn't the best time. The flight attendants have an agenda - drinks, lunch, drinks again - it was hopeless to get them to sleep any longer.









shortly after these pictures were taken, Shane (who was sitting next to Nick) kicked the little tray table sending the apple juice spilling on top of the Ipad and shutting off the movie. Now Nick is crying, Shane gets dumped to the aisle, now crying and mom would like to cry.... but how many hours are left... 3 - lets pull ourselves together! Before landing, I begged Nicole to join me and let Nick enjoy the window seat next to Chris. Shane loved sitting on Nicole's lap and that was surely my favorite part of the trip.

As we left the plane I stayed to wait for the stroller that was assured to be joining me. However when it didn't appear, Nick thought going the down escalator was a good idea (no 'up' available). I have a feeling the treadmill of an escalator will be forever engrained in his little mind as I pray he learns to never leave mommy in a public place!

The boys were great, I really have no complaints with them - but its not something I want to repeat. However, being wrapped in the welcoming arms of my mom and her brother, my Uncle Russy, reminded me of why I wanted to make this trip.

Buddies from home and the long walk

On Thursday (July 21, yes, I too am trying to keep track with this world wind of travel) the kids and I were packed up in hopes of being totally prepared to enjoy every second of our visitors Nicole and Chris. They spent the previous week touring Italy and the amalfi coast. It was thrilling to pick them up at the airport and welcome them into our German home for 2 nights. We sat out on our porch and had wine chatting about their adventures and catching up.


They didn't have big plans for their single day in Germany so we tried to pack it with some of our favorite highlights. Nick's final day at Kindergarden, (he brought brownies in the day before that showed where he would be traveling too etc... yummy treat)


a little hot chocolate in downtown stuttgart (yes diane, I was thinking of you!)





and than onto the big adventure - a hike up to Hohen neuffen Castle. Chris and I have visited it several times and I love how simply old it is. It looks like it was actually built for battle and not by some snotty rich guy who wanted to show off his money.


The only problem with our adventure is my husband was at work. Any one who knows me (and Nicole knew this) knows my sense of direction is horrible. So when our adventure started by the GPS landing us at a parking lot unfamiliar to me it really went downhill from there (first uphill of course).

Yes, that way, we think












The trek up took well over an hour (10 minute hike, ya right) by the end we were all carrying a child!
























The castle was great - upon our decent, the skies opened and started raining - awesome - Well, there is only one way down right?? We weren't interested in taking the narrow trail, so we took a different route (always a great idea).








At one point we all separated convinced that a particular intersection in the trail was the path to the car. Nicole is convinced she was correct - however we did quite a bit of wandering, and Chris and I are convinced, if given enough time, our paths would have been correct too. Between that and the man Nicole was hallucinating behind us... another story... we met up with a german lady along the way who we think gave us the correct directions even though her english was absent and she first wanted to confirm which town we parked in -which of course we had no idea.... we walked along the path and turned a corner into a clearing. hopping it was the parking lot, but stumbled on.... yes, sheep.





The story ends happily, we found the car. When Chris said it, I thought he was using his sarcasm - something about carps flying again. But it was the mini! So happy to see it!! We drove home over two hours late in muddy jeans


Here we are 'refreshed' and having dinner at the tiki bar.





Tomorrow is the big day! 6AM departure..... tired legs