Gowan Michigan - friends from 40+ years

Sunday turned into a busy day for us with quite a few timelines to meet.  We left Great Wolf lodge and headed 2 hours south to Gowan Michigan.  Our family friends have a lake house there designed perfectly for families and kiddos to come enjoy.

So with just a bit of time to spend, after a wonderful BBQ lunch, the guys took the kiddos for a tour on the Pontoon boat.

See ya boys!

Meanwhile, the ladies got to catch up - These four ladies and Rachel who isn't in the photo - use to vacation with our families in the lakes of Michigan - 35 years ago!  Our parents knew each other from their time serving in the military.  We have had several adventures with the Klubas - whether its visiting them in St. Louis or Cork Ireland, they even listed me while I was in Austin.  Love having this kind of relationship with another family as its the same thing we hope to continue with many of the families we met in the military.

After this blog I need to do some photo searching to find these faces 35 years prior.

2 beautiful ladies with many years of friendship.

We were thankful to have the afternoon together and be able to re-connect after many years.  Amazing to hear the turns life takes you between here and there.  Gretchen and her husband (Jason) both went to Michigan State.  (now they live in the Ann Arbor area - so clearly they have come around...)  Ha!.  

I know the Klubas enjoyed seeing their home filled with family and friends.  That is what the home was intended for - last year Rachel and her boys were visiting.  She suffered a very tragic go carting accident on her final days in Michigan.  Since than her body is in a coma and live as they knew with Rachel has drastically changed.  We continue to pray for Rachel and her family - God works miracles and we pray for one for them.

Here are the kiddos lined up in age order =)!  Just a few kids!

Thanks for the wonderful afternoon and the treasured time together.

Wedding day

Here we go!  All dressed up and on the bus - Love that we all get to go to the ceremony together.   Love seeing my boys all dressed up too.  

The bus ride was short - however just long enough to rest those weary eyes a bit.  Drew's legs really never stop so its nice he took a little break.

Please allow me to indulge in too many pictures - I honestly couldn't get enough of this beautiful crew.

You might see this one come Christmas time=)

Love the smiles here too

There were so many great places to grab a photo.  Loved capturing these 2 as well!

Chris snagged this jacket literally a day before we left and I LOVE it - love seeing him in it.  I see the irony as his jacket is brand new while my dress is my mom's and about 40 years old!

Now check out this beautiful bunch!

For the record, there are frogs in frog pond and yes, Shane would like to find them

And we are going to sit back and hope they he doesn't fall in.

You know what he is thinking right??

He would like to get IN the pond!

Loved catching this one of the momma and her babies - 

I asked nick to grab a quick shot of my hair

Loved sweet photos like this - sometimes I really wonder what he is thinking.

See, Frogs at Frog pond - taken by Shane Leadbetter

Darling!

snapping a few more photos while we wait for the ceremony to start.

Great shot nick!

He even captured this beautiful family well too!

Suit jacket and sunglasses - already in love!

Here we go - this is my cousin Rachel - when Greg and Carrie stated dating Greg and Rachel were still living together - Carrie first met Rachel thinking she was 'the other girl' - or sister - yes, sister is better!

Darling!

Now for the reason we are all hear - because these 2 fell in love and we get to be there to celebrate their union in life and love together.  Wedding truly are beautiful.  To know you found that person, you will work with, love with and live your life with.  I truly thank you both for making that commitment to each other!

Beautiful sweet ceremony - the officiant was a friend of Greg's - he had his license for 48 hours I believe.

Love this photo - just in case you thought dressing them up meant they acted more mature...

Waiting in line for a ginger ale

We will call this one - cocktails and conversation

One more picture before they head home for the night

Excited to take this photo all night

 - Brothers and sisters - 

My Uncle Russ is the youngest and its his son Greg's wedding - Sue, my mom of course - stuck in the middle of these boys.  My uncle Ken is the oldest living in CA - My Uncle Ken reminds me the most of my Grandpa Roy - in many ways - the biggest one is his hug.

Love antics like this too - they are brother and sister and its been quite amazing to witness their relationship change over time too

We caught a photo with the bride!!

A guys photo too

Even snapped a mother daughter one

love how this sweet photo turned out and loved seeing these 2 on the dance floor! 

The kids are gone celebration photo!

It was the kind of wedding that we danced all night (dancing photos never really turn out well) but we had a blast!  The DJ rocked (and played plenty of our old songs) and they had to drag us out at the end

This is what double fisting looks like when you are my age - one is water and one is a gin and tonic....

Patently love the Great Wolf Lodge too!

This is me - end of night trying to capture and put together all these photos real quick.

Needless to say, we all slept well and want to thank Greg and Carrie for such a beautiful weekend.  Thank you to Uncle Russ for putting it all on too.  What a beautiful reason to all be together and remind each other that love is a beautiful thing!

A lunch out and the Great wolf lodge

This guy wakes up with the GREATEST hair sometimes.  He looks like summer right now.  

Here we are at breakfast, great wolf lodge style.  Wish I took a photo of how many slices of bacon were on Nick's plate.  Something about the buffet just gets my kiddos fired up!

Next to burn it off.  Lazy River first

Look at this little rock star.  Initially he wouldn't go down the big tube slides (every so often he shows signs of good judgement) but we knew he would love it.  FINALLY he went and YES he loves it!  It is true, in moments like this, its more fun to experience the water slides WITH Drew.  Loved watching his expressions and enjoyment.  Literally the best ride!

I would call Nick a water slide pro - Now he is the 'helping' aspect of water slide living

Shane is a huge fan too and just 1/2 shy of the 48" free for all.  He didn't miss a beat (or a slide)

While the kiddos were loving the slide - the ladies orchestrated a lunch away with each other - The Village of Grand Traverse - previously Northern Michigan's Asylum - The ground we beautiful and the level now filled with restaurants, and little artisan shops - 

http://www.thevillagetc.com

Here we are - the ladies of the Hartman family (minus Rachel - doing bridesmaid things and Luz with a big baby belly!)

Thank you to mom and Louise for such a nice treat - the time just us was really great!  Living in so many different states in so many stages of life - I truly value that we all came together for this beautiful wedding!

Just gotta put in a note on the great wolf lodge - it is commercial and lots of crazy kid stuff - but honestly its really well done and a great hotel.  Love the touches like this fireplace and really the whole meeting area. 

 I would say their mission is experiences - and it works.

Group picture anyone?