last day of golf camp...

I'm sooooo far behind on photos again!  These photos are from Thursday and I have taken a ton more since then... hoping to catch back up soon (and eventually get to their camp photos).

On the last day of golf camp, they actually got to play on the course.  They were both pretty excited about this.  They were also continuing their boys vs. girls competition. 

I got there as they were finishing up their skills competition.  The boys were sitting on the fence watching the girls chip...

The girls ended up winning both the course competition and the skills competition!  Alex ended up "winning" anyway since Clara eventually gave him all of her loot.  She enjoyed golf, but not as much as Alex did.  Alex enjoyed it so much that he asked to take a three day golf clinic this week.  Jeff just took the kids to the driving range (with Alex's new clubs) for some practice (which is how I managed to sneak some computer time... since Jeff's been working from home today).

The kids in the golf camp...

Just the girls...

I was hoping to get some action shots, but I got there too late.  But I'm glad I got the group shots. 

Anyway... I can't wait to get to my photos from the past few days... we've been to the beach, the drive-in, kayaking, berry picking....

golf camp...

They may have not known how to play, but they sure looked the part when they left for their first day of camp on Monday...

 

:-)

I asked...

 ... what he was doing...

... and he replied "tanning my thighs"  :-/

The girl....

You aren't going to find her sitting in a lounge chair....

She's constant motion!

double feature...

After our great day at the beach, we decided to keep the fun going and headed to the drive-in for the double feature that night...

The kids were both pretty excited to see Madagascar 3.  Clara wasn't thrilled about the second feature (The Dark Knight Rises), so she packed all of her stuff so she could sleep through it.

The kids all set up in the back...

Not long after we got set up, it started to sprinkle... and soon it started to pour....

Thankfully it was a quick moving storm and it was over before time for the movie to begin!  We were able to get out and set back up before Madagascar started.  The problem with double features at the drive-in is that you tend to block out just how late it will be when the second movie is over.  We ended up getting home at 3am!!!  It was a great night out with the family though, so I don't regret the lost sleep one bit!

a day at the beach...

(yes... still avoiding camp photos)

Yesterday we spent the bulk of the day at the beach.  We got a bit of a late start due to some rain moving through the area in the morning... but by the time we got there, the rain had just passed and the day just kept getting better.

Our fish...

Clara can spend all day in the water.

Alex ran out to join her....

They swam for a really long time, then after lunch, they decided to build in the sand...

My girl...

Then they decided to bury Alex....

 Jeff helped too...

After he was buried, Clara decided to decorate him...

... not sure how excited he was about that, given that he couldn't see what she was doing!  :-)

After that we all swam for a while... it was just such a beautiful day!

As I was sitting in my chair, I looked behind me and saw our collection of flip flops and decided to snap a pic...

... the difference in sizes isn't so big anymore! 

avoiding...

... the camp photos at the moment.  I really should have posted them next, but I'm currently overwhelmed by them.  I guess that's what happens when I take some with my big camera and some with my phone... and then throw in a bunch of video on the flip as well.  There's just no way to make sense of it one part at a time... I just have to bite the bullet and edit it all and post it all at once.  I'm trying to work myself up for that process.

However, in the meantime, I have photos to post from our trip to Wrigley last night so my blog isn't a photo-less void while I figure out camp stuff :-)

The kids at Wrigley...

Alex got the post camp haircut he requested by letter from camp.  He got it cut shorter than he wanted.... he's not entirely pleased with it... but he is glad he can see again.

Not bad seats, huh?

My boy...

Wrigley at night...

My girl....

The boy again, watching intently...

And my big boy, still working...

We usually have good seats, but not THIS good!  I figured we had our typical seats and only brought my wide angle since I usually take more photos of the kids sitting next to me than I do of the game.  But this time I wish I would have brought my 85mm.... I think I could have gotten some decent game shots.  Oh well... I'd rather have pics of the kids :-)

my wild and crazy kiddos....

.... are HOME from camp!!!  :-)

(of course they went straight to the neighbors' house to swim in their pool and I haven't seen them since... but they're basically home)  :-)

from my phone...

Here are some of the photos from last week that I took with my phone...

Waiting for the fireworks to begin in Frankfort...

 Fireworks...

The beach I posted about yesterday...

 A cherry glacier on the way home from the beach...

 The beach in Frankfort...

 A cup of Cherry MOObilee...

 And finally, Jeff's co-pilot taking a break on the ride home...

the rest of the trip...

Not too many photos to finish out the rest of our week away.  I really need to take more, but I don't really think about it as much when the kids aren't with us!

On the 5th, we decided to check out a beach we hadn't been to before.  Our realtor had told us about it a while back, but we hadn't had the chance to check it out yet.  It was off the beaten path a bit, with a drive down a winding, single lane, dirt road, but it was so worth it once we got there!

Look at the view...

 Clear cool water...

But it was packed!!!

LOL!  It was so not.  It was great.... and we didn't even get there until around 11am.  To be fair, if I would have taken the shot to our left, you would have seen a family quite a ways down.  We sunned and swam for a couple of hours.... it was so nice.  By the time we were leaving, it was starting to pick up, but still, nowhere near crowded.  This is one we'll have to take the kids to once they're back.

Friday, we went back to Frankfort to have lunch and more fully check out the town and the beaches there.  We had gotten a glimpse of things on the 4th, but wanted to see it again, without so many people.  It is a really cute little town with a nice beach... another place to take the kids.  I did take a couple of photos here, but they were all with my phone... I guess I need to make one more post about this trip with all of my phone photos.

Saturday was our last full day, so we decided to go out right and spent the morning at the spa.  We both had massages... what a perfect way to end our week!

Sunday was our day to pack up and leave :-(

As we were getting packed, I spotted the mischief maker who had been draining our new bird feeder...

He was actually very cute and I don't mind him one bit.  Yes, we put up feeders to see birds, but, bigger than that, we put them up in order to watch wildlife.  And this little one's antics were pretty wild.  I wish I would have brought one of my zoom lenses, so I could have captured more of them.

And finally, one last shot.... a photo of our feeders which Jeff hung up for me on our work day...

They're right in front of the porch and the big windows on the front of the house... a very good viewing spot!

4th of July...

Jeff and I are finally back from our week away.  This is the third year that we've had both kids in camp for a month, yet it was our first year to actually take a vacation of sorts during that time.  This year we headed up to our place in Michigan for a week.  Jeff had to work off and on during our time there, but we still managed to pack in plenty of fun.  I took very few photos (except for the ton I took on the 4th, which you will see below), so you're just going to have to take my word for it.  For our time in Michigan, I'm going to have to turn the house upside down again to locate our waterproof camera, or I'm just going to have to break down and buy another one since we spend so much time in or near water.

Here's the basic run down of our trip...

Saturday... arrived at Crystal Mountain.  Nothing exciting that night... just got things settled and went out to dinner.

Sunday... grocery shopping... yippee!!  We also went and arranged an outing for Monday.  Oh... and we spent some time at the pool.

Monday... we went kayaking for the first time!  I wish I would have had a waterproof camera with me this day.  However, there were tons of people tubing on the river that day and it took quite a bit of my effort to avoid running them over.  I definitely need more practice!  But it was a lot of fun!

Tuesday... road trip for the day to Traverse City for lunch.  We also had some miscellaneous shopping to do... a trip to Home Depot, the sporting goods store, etc.  It was a really nice day.  That was also the night that the resort had their fireworks display.  I didn't even take my camera since I generally stink at taking fireworks shots.  We sat with friends who live on the street behind us.  After the fireworks, we went over to a neighbor's house and sat around their fire pit with other neighbors until well after midnight.

Wednesday... we had no clue what we were going to do on Wednesday.  We figured everything would be crowded, so we decided to stay home and work around the house.  Jeff hacked down weeds in the yard and I worked on our downstairs bedrooms.  Our neighbors who live behind us invited us to go with them and their two daughters to the fireworks display in Frankfort.  I'm so glad that they did!  It was such a nice night!  We got there around 8ish and found a place to set up our chairs on the beach...

Then, we walked down the street to the ice cream shop to get a treat.  I got a cup of Caramel Sea Salt.... soooooo good!  We went back to the beach to finish our ice cream, people watch, chat and wait for the show to begin....

Getting darker...

Love these lanterns...

Almost time!

And then the show began...

 It was an amazing show!

and it was so beautiful reflected off of the water...

 Like I said before, I normally stink at fireworks photos, but I got some decent ones this time...

Jeff thought these looked like something from the Harry Potter movies...

 wow...

Possibly my favorite shot of the night....

This one should have been, but it's not quite....

These fireworks were amazing... but my focus was off for the first few I fired off and I didn't get it right until this particular display was winding down. Oh well... I still think the reflection is extremely cool!

I'll stop there with our week since I do have a couple of photos to go with the last half of the week.