Avalanche Bay

We spent last weekend up in Boyne with my family at the indoor waterpark! We celebrated 35 years of marriage of mom and dad, and also Simon's first birthday! I can't believe that it always takes us so long to spend time together now that we are all in Michigan! The kids were all troopers as were the adults (late nights and early mornings!). We had a great time swimming, riding all the rides, hanging out, buying salt water taffy in Charlevoix (ps--never let Jeremy direct you using google maps), and just spending time together!

JJ chillin in the hot tub
The lazy river really did it for Jovie Kady was perfectly happy sitting on the edge with her cup!

Story time...Grandpa was all tucked in!

Simon is ONE! and LOVED the cake
opening his gifts...good thing he has such big cousins to help him

The chef for make your own pizza night!

Party goer Lucas

Jovie and Lucy

Uncle Chris feeding the kids pop rocks!
Where did Aunt Stephanie go??

THese people are crazy!

all three girls, tired out after such a long day

Breakfast

welcome

It is a fact: Lucy was the first in our family to own a MP3 player.....but I have finally joined whatever century it is. Yes, I now have my own ipod shuffle...complements of working at Spectrum for 10 years. Now to figure out how to actually put music on it. Busy, busy people...it's not as easy as it may seem (I feel like my mom telling me she had no idea how to work the VCR!)

Happy birthday!

Happy Birthday to Jim: my husband, partner, and best friend!

(note to self or others: needing pictures of just Jim and I together)

Good food, good times

One of my favorite summer pics!
She insists on starting from the bottom

I love the fact that Kady is such a good eater. She eats well, yet is pretty particular in a way. One day she will eat the whole bag of grapes, but another pushes them away and makes faces like I'm trying to poison her. Gotta be in the mood I guess.

There are also no guesses about what she ate, because when she is done she does what I like to call "decorating". Kady styles her hair in great ways using leftovers on her plate. Ranch is a favorite, but anything wet, sticky, gooey, or colored seem to work quite well!

gooey goodness (part 3)

So in addition to eating like kings and queens at every meal (and the whole time in between) we were also able to enjoy smores this year! We had an awesome fire pit to sit around. Everyone loved them, especially Reagen, Lucy, and Kadence. There is just something about the mixture of crunch, goo, and chocolate that I find irresistable!

"you wanna kiss?"

Don't worry, I'll get my own


Lucy and Reagen

YUM

Here, I have two, I'll share!

Cousins (cottage part 2)

Kady giving kisses, what a sweet, sweet girl
Lucy and Reagen at Stephanie's salon. Fingers and toes were the special that day

Reagen and Lucy "doctored" Joseph and Mya, what good little patients they had

Story time

Eating breakfast on the stools...the two big girls

Lucy loved playing with Joseph and Mya

Kisses from Kadence

Cute girls in matching pj's

The 3 little kids

Mya and Lucy making funny faces

One day they will appreciate how close they are all in age. Five kids under the age of 3. Every year we love to see them together. This year Lucy and Reagen actually played together which was so fun to see. They disappeared in Reagen's bedroom to jump, play, read, and just be silly. The younger 3 were angels. All good natured, happy, and fun--Mya papaya, Rea-Rea, Lucy-goosey, Jo-Jo, and Kady (no good nicknames for Kadence), we love you guys! Until next year....bets on if there will be any newbies by then?

back to reality

I could get used to cottage life. I try and tell myself that it's more enjoyable because I don't get to do it all the time....but if vacationing was my job, I would definately earn billionaire status.

I have no way to include everything in one post so I am going to dedicate this week to some of my favorite moments at the Lake. Martha's cottage was a perfect place for the whole Koops family to get together and share a week. It meant so much to slow down, relax, read, talk, and connect.

Lazy days on the beach play time in the water and sand
Lake Michigan had perfect water temps for the week. We got to enjoy days with "rollers" and another calm day so the kids could really play in it

Amazing sunsets