Fun Weekend!!!

I am really bummed, I was not able to take any pictures of Mara's Epilepsy walk. My camera battery was dead and I think I left the charger up north (of course!). Anyway, the walk went very well. Mara raised close to $300 all by herself and the entire walk raised more than $16,000 for the epilepsy foundation. We had a lot of family join us and we thank everyone who, walked, donated, and just sent us prayers and encouragment through everything.

I on the other hand am a bit bummed, there were different raffle prizes (which I never win) but Pat and the kids usually have pretty good luck. No luck for any of us, but my niece, who is 9 won a free night at the Amway Hotel and our cousin's girlfriend won a gift certificate to Target. Which is always a plus.

We had a great time and Mara is already planning for next year.

Pictures on the Boat

Just for fun some pictures of the kids on the boat. Mara and Patrick love to go out to the sand bar, but Connor doesn't like to have to stop fishing so they can swim.

Our "Little Catcher"

I just thought this picture was too cute. This is Patrick being the catcher at his baseball game. It cracks me up that they have the kids wear all of that gear. Half the time they can't even see the ball and fall over trying to catch. It is very cute though.

The Cottage

Well it is summer again and we are THRILLED!!! We try to spend as much time as possible at our cottage on Chippewa Lake. It is so much fun and relaxing, now that all the work is done.

Connor is our little "fisherman". All he does is fish from the minute he wakes up until he goes to bed, and I am not joking at all. Patrick is the dare devil of the three and our little "fish" he loves the water and will try any water sport there is. Last summer at 6 years old he learned to ski and this year he wants to master knee boarding. Mara just likes to relax and work on her tan. She has all her sunscreens planned for different amounts of tans. They all enjoy the ice cream / candy store next door to us. we have been making them do work to earn money, but sometimes the adults just want to sneak over for a little ice cream, so we grab a kid to make ourselves feel better.

Well there will be many more posts for the summer and we can't wait. Maybe I can even get some of Pat and I skiing, but I am not sure if I trust Pat or Wade to pull me skiing yet :).

Summer Stroll for Epilepsy

So, I saw Kate had a blog and I wanted to be cool like her and start one too. I don't have our camera at home right now, so I have to use old pictures.
As many of you know Mara was recently diagnosed with epilepsy. She has had a pretty tough year with all of her health concerns, but things are going very well and we are very confident in our doctors and their staff that she will be able to live a normal and happy life.
Mara and our family decided in order to help us and many other families struggling with this illness we wanted to wok together to raise money and build a team for the Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan. We would love for everyone who is able, to walk with us on June 16th in Grand Rapids to join us. If you are not able to join us for the walk and would like to donate money please feel free to let us know. We would love any donation even in the form of prayers.
Thank you to everyone who has been a support to us through out this long year.

I will get our camera home this weekend and add new pictures of all of the kids. Enjoy our new blog!!!