Well I needed to post this, it is Connor at his best. We love him dearly, but he sure does test every ounce of patience that Pat and I have. He is ALWAYS one step ahead of us and is way too smart for his own good. We do love bedtime :)
Pat's oldest brother Brad and his wife Carie and their kids came to the cottage to visit us this weekend. The kids had a fishing contest to see who could catch the biggest Bluegill and Patrick won. Hunter our nephew took second. Then we took the kids to get ice cream. They had a blast and we loved having them visit.
We have been spending every weekend at the cottage and love it. The summer has been beautiful and the kids have been turning into little fish. The are all swimming, tubing, and even skiing (Patrick is the only one to get up yet). Even Trixie learned to surf. She loves the water, and the fish :). The boys go fishing with Dad every morning and once in awhile Mara and I will join them. I usually just bring a book though, my attention span for fishing is way too short. They get so excited about their catches and I am even noticing the "fishing tales" are starting with the little guys.
We have one of the apartments ready to rent and have had eight check- ins already this summer. It is going well and we hope to have all three ready to rent next summer. Two will be ready for ice fisherman and snowmobile riders this winter. Hope every one's summer is going well and unfortunately only one month left until school starts.
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.
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.
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.
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 :).
