Trip to Michigan

We just returned from yet another awesome trip to Michigan.  This year's trip was particularly eventful as Auntie Kristen got married!  It was a beautiful wedding at the farm and every touch was personal and perfect.  We were all in the wedding and helped with details in the days leading up to the event so that made it even more exciting.  Auntie Kristen was a beautiful bride and the farm just sparkled!  We wish Kristen and her new husband, Baron, a happy life together!

After the wedding we enjoyed an awesome week of downtime at the farm, play time at the cottage, and a little exploring here and there.  We got to hang out with Auntie Ammy, cousins, extended family and old friends.  The girls picked their birth weights in wild black raspberries, made jam with Nana, caught fish with Papa Franc, baked cobblers and crisps with Auntie Ammy, swung on the tree swing,  caught countless lightening bugs, accidentally released countless lightening bugs in their bedroom,  cooked s'mores, learned to play bocce ball and the card game of "peanuts" (which Natalie would like to re-name), kayaked, pontooned, and paddle boarded!  Doesn't get better than that.

 Berries galore at the farm this year!!

Instead of a traditional wedding cake, Kristen and Baron 

chose to serve strawberry shortcake at their wedding reception.

A friend of Kristen's made over 100 biscuits, but the best part?

All the cups and cups of beautiful chopped strawberries to top those 

biscuits were grown at the farm and picked 

and prepared by Nana & Papa.

A delicious labor of love!!

And time at the lake cottage was awesome, too.  The girls each caught 10 fish and loved time at the beach and on the new pontoon boat.  Natalie is still an amazingly balanced paddleboarder (she did some yoga moves while balancing on it this year!) and Audrey is getting braver and braver in the water.  Such a great place to be able to enjoy!

When we ventured from the farm or cottage, we had some awesome adventures nearby.  

We explored a city park that Corey loved as a kid...

 We visited a neighbor's farm with loads of animals that the girls loved...

 And we traveled to the charming town of Saugatuck one day.  

I heart Saugatuck.

Bugs and rain...two things we don't often get here...

were not in short supply there.  

This is the girls with their bug catching

equipment...

And this is how you watch a rainstorm...

cuddled up with Daddy on the porch!

 Saying goodbye to Auntie Ammy is always hard because it will likely be at least a year before we see her again.  We love and miss you, Ammy!

These girls are ROCK STAR travelers.  

 And damn cute to boot!

This picture makes my heart sing and ache 

at the same time.  Still so little but growing so

much faster than I'd like them to.

Thank you, Nana and Papa for such a great week!