The good ole' buddies

We spent this past weekend at my mom's and visiting with my best friends from high school. I know it is amazing that after all of these years, my best friends are still from high school.

We typically (at least for the past 5 years) take a little vaca away together every year. No kids, no hubbies, no distractions - just good conversation and a bunch of wine! This year had been difficult because one friend had a baby in Feb. and two others are due in early Nov. (I, of course was ready to fly away) The greater challenge is that one of us lives in CA. (We used to all be in 5 different states but now all are back in MI but one) Soooo, we had the opportunity to all be together this weekend.

We started off Saturday with some fantastic kayaking down the river. I had never kayaked before and it was relaxing and hilarious. Within 2 minutes of entering the river, we had almost all crashed and one tipped. What a blast! We continued the day with an dinner shower for the two prego friends followed by a few late night brews for some! We were able to get the kids and moms together for the shower portion.

And...talk about some beautiful pregnant women! I loved pregnancy and thought I looked okay (until I saw pictures months later) but let me tell you, these girls are all tummy. Cute little bodies with a little tummy. So pretty!

What fun and super refreshing to hang out with these great friends, the best of friends! Mere, Tara, Kristin, Jamie - love you guys!

All is well

I haven't posted lately because there is not much updating to do. The Mitchell house is far from quiet but uneventful in the same token.

I will go from oldest to youngest~

Janie is having a busy summer with play dates, neighbors, gymnastics and trying to fit in all of the little kid stuff in. She continues to put me on a guilt trip daily as to why I have to work. Such a hard thing to listen to! She came back from our vacation with swimmers ear and just finished antibiotics for that! Overall, she is busy and well.

Owen is a little stinker. He was always the mellow baby and I feel that the roles with Kyle and him have reversed. I used to be able to do anything with him and he would not make a peep. I took him for a chest x-ray once and he laughed through the entire thing. Well, times are a-changin! He is now the fit-thrower (probably not a word). It is usually over a book that he wants off the shelf or a hat that he wants down from the coat rack. Nevertheless, no more mellow baby!

Kyle has turned into a pretty happy entertaining kid with an awesome disposition. He is constantly getting into trouble because he thinks it is so funny (and I am sure because we laugh at him).

Overall, all are well. We are enjoying some summer festivals, lots of projects and good ole family time. I am looking forward to a weekend at my mom's with my best friends from high school. It is always refreshing to catch up!

My nanny is 38 weeks pregnant, +45 lbs and ready to pop. I am pretty much on call all the time because who knows when this will happen! Scary!

We're Back

Some things about returning from vacation are refreshing - sleeping in your own bed, putting your kids and their beds, having the place child proofed and seeing friends again. However, returning to work is not one of them! I am back in full swing this morning (actually I came back to work for a huge event on Sat.), playing catch up and blogging while I should be calling clients.

Our vacation was great! We enjoyed the beautiful lake, did tons of fishing, ate lots of grub, had plenty of QT with family and chased babies. Overall the kids were great. Janie was at my side, as always, as much as possible. I tried to make this vaca as much about her as possible by taking her fishing alone, swimming a lot and including her in the evening smore making/bonfire. The boys were the boys. They slept great (past 6am) and enjoyed running around and getting into everything that was not for them (the fire place, cupboards, toilets, cleaning supplies, etc...) Kyle really liked the water and Owen still has the jury out. It was hard to have them just playing down by the water because Kyle wanted to be running on the dock or diving in the water, not building sand castles.


As always, Higgins Lake was beautiful. The clear was and blue line are just amazing. We voyaged out on the pontoon rental often for cruises and fishing. Janie caught her first fish and I added about 10 more total. The problem - nothing was bigger than about 6 inches. The satisfaction I get from catching is good enough for me!




I best get back to reality now...

We are outta here!

After I get things stable at work (right), stop the mail,grab a few more things at the store, mow the lawn, get through the evening of dinner, baths, etc..., pack the entire house, we will be off! We will leave tomorrow morning for our week at Higgins Lake. My mom, sis and hubby, bro and wife and the Mitchell 5 will officially be vacationing! Let's hope for good weather, well behaved children, and many good times.

Lots of pics and updates when we return!

Family Time

We had a wonderful weekend/4th of July. All of the days are running together and truly I have to think hard to remember what day is what as July 4 mixed me all up and now I am frantically trying to prepare the fam for our vacation up to Higgins Lake next week.

Let me start by saying there was a sad part of the weekend. My best friend Theresa lost her grandpa last week. He was 96 years old, married 68 years, had 4 children, tons of grandkids and and uncountable amount of great-grand kids. As Theresa always said, they take a tackle box of vitamins and eat grossly, healthy foods (like liver and wheat germ). It was a sad but happy celebration of an amazing life! It makes me think about the whole healthy life style and wonder if it really works. He was still riding his bike daily. In fact, he was on his way out to mow the lawn when he collapsed. What a great way to go and pain free! The hard part is now thinking of Theresa's grandma who is also a very healthy 90?? year old who has never lived alone and is used to doing everything with her hubby. Hopefully she will move into a senior community or something (as if it is so easy to just clean out 60+ years of "stuff" from a big farm house and pick up your life and move it).

So, once we got through the sad part of the weekend, we were able to enjoy our first trip to Detroit Tastefest. It was an opportunity for us to get out, enjoy some grub, people watch, let Janie rock climb for the first time (she was amazing) and see what it is all about. We often are very cooped up in the house so it always feels refreshing to take an outing. When Mike is working (which is always Saturdays and often in the evening) I can't handle the kids outside by myself unless they are in the stroller. The twins are out of control and for my sanity and their safety, we hang out a lot inside.









For the 4th we went to the cottage and met my cousins new baby. She is fat and cute and sweet! It was interesting to watch the boys response to a baby. There did not seem to be any jealousy when I was holding her. Kyle was so sweet and would put his head right down on her lap or stroke her leg (I think it was cute???). Owen however just smacked her. Twice! He still just not get the hitting thing and does it as he wishes.

So, that is it. I will begin my grocery shopping for our trip tonight and the packing will have to start tomorrow. I probably should be making a list for packing but haven't yet!