We had lots of fun in Wisconsin. One day we painted pottery all together. Another day was spent mostly opening gifts and playing games. I think the pictures tell the tale better than I ever can, so I’ll just go with those:
There was a whole lotta books and pajamas happening:
The next stop on our tour was Michigan, where we met up with the extended family (even from as far away as New Zealand!). This was our first year staying at cabins on Lake Michigan and I think we all loved it! It was wonderful to see everyone and spend time hiking, eating, playing games and opening gifts together. Lots of fun memories were made, as usual.
My Dad took some lovely family portraits:
Hiking the sand dunes by Lake Michigan:
General Michigan merriment:
Photo cred for all of the nicest shots goes to my Dad, as usual. =)
The boys and I spent a couple days in Wisconsin before heading to the next destination of Michigan for the extended family gathering. We enjoyed lots of time with family – baking, building block creations, teaching drawing lessons, building creations out of wood, bird-watching, reading books, playing piano…and probably plenty of other things that we didn’t capture in pictures. =)
Also, Micah really enjoyed feeding Salina her bottle and did so at most opportunities. They have a special connection. After we left, Jennie told me that Salina was looking at her book with family pictures in it and she saw Micah’s picture and kissed it!
Among the very top of our highlights was meeting Eddie for the first time!
Great Granny A suffered a stroke the week of Thanksgiving and has been in our prayers. We were able to talk to her on Skype on Thanksgiving day – technology is such a gift! We are feeling thankful that she is alive and healing!
Thanksgiving Day was my Grandpa’s birthday. I appreciated getting pictures of him enjoying his special day with the family in Michigan:
The following day our newest member of the family was born in Wisconsin: Edwin (Eddie) Richard! He’s darling and I can hardly wait to meet him. It was really fun to get to see pictures from everyone meeting him for the first time – so I thought I’d share some of my favorite shots!
That sweet little girl making everyone laugh finally needs a proper intro on the site, too. That’s our niece, Salina Jean, and she is just a bundle of joy! Thought I’d post my three current favs of her and also a few pictures from when we met her back at 6 weeks old now that I can show off that darling face!
Micah is anxious to hold his baby cousin, Eddie, at Christmas and the newest baby boy, Joshua (Ashley’s due on Christmas day!), when he comes, too! He recently told me that our house is too boring and we either need a pet or a baby. *insert big eye smiley face here *
Side note: this may be one of my all-time favorite pictures:
It reminded me of these pictures from Florida back in 2012 when Ethan was about 2.5 years old.
