Boyne Vacation 2013

Our annual Pridgeon Family vacation up north was July 26 - August 2 this year.  On our way up, we stopped to see our good friends, the Hammers, for a night.  Lincoln and Graham were already in bed when we got there, but the kids had LOTS of fun together on Saturday.

love is in the air:)

these two held hands while eating lunch...so sweet

In the late afternoon, all of the Pridgeons and Hammers got together for dinner and hanging out.  The guys played bags.  The girls cooked.  The boys grilled.  The kids played.  Our families had such a great time together.

grill masters

first time eating corn ON the cob

the kids had a fantastic dance party before we left on Saturday night

Matt had to work Monday - Wednesday in GR, so he took off on Sunday night.  Monday, we took a trip into Gaylord, and then Paul, Nikki, Brian and Tristan and I had dinner out at Cafe Sante (thanks, Grandma for putting Kate to bed!).  The food was, as always, awesome.

silly girl in the car

We went to the park on Tuesday morning, and, even though there were no swings, Kate had a blast playing with Uncle Paul on the teeter totter.  We also had a really yummy dinner at Morel's on Tuesday night.  Kate ate a ton of red peppers, pasta, and even some of my salmon!

Kate and I went to the farmers market in Boyne City with grandma on Wednesday morning.  Luckily, there was a huge playground right next door, so we had extra play time before leaving to go grocery shopping.  The playground was seriously awesome.

Thanks for the fun tubes to play in, Aunt Nikki!

The Durows were also up north for the week and Kate and Jack played together a lot.  I think this is the only picture I took, but they had a lot of fun.

Matt came back up Wednesday night, and it was so good to have him back.  The Hammers came over to hang out at Boyne for the day on Thursday.  Matt and Brian golfed 18 holes in the morning then Brian and Tristan joined them for another 18 holes in the afternoon.  Jill, Aunt Bethany, Lincoln and Graham hung out at the condo for the day.  We took a trip to the playground, had a yummy lunch, took naps (not very good ones!), walked down to get ice cream, played with Jack, and had a great dinner together before the guys came back and we had to say goodbye to our friends again.

jumping in the pack n play

yummy ice cream!

thanks for sharing, Aunt Tessa!

We took a quick beach trip Thursday afternoon.  It was a bit chilly - and rainy - most of the week, but we took advantage of the sun when we could.

Kate wanted to 'sweep' the sand

We spent Friday morning wandering around Petoskey, and headed back to Boyne after lunch at City Park Grill (where Hemingway used to hang out!).

Kate was very sad to say goodbye to Brian and Tristan when we left Friday night, but got some good play time and loving in before we had to go.  By the way, Kate developed quite a crush on Tristan during vacation.  She walked around saying his name all the time and was always looking for him around the condo.  She didn't warm up to him enough to give him a hug until Friday, but she sure smiled at him and wanted to play with him a lot!

We had a really great time with family and friends.  Thanks for a fun week up north!

Pridgeon Open 2013

Last weekend was Matt's family reunion down at the farm.  We had a great time!

fun at the pool!

snack break!

cousins and daughters

At dinner on Saturday, every time someone got up to the microphone, Kate wanted them to sing.  After the presentations were done, Alyssa took her up there so she could sing.  All she did was say, "sing, sing, sing" for a few minutes, but it was cute nonetheless.

pool fun with friends!

While the grandparents are away, the kids will play!!!

It was too hot not to be in the pool last week, so we had a pool party with friends from Side By Side.  The water was 85, and we couldn't have asked for a better day!

visitors, wedding, and more visitors:)

I'm still in catch-up mode...

My friend Becca and her son Jonah made the LONG trip from Iowa again to visit with us July 11-13.  I was finishing up VBS at church on Thursday night while Becca had dinner out with friends.  

Friday, we attempted to go blueberry picking with Tisa, but the berries weren't ready yet:( After lunch at my parents house, we had a fun pool afternoon.  

We did dinner back at our house, and some of the other Casa girls came to join in the fun.  After the munchkins went to bed, Matt got home from his rehearsal dinner and made us a fire.  I had my first s'mores of the summer.  With some of my most favorite friends.  It was fantastic.  

Here are a few pictures of the kiddos just loving each other:)

Matt was in a wedding on Saturday, July 13.  Two friends from his residency program got married.  The ceremony was at Fountain Street Church and the reception was at the Public Museum.  We had a really great time!

Paul and Nikki had a wedding on Saturday too, and they came to stay with us Saturday night.  We went to church together Sunday morning and then had lots of fun playing with Kate.  They blew bubbles with her on the deck and read some books before her nap:) It's so fun to see the people you love loving your child.

The visit was short, but we were so glad to have Uncle Paul and Aunt Nikki!

catch up!

I am so far behind on blogging it's not even funny.  It's not that we haven't been doing anything, I just haven't been posting.  So, here's my attempt at catching up all in one post...it's going to be long...mostly just pictures, though:)

The last week of June, our friends, the Allemans, came from Iowa for a quick visit.  Kate was not all about sharing toys with Jonah, as you can see.

Firehaus with all their munchkins (missing Brian)

The next weekend, we went to the zoo.  Kate liked the flamingos.  She also got to see the bears, lions, baboon, and chimpanzees.

waving to the spider monkeys:)

The same weekend, we had a cottage day with our small group down in Middleville.  It was a beautiful day and all the kids loved swimming!

Kate wanted to jump in just like the big kids 

such a lover...both dogs got hugs:)

Kate started lining up her babies and reading to them:)

We spent the 4th of July with my family since all of my brothers were in town.  It was such a fun day.  We went to the Grandville parade in the morning and then swam all afternoon.  My mom's family came over to grill for dinner and Kate got to play with her little buddy, Benjamin.  We skipped out on fireworks this year because Kate was afraid of the loud noises.  Hopefully next year we can take her to see them, though.

this little one is quite bossy; she kept telling Tom to jump in

cutest girl in the world:)

The weekend right after the 4th, we went to the farm because Brian was preaching at Pine Ridge.  Kate had a great time learning to play the piano.  We went swimming and did lots of good relaxing and Tiger baseball watching.  Brian did a fantastic job at church Sunday morning - we are very proud:)

Whew.... I'm still a week behind, but that's good for now:)