Vacation!

This year family vacation was amazing.  I LOVE being at the cottage with family and we haven't been in Michigan to enjoy it for years!  

I think some of my favorite memories were my mom and dad's 40th anniversary party, the "highs and lows" conversation, and fireworks....

Here are some pictures to capture the fun:

Abby and Daddy on the dock

Speedo advertisement.

(you should look at this picture close up..The smaller rocks Russ sifts out are shown!  We love our new camera!

Elli beans finding rocks.

Beautiful Family (I made the dresses for the girls!)

Splashing fun!

Sparklers

sweetest girls

Word.

Look at how cute Sammi is.

Lake Michigan

First time for fireworks! Sitting with Bubba

Playing cards with Amber.

Best night event ever

Thanks Taylor for the fireworks!

Moms and daughters :)

Smiley baby kate

water fun

Abby will catch critters one of these days

Family Swimming!!!

Elli caught a turtle!

Turtle man!!!!

Sammi catching critters

So cute...we were playing kick ball and she got to first base :)

Bubba jumped off the dock!!!

Daniel caught a baby duck who lost his mommy...poor duck, he was super tired (it was really windy) and so scared!

Uncle Russ caught a water snake!

Bubba lookin for critters!

Love this!

Family picture

The girls swimming!

Water balloon toss

turned into fight....

High fives after the Rubberband Man Dance by nana and bubba

Splashing!

Volleyball was a highlight of the trip!  We played almost every day!

Beautiful mom and dad

Baby kate, she is just precious

Lenny helped the girls catch a trout in his backyard!

Abby loves up north....the end.

Zanotti Wedding

Just last weekend we were able to spend time with CO friends!  And it was so fun.

We went to the Bavarian Inn and met up with the Betz' and the Zanottis.

Andrew and Christina

 With Andy and Christine

 Abby was great all night.  She did a great job at the ceremony and at the wedding, she was great until we tried to sit her down to eat dinner.  All she wanted to do was walk around...So we let her.  She crashed in the car, fell asleep in about 3 minutes.

We miss the Betz' and Zanotti's and loved that we got to celebrate with them.

Rehearsal Dinner

Andy and Brittany's wedding rehearsal dinner was absolutely beautiful.  My in laws have a GREAT backyard.  

Nothing is better than a little AF - UM competition!

 Abby is a little organizer....She separated all the blue balls and the red balls...(a little bit of her mom's OCD...)

 And she wanted to play with the blue ones (daddy's favorite color)

 She loves Auntie Brittany!

 The night before the big day!

 Wasn't the food beautiful???

 Brittany's mom and sister, Abbey

 Brittany's family.

 Klenke Family.

 cute.

 brothers.

 awkward family pictures....The couples switched!

 my new sister.

 MRS. KLENKES

 They served ice cream and Paul was a great ice cream man!

 The gifts for the bridesmaids.

 bridesmaids.

 gifts for the groomsmen

 a swing made by Paul.

 backyard beauty

a great night!  I can't wait for the wedding pictures!

Independence Lake with Amber

Today we took a mini family vacation (went about 20 minutes away) to Independence Lake with Amber!  It was so fun! We played at the splash park, went swimming in the lake and had a picnic lunch.

Abby loved the splash park, as usual :)

 (no, I wish that was my skinny leg...That is my cousin Amber...skinny and tan :))

 OK, time to remove the goofy hat that protects my kid from the sun...

 Her knew thing, "I don't know, I don't know..." while holding her hands up.

 Even better, the splash park is right next to a sandy beach.  Sammi taught Abby how to pour water on herself!  Abby LOVES it!

 yup.

We had so much fun!  Yeah for a day off work and a mini vacation!

Have you missed this face?

The blog has been neglected...

I could come up with a list of excuses...but I won't, we have just been playing with this little girl and vacationing too much (and we are not complaining!). 

 This is her, "I just woke up, I don't have any clothes on yet, and I want my baba" look.

Physical Therapy CHECK!

There are about 8,000 other things I should be doing right now and about 40 other blog posts that have been waiting for me to do...But I have to blog about this today!

Today Abby was discharged from PT!  Praise the Lord!  We had taken off two weeks for our family vacation and it was there that Abby learned to be confident while walking.  She walked on and off before that but was still not confident.  At the cottage she walked like a champ and loved playing with her big cousins! They even "hug wrestled" a few times!

Today we had PT, we hadn't had it for 2.5 weeks!  I walked in and talked to Alison (our PT) and then Abby started showing off her stuff.  Alison was SO pleased!  She was even looking for things to challenge Abby on and Abby got it all!  After about 20 minutes (PT is usually 45) Alison showed me some stretches to continue working on and said, "Call me with any questions, but Abby is done!"

PT has been my life since we moved to MI.  In CO, PT came to us...Here I have to drive 35 minutes to get there...Doing that two days a week was trying to say the least.  I was SICK of driving.  However, I knew it was good for Abby and you just do what you have to do.  I think I know a bit what a mom of multiples feels like when driving her kids back and forth from school, soccer, girl scouts, etc.  I know that it isn't the same, but I felt like I was just driving Abby everywhere all the time.

It also feels like we go to the doctor a lot, a lot more than an average kid.....Opthamologist, neurologist, pediatrician (that is my fault though, I spread out her immunizations like crazy, so I take full responsibility for having to go to the pediatrician all the time), physical therapist (we see another PT from the school district and in the summer I have to drive to her), and I think that is it!  However, I am thankful for a God who heals babies and who continues to do remarkable things in Abby's body even when the doctors in the NICU gave us bad news...The Lord is the one who is controlling Abby's body and He made no mistakes when creating her!