Saturday, August 21, 2010

A New Big Sister and Crummy Weather.

I spent an hour and a half on this post the other day only to have it completely vanish from my computer just before publishing it.  Flames shot out of my ears.  It was quite a sight.

We are back from Door County and had a great time despite the weather.  It was incredibly windy and cool, so I couldn't help but be a little disappointed in the amount of beach time we got, but it actually allowed us to do lots of other fun stuff that we hadn't done since we were little.  More pics from that are below.

But first, I failed to mention previously that we celebrated my niece, Ella's, 2nd birthday a few weeks ago.  In addition to celebrating that, I am excited to share some news I have been waiting twelve weeks to blab about on the internet...Ella is going to be a big sister!  My sis, Court, is due in March.


Congrats Court & Adam!

(Notice the little finger moving in for the kill on the cake frosting.  B you are so BUSTED!)


We also enjoyed a girls' night out last week when we went to see the play Billy Elliot and had a delicious dinner at Petterino's...mmm.


This summer has flown by, but we finally got in our annual Door County summer trip.  This year we found lots of alternative activities to keep us entertained.

Like climbing the Eagle Tower in Peninsula State Park...


...and doing some hiking.  My dad was conveniently standing in front of the sign for our trail.  I think he didn't want us to see the specifics for the hike we were about to do.


"Ky, first we are going to go here, then we will loop around over here..."


"I don't know, Dad, that kind of looks far.  Are you sure we should do this?"


Ky Ky loved being in his back pack.  He got to harass Chad the whole time...pinching his ears, taking off his hat, pulling his hair, and giving him kisses.


I LOVE this shot.


B loved checking out all the caves with Papa and hoping she would find a wild animal in them.


She actually loved hiking and did the entire two miles all by herself.  It was the longest span of time on our whole trip that she didn't complain about this, that or the other thing.  She finished it off with a little back scratch Baloo the Bear style.


This was the kind of trip that while we were enjoying one meal, we were already talking about the next one.  We did a lot of eating, so it's a good thing we did so much hiking.

The wind created some majorly great body surfing waves which we enjoyed off our dock.


I mentioned it was windy, right?

This is just an example of one of the shots I wanted to get but missed due to having kids hanging from me at all hours of the day.  I was putting Ky to sleep as fast as I could and I grabbed my camera and ran out back just in time to miss the sunset.  Darn it.


We tried to outsmart the wind by heading over to the other side of the peninsula to Bailey's Harbor.  It was a little better, but not much.


Ky learned a new trick.


We had to keep the tradition going with the new generation of riding the go-karts after dinner.  B was all smiles, Ella, not so much.


One of the traditions we did not all get to partake in was jumping off of the Sister Bay dock in the cold water.  Luckily, B kept it alive by doing it for us.  It was her very first time jumping.  It's a rite of passage.







More hiking...


and more kissing.


For the photographers out there...these last shots were taken with my Nikon D700 in the pitch black with the fire as my only light source.  I had my 28-70mm lens on and my settings were f2.8, 1/30 shutter speed, and ISO 6400.  I like how they turned out.  That blue behind them is the horizon after sunset which was barely visible to the naked eye.


4 comments:

  1. Kelly, I can't believe how big Kyler & Brynn are getting!!
    Also, I would give my left leg to hang out around a bonfire with a beer at sunset... I can literally feel the heat of the fire and the breeze off the water in your second-to-last photo! It makes me miss my sister and the time we usually spend with her in Duluth, MN for the 4th of July.
    Okay, there's the proof that I'm still a blog-stalker :) Great photos and stories as usual!

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  2. Thanks Ashley! Long time no talk. How are you guys doing in Michigan? I heard you got Finn a puppy brother. Did you stop blogging?? I need to check your's again. So glad to see you are still a reader! Would love to see you guys again sometime. Sorry we missed you last weekend. xoxo

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  3. Yes! We are completely crazy...we got Finn a sister (named Murphy) and then started our big kitchen remodel a week later (the kitchen was gutted down to the studs, and has been out of commission for going on three weeks now!) Murphy is the exact opposite as Finn as a puppy; he was timid, loved to snuggle, never barked, and rarely made a peep at night. SHE, on the other hand, is totally fearless, has a serious 'tude, wakes up every two hours at night, and sounds like a little pot belly pig, squealing and grunting and barking at her own reflection in the mirror. So, in a nutshell, our house is a zoo right now! But we love it :)

    I haven't given up on my blog... I'm just taking a very long leave of absence ;) I got behind on it after I started my new job in March, and then we bought our new house, which led to one project after another, and now when I'm not unpacking or painting, I'm chasing after these crazy animals.

    We were hoping to join in on the fun trip with Bobby & the gang this winter, but we just can't swing anything before January 1, so we'll have to try for something next year (FYI: Marty is turning 30 on Jan 6). We'd like to get a visit to Chicago in before the end of the year - hopefully we can connect then! And you guys are always welcome to visit us if you're in the area!

    Give our love to Chad and the kids! Sorry, this post is much longer than I planned...

    Your devoted blog stalker,
    Ashley

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  4. You guys are busy! Murphy sounds hilarious. Diva doggie!

    Your kitchen remodel sounds fab. I was hoping to be in a new house by now and remodeling a kitchen too.

    We are taking a pass on the trip too, but would definitely be interested in one again next year.

    We would love to celebrate Marty's 30th!! Just let us know so we can get it on the calendar.

    Get that blog going so I can see some pics of the puppy and the kitchen..and you and Marty too ;)

    xoxo

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