Up at the Serge cabin

One of the reasons we had such a relaxing time was that we hung out at Uncle Bob and Aunt Loretta's cabin for almost a week. They have a fantastic cottage in a gorgeous area about an hour out of Detroit. We ate good meals, went boating, lots of swimming, watched lots of Olympics and took naps! Faustina and Jude really took to swimming this summer (especially Faustina! I call her Faustina the fish).

It made me dream about having a cabin and how fun it would be to have one. Uncle Bob and Aunt Loretta basically have an ideal set-up. It was so very generous of them to let us enjoy it!

2012 vacay

It has been almost a month, I guess (!), since we left Morgan Avenue to venture on our summer vacation. It was a great couple weeks, and unusually relaxing for me. With Benedict being such an awful sleeper the last several months, I was excited for some 'relaxing' time. Believe it or not, even with three young kids - a vacation is, in fact, relaxing time for me. I love something new everyday, seeing the kids experience new adventures, and spending time with Mike away from home/house work is wonderful.

We stopped by South Bend to visit the Lee Family. It was a short but sweet less than 24 hour stay with them. But it was fun to see their house and catch up a bit.

We then moved on to Detroit to see Grandma Mary, who turns 90 in a few days! She is doing well and we were able to spend about a week having quality time with her.

Finally, we headed up north along the beautiful eastern border of Michigan and lazily camped and saw sights.

Another excellent trip. After 4 summers of taking extensive camping trips with the kids, we seem to have a rhythm that works well. The kids are great in the car and they love the mini adventures each day. I'll be posting pictures the next few days.

Here we are at the famous park a few blocks from Grandma Mary's house. It is the same park Mike and his brother grew up playing at. And.....it pretty much looks as if no one has touched it, painted it, or updated it in the last 35 years! We like it anyway. It was getting dark here - this is an after dinner playtime after Grandma treated us to a dinner at Big Boy. When we got home from the park, Mary said she almost called the cops she was so worried about us. :)

We slept at Grandma Mary's house. Thankfully, the kids are pretty flexible in their sleeping habits.

Faustina and Jude loved being at Grandma Mary's. There is just something about it that is extra special.

The Budda's birthday

It was Juddah the Budda's 3rd birthday yesterday. We had a fun day doing activities around St. Paul including the Greek Festival on Summit Avenue that had excellent food to enjoy, going to neighborhood garage sales, and spending a bit of time with family friends at their homes.
Jude - we love you so much and are so proud of you! You bring joy, drama, and a lot of laughter to our family! God bless you this next year.

Here is a picture of the 'Cars' themed birthday cake we made for him.

And here is a simple, nice picture of our handsome boy on his third birthday!