Mr. Lashes

Benedict is approaching 9 months and he is very very active. He is getting into everything, crawling like a madman all over the place. He is pulling himself up on things and wanting to climb stairs. Yes, this is the age when I start fishing things out of his mouth because everything goes in it! Of course, I am the prejudice parent, but he just about the cutest little guy. The number one thing that people comment about him is, "Look at those long lashes!". We like him.

Lately, He likes clapping a lot. In this picture you can kind of see his eyes are tending to a darker hazel/green! The other 2 kids have blue. Benedict's eye color must have come from the Serge side? Wherever they came from, I love them.

Yes, his hair does seem to have a reddish tint to it, as well!

Yesterday

This is a random picture of Mom, but this is how I think of her.

Yesterday marked the 3 anniversary of losing Mom. Overall, it was good day. I took Benedict out to the cemetery. Lizzia had left 10 gorgeous yellow roses for Mom. We had a picnic at Wabun with Tonka Toasts and then watched a movie afterwards.

Of course, there are so many thoughts and memories that flood my mind on such a day. As I tried earlier to write some of them out, they all sound really cliche.

I guess the main thought that I constantly hang on to is: I am so thankful for Mom. I am so grateful for her genuine, selfless love she constantly gave our family. I am so thankful for the sincere, honest person she was. For the example she was as a mother and wife. I am so thankful for all her prayers she offered up for her husband, kids, friends and extended family - because they all mattered.

I distinctly remember when I was about 7 years old being in the basement with Mom while she was washing clothes. She told me she always wanted to have a bigger family. She told me if I wanted to have 12 kids, she would be there to help me every step of the way! Now - we have no intention of having that big of a family; but I can honestly say she is holding true to her promise of helping me raise a family. I think of her hourly as I take care of the three young kids, try to be a good mother, cook food, clean up house, knit, quilt, work outside, spend time with friends. She is my constant example of what a good mother is - and for that reason, I really do think of her all the time! It is not a sad recollection, she is an inspiration and in that way she lifts me up all the time.

I miss you Mom!

Last leg of trip

The last few days of the trip we camped out at our favorite Mill Creek campsite near Mackinaw City. It is close to the beach, but it still has its own pool, golf course, a few different play grounds, a nice camp store. It works well for our kids at this age.(I'm waiting for the day we can go back country camping with the kids and wake up in a tent on top of a mountain - But, we have to start somewhere! Faustina and Jude loved the fire we had. It was a bit on the wimpy side, but that doesn't seem to matter much!

Here is Frat boy Jude loving the campfire, his sunglasses during the nighttime, the headlamp, and relaxing in his chair.

The highlight of this part of our trip was Mackinaw Island. It was so. much. fun!! The last half dozen times we'd been to Mackinaw we kept saying, "Oh, next time we'll check it out". We spent the day there this trip and loved it. We biked the 8 miles around the island with the kids. Oh how I miss biking! I haven't for the last 2 summers. We walked around and looked at the stores. It seemed like a paradise there. There were quaint buggies drawn by horses (no cars on the island!), cute stores, beautiful old houses, good food, surrounded by sparkling blue water and you can see the Mackinaw bridge in the distance which is pretty spectacular. Mike and I were ready to go back - without the kids!

Here Jude was getting tired, so we had to carry him the last part of the day. Finally he had run out energy. When we first arrived on the island there were crowds and crowds of people. Jude's new game is 'lets lose Mom and Dad'. So he did. There were 2 times we lost track of him as he darted away from us (being a stinker). The first time he had found a stairwell leading to a room above stores - it was an arcade. He hit the jackpot. I found him sitting in one of the big adult chairs playing duck hunter. I was not amused at the time, but the picture in my mind of finding him is pretty funny. Also in this picture, I'm holding Murdick's Fudge which is famous around the Mackinaw area.

The Church there was beautiful. My favorite was the altar that had a picture of The Last Supper on the front of it.

Here is St. Joseph holding Jesus. We asked him to intercede for us since he is the Patron Saint of homes and selling houses.

Thanks goodness this kids are so good in the car! It is a 'quiet' time for us all. Or we can talk, listen to books on tape or music. Somehow, it all works out quite well.

MI western shore

We took off from Grandma's after having a lovely lunch with Uncle Bob at Red Lobster and headed up north.

We spent a day with our dear friends who live in Midland. They are from MI and moved to the Twin Cities for his work and we met them on the Cathedral steps during the 4th of July years ago. Now they are back in Michigan and it was fun to see them again.

From here we went up to the shoreline and the kids loved the white sand beaches and waves. Here you can see them in their glory.

We crashed in the tiniest hotel room I've ever been in. It did, however, have a hot tub which the kids liked. We relaxed and watched more Olympics.

Here we are at the Cross in the Woods which is a Christian landmark we often stop at. It really is spectacular. We headed up to Mackinaw City, our final destination.

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!