colleen writes: Getting Caught Up on July!!

Now onto July....
The first 15 days were spent swimming and boating and playing non-stop. We neither have a working TV up north nor any internet, so we partake in good old-fashioned fun....bug collecting, minnow catching, zebra mussel collecting, lots of bike rides, trips to the Four Seasons Party Store, riding the retro trike, watching (not feeding) the ducks, Seadooing, and taking the party barge out to the sand bar and throwing the anchor out.......... It really is pure bliss. Don't get me wrong, however. Life wasn't always sunshine and lollipops up there. The trip started out with Gabrielle catching the plague from a playdate before we left. I, unfortunately, was hit with a double-whammy because I got a milder (but still annoying) version of it coupled with poison oak. Adam was having some ear issues, as in both of his ears were completely plugged. Combine that with my laryngitis, and we were quite the couple. We tried to communicate, but with him not hearing anything and with me not being able to talk, that was just another exercise in futility! Everything was fine the second week (poor Adam had to go home and go back to work) and we enjoyed ourselves quite thoroughly. We never had a gray, rainy day, which was pretty amazing. We also had 16 visitors while we were up. That was so awesome!!!! We love hosting guests whether it be for a week, a day, or even a few hours. (Hint, hint!)

During the second week of July, Carter mastered the art of walking!! So now my little bubbers is a walking boy... bowed legs, arms our like Frankestein, taking high steps... those first little steps are so precious. He is also starting to talk (using words) a lot more too. He's always been very vocal jibber-jabbering in his own language, so I think when he realizes that talking will be more effective, I'm sure his verbal skills will take off!! Right now his favorite words are truck, duck, fish, da-da, mo-mo (that's me;), sis-sis, this, that, what's this, and what's that. He loves to pick up small toys that are choking hazards and then find me to show me that he is going to put something dangerously small in his mouth. The cottage is not baby-proofed, so he will go to the stairs, make eye contact with me, and start climbing furiously until I snatch him up. He obviously can't be left to play for more than 30 seconds at the cottage, so that is one nice thing about being home: I don't hover over him 24/7.

Once we got back home, it took me a couple of days to get back into reality. I really liked not having all the technology, but I didn't forget how to use it;) I may not do Facebook, but I can pin like a maniac! I signed Gabrielle up for another VBS at Shepherd of the Lakes Lutheran Church in Brighton. They, too, had a nice program there. MUCH bigger.... Gabrielle said she liked this one better because the songs were easier to learn. The CD from this one was very catchy. Adam even admitted he listened to it on the way to work one day!

That's all I can think of right now--enjoy some of our favorite pics!!

Anchored at the sand bar