Caspian

We were finally able to pick up our puppy on Thursday.He was totally mellow the whole 30+ minute ride home and just sat quietly on Rachael's lap the whole time.There was so much for Caspian to explore.He likes his dog houseand loves to lie down under the cedars.Being only 7 weeks old he still needs lots of sleep.The girls slept in the garage with Caspian last night. I don't think anyone got very much sleep.

Puppy Love

Rachael's dream is finally coming true: we're getting a puppy!Meet Caspian. He's a five week old Golden Retriever. It was hard to choose one puppy they were all so cute!Even Kaitlyn, who isn't much of a dog person, fell in love.He was born into a family with lots of kids - even a one year old boy who picks him up and pulls his tail and the puppies don't mind, so I know Caspian will be good with Jaden.Because he's only 5 weeks old we had to leave him behind until he gets his shots at 7 weeks. He'll be ready to come home after Aug 18th. It was hard to say goodbye.

One Smart Little Boy

On Tuesday we got some presents from Auntie Kendra who just returned from Disney World. She got Jaden (who is approaching 18 months) a t-shirt and I said, "Look, Jaden, there's Mickey Mouse on your shirt." And that's about all I've mentioned to him about who Mickey Mouse is.So today he was wearing the shirt again while we were making cake (and using our mother-daughters matching Minnie Mouse aprons) and I put some of our new Disney World sprinkles on the cake. I said, "Look at that, there's Mickey Mouse head sprinkles!" And Jaden pulled on his shirt and pointed to Mickey Mouse! Now that's one smart little boy!

Look What We Built

Check out the house blog to see how to build the world's biggest doghouse!Now all we need is the dog to go in it!

The Force Will Be With You Always... (Picture Added)

...starting from babyhood! Auntie Kendra found these Star Wars baby toys when she was at Disney World, and knowing how much her brother loves Star Wars she just had to introduce Jaden to the characters. Jaden can even point out which one is Yoda!

Summer Stuff

Lots has been going on so far this summer.
*Rachael and Kaitlyn had a sleepover at Gramps and Gram's last weekend. They built a scarecrow named Sadie the Lady and wrote a poem about how she doesn't like crows.*Jaden has been kinda grumpy but at least he's got his cute moments. He learned this from his big cousin.*Jaden got his first Road Rash the other day. He was driving his "car" down the driveway (not very fast) when he somehow got his foot in front of the wheel and flipped over on his face. The amazing thing is he somehow managed to miss landing on his nose and landed on his upper lip. It's got a nice scrape and was swollen for a while but now he's just got kind of a Hitler-looking mustache. He didn't cry for too long though. *The girls decided to have a bubble bath/pool which was lots of fun for Jaden, too. It took his mind off his sore lip, anyway!Lots more summer fun to come. Stay tuned...

So we picked her up from camp...

...and the first thing she said to us was, "The food was disgusting!" But other than that she had a blast with her two best friends and is already making plans to go back with them next summer!(Check out more on the playhouse!)

Camp!

Tonight we delivered Rachael off to her first week at camp.With her two best friends Alex and Alexa in tow she won't be missing us a bit!

Harrison

We took the first trip of the season to Harrison on Wednesday. Jaden really got into the whole beach scene.Daddy dug his usual mud hole.We buried some legseven Jadens!Rachael had to most fun catching little fish. Most of them she (and Kaitlyn) caught with her bare hands, but sometimes she used a bucket. When we left she counted them as she let them go and she (generously!) counted 99! I don't think there were quite that many, but she did have a lot!PS - check out The House Blog for more playhouse updates.

Family Reunion

For the July long weekend we went to Dutch Lake for a family reunion. There were 51 of us there, which is everybody but one family of 5. The weather wasn't the best, but we still had fun. Saturday was warm enough to go to the beach where Rachael had fun swimming,Kaitlyn had fun playing,and Jaden had fun splashing in the water.There were canoe trips,beautiful views,throwing rocks in the water,and finding wildlife. (This is a frog.)This is a painted turtle (the underside)This wildlife I could have done without! (She so does not get her love of snakes from her mother - you'll notice the "Daddy's Girl" t-shirt!)While the girls were picking up creepy crawlies, the boys picked flowers!So did Elizabeth.There was dirt to be played in and marshmallows to be roasted over the campfire.It rained somebut then we played games inside. We were celebrating Grandma's 90th birthday, Grandpa's 89th birthday and their 64 years of marriage. Now that's something to celebrate!

Sports Day & Frogs

Yesterday was Sports Day at school. We had perfect weather for it. Rachael had fun with her two best friends,and Kaitlyn had fun with her best friend.Jaden even found a friend.After Sports Day we went to Kaitlyn's teacher's house for a "Frog Liberation Party." They had some frog eggs in their classroom that turned into tadpoles, and two had even grown four legs (but they still had the tail.) So after saying "au revior" the class went to return them to the wild.

The Play House!

The playhouse is on its way to being built! Check out the house blog to see more!