Spring break 2019

I've been writing about the littles lately, so it's time to give some attention to the big kids as we close out our spring break!

We spent two nights at Gull Lake and two nights at a hotel in Ionia that graciously allows us to put seven people in one room. We booked the "honeymoon suite," which had a balcony overlooking the pool area and fit all of us (i.e., Mary slept between Kevin and me in the king-sized bed, one kid slept on the sleeper sofa, and the rest of the kids were in sleeping bags on the floor.) We visited Impression 5 and had fun with cousins and Grandma Linda, but otherwise, we were mostly in our yard enjoying the warmer weather.

I will never get enough of this view

Or this one! The "kids table" is the whole dining room table so the adults were relegated to the couches for Aunt Pam's famous Irish boiled dinner. 

Trying to coax Mary into the pool

Eddie loves swimming!

We tried out the Mooville ice cream shop in Ionia.

This was Tuesday, after all the swimming and playing.

Okay, now about those big kids:

DJ lost a front tooth and is at his most adorable (don't tell him I said that). He says his "Rs" clearly now, which makes him seem extremely grown up. He loves sports. He wants a March Madness themed birthday party next year (in December), though he didn't actually watch most of the games because he just plays with our adapted hoop.

Annie is still a fabulous helper around the house and especially loves baking and cooking. She's adapted well to her new school, making new friends but enjoying opportunities to spend time with LCS friends, too. She's working on a big biography project on Laura Ingalls Wilder, and is (blessedly) growing more and more responsible for all her own school business.

Nellie reads and reads. I think she read nine books over the break. That's not new--what's new is that she and Annie have started riding their bikes to the library, which I'm a little nervous about but Kevin assures me is FINE, he's been doing it since he was in the THIRD GRADE. Last night, we dropped off the girls at the Sun Theater to watch Captain Marvel by themselves. Growing up is so exciting! And scary (to me)!