Hello All! We are happily off on a mini-vacation tomorrow. We will head over to the east side of the state, the side yours truly grew up on. Growing up my father's (Grandpa B)parents had a cottage on Lake Huron. I spent the summers there, swimming like a fish, basking in the sun, enjoying my grandparents and giggling at everything. (well come on that is what little girls do : ) I am excited because tomorrow I return to a place forever cherished in my memories, our family cottage on the beaches of the "Sunrise" side of our beautiful state. Grandpa B, Uncle Rick and Aunt Kristin, Aunt Heather and her sons, The Sweebe boys will all be there. What fun we are sure to have. I'm sure there will be hot dogs on the grill, ice cream in Tawas and bonfires with sticky smores. I am so thankful that I had a place like this growing up to enjoy. I am excited to once again watch my children's reaction to literally living on the beach. I will post photos upon our return. Please pray for our adoption as an important folder of documents left in the mail today, we are asking God to give it safe passage to our new son's home country. With that I will sign out of the blogosphere for another fun family time. Blessings to you all- Crystal

Hello All! Today Luke and I went to the beach while Faith was in Pre-school. Faith has only a day of pre-school left. I am sure all of us will be at the beach more and more frequently after summer vacation has officially begun. I took this pictures of Luke sliding down one of his favorite slides. He is such a cutie!!! This is our bonding time, Luke and I, we check out the "big" beach near us almost daily. Today the work crews are putting the finishing touches on one of our main beaches. It is amazing the amount of work to prepare the beach for the crowds. They move large loads of sand here and there. Luke loves to watch all the heavy equipment. Dump trucks and boys just go together, huh? Kel always says he would love to be a heavy equipment operator, like father-like son. Today I am praying for the unofficial start of summer, this weekend, Memorial day. Last year we were on the beach and even swimming it was so nice. God willing we will enjoy that this year as well. God Bless you all!! Love, Crystal

Hello All! We hope this finds you having a great holiday weekend. We have been planting, playing and just enjoying the beginning of summer. I know it is the unofficial start to summer. But, for us a start all the same. Growing up my grandparents had a cottage (and still have it) on Lake Huron. Memorial day was the start of weekends spent enjoying the beach with family. Every Memorial Day weekend growing up the boat we owned and the hoist that housed it for the summer season went into the water this weekend. It mattered not if it was raining and freezing cold. It had to go in, it was time to enjoy summer. So I laugh when Kelly says when will Lake Michigan be warm enough to swim in? I say for me or everyone else? If water doesn't cool me down than I see no point in swimming. So needless to say I am ready : ) Are you?











Yesterday we did just that, we spent a wonderful day at the Lake Michigan Beach. We had packed everything needed for a safe and fun day at the beach, including a picnic lunch. We made it to the beach by 10:00 am and didn't leave till 3:00pm or so. It took us five minutes to get to the beach from our home. It was the perfect time. I am truly in my element at the beach. Although we are anti-sun worshippers and we avoid sun exposure at all cost. We still enjoy the beach so much!! We had our sun umbrella for much needed shade, we applied and reapplied sunscreen at least three times while visiting the beach. Ironically I was the only one that got a burn on my foot and lower leg because I was a little careless. But that area was only exposed for about 5 minutes at maximum. So the good news is there were no bad burns and tons of fun. We swam, built castles, ate lunch with a few bites of sand, swam some more, practiced our wave jumping, buried Luke in the sand, built a "swimming pool" and swam some more : ) The "swimming pool" was built at the water's edge and we filled it with buckets full of water. The kids would sit in the "swimming pool" and splash, see pictures below.
















We had the perfect day and we were glad for the relaxed family time. We hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day! May God Bless your summertime!!! Love, Crystal


PS. I swam and I loved every minute of it : )

I am aware New Mexico and Colorado have been buried in snow lately. It is hard to believe that we live in Michigan though, this week. It has been so warm, today it was 47 degrees. Can you believe that? Nobody in the state is wearing a coat anymore. People have even cracked their















car windows while driving. I thought I had forgotten sunshine until I actually had to wear sunglasses while outside today. I think I would have even attempted to swim in Lake Michigan today if I had my bathing suit with me. : ) I even went to the beach to get some pictures of the rare warm January day. The downhill skiers and snowmobile owners are ready so bring it on. I personally love the snow at this time of year. It coats everything in such a beautiful white as opposed to grey and brown.

Kelly and I are going away for our seventh anniversary the third weekend in February. We are headed "up north" to some of our breathtaking wineries near Traverse City. We are going on a wine tasting tour. Part of the package is a "snowshoe stomp". This will entail walking the grounds of one of the wineries on snowshoes, of course. It is not sounding like too much fun without the snow. But if we have to much snow we may never make it up to the weekend of "Wine, Chocolate and Love" put on by the Leelanau County Vintners Association. So please pray for snow, but not too much!! God Bless- Crystal