Budding Artists

You just gotta love child art! This is the "person" Michaela drew with sidewalk chalk yesterday. The large circles on each side of the head are ears. I asked her where the arms were but she just stared down at her drawing. I guess even she was puzzled as to where they would fit!

In contrast, here is a picture that Nadja, who is now into Japanese animation, drew today. This is the first time she has attempted to draw a person. Not bad, huh?

Fun in the Sun

The sun does shine in Michigan, despite what some people might think. And when it does, we head outdoors. The girls and I spent some time at the park this morning basking in the glory of the day.

Smoky Mountain Memories

Our whole purpose for visiting the Smoky Mountains began with a strong desire to see a bear in the wild. My mom and I have been to several forests hoping to see one, but to no avail. FINALLY, while hiking the rainbow falls trail we saw a black bear. He was only about 15 feet away from us! It was so awesome!! Unfortunately, my camera was not on the right setting b/c I didn't realize it was so dark in there. Those are his eyes you see glowing in the middle of the picture. After he walked away, we saw 3 more bears on the other side of a creek. One even stood up and scratched his back on a tree! Amazing.

I had no idea my kids were such great hikers. This trail is called "Rainbow Falls" which is a little over 2 miles. We didn't quite make it all the way because it was getting dark, but the important thing to note here is that the girls hiked the whole way without any complaints.

Nadja at the Chimney Tops. I highly recommend this hiking trail if anyone makes it to the Smoky Mountain National Park. There were huge boulders to climb, places to swim, and beautiful views all around.

Beach Bums

Since I can remember, our family has held annual reunions at Ocean Isle Beach, NC. This year Mike couldn't make it, so my mom flew to MI and drove with the girls and me. We had a total blast! We spent a few days in a cabin in the Virginia mountains before arriving in NC. On the way home we spent a few days in the Smoky Mountains. Here's a few pics from our trip.




Michaela at the Beach





Nadja at the beach

The girls and I on our lsat night at the beach.

My crazy girls cousins.

A Blogging Virgin

The thought of having to play catch up and summarize our year thus far seems a little daunting. So I've decided to just start from here and see how it goes. One of my concerns with this blog is that it will be the bottom of my priority list, and will remain as is for 6 months or more. But what the hay...I'll give it shot.