Zehnder's Splash Village

We decided to take a break fromcamp for a day before heading back for our family reunion. The indoor water park seemed like a good spot. This isn't a good picture, but look at the size of the doughnuts! They were huge. We bought 2 of them and the 6 of us shared them. They were yummy.
Ty had fun, but we couldn't convince him to try the water slides.
Katie really enjoys the water and loves to kick. Emily and Sarah tried everything in the whole park.

Frankenmuth

We took the kids on a horse and buggy ride around Frankenmuth. The guide gave us a narrated tour and it was very interesting.
The flowers were beautiful in Frankenmuth. They really go all out. Sarah loved these huge white bouquets
We all enjoyed Zaks. Mark's Aunt Cheryl used to work here and get to bring home the cut off ends of the Fudge. She would pass them out at the Family Reunion and they were soo good. We had to pay for our fudge this time. :(

Dillehay Reunion

The Reunion was great! We got to stay in a cabin that was built in 1951. Isn't it just adoreable. Mark's parents friends own it and were gracious enough to let us stay there. Ty spent a lot of time like this. Rolling in dirt and as messy as can be. No sooner would I clean him up and then boom he would be dirty again. It was very good for a little boy like himself.
This is Jessica and it shows how tree filled the camp was. This may be the tree that Sarah ran into while playing Capture the Flag at night. We found out that this is more of an light time game.
The kids enjoyed the neverending campfire. We roasted huge marshmallows that Mark's parents bought in Mexico.

Reunion Fun

We also roasted mini Marshmallows. The jumbo ones worked better.
Here are Kristy and Mom enjoying our mini fireworks display.
Kathi headed up a tye-dye t-shirt time.

Concert Night

Kari and Ben arranged for 2 Christian Musicians to come for a mini concert for Mom and Dad. We invited some of their friends to come too.

Here they are with their Granddaughters. and the grandsons
After the concert we had a huge hotdog roast. Kristy made some very yummy baked beans.

Visiting with the Baszlers

Uncle Dick and Aunt Donna, Becki, Julie, Trenton, Jackie, Mike, Danielle, Avery and Brady came to visit us at the camp. We had a very good time hanging out with them. Although I haven't met them very many times, I always feel close when we are together.

Happy Faces Shot

The reunion was such a good time and lots of photo ops to be had. These didn't fit in their own post, so I just wanted to add them in.

Water Balloons

Before we left Florida, Target clearnanced out water balloons. We bought 600 to play with at camp. Due to Dad's ER visit, the day got kinda crazy. The kids ended up filling up most of the balloons and did a great job.

I made them play a game where you bite the tip of the balloon and run around a sign as fast you can. Silly game with the balloon bopping you in the head.

Ty played too and he played and played He kept going around the post and back. If a balloon popped he got another one. We kept laughing at him because he was so serious about doing his job.

Our water balloon catch champions!

Great job, guys!

Water Slide

I have been begging to get one of these waterslides. While we were in Canton Mark found a great deal for one on Craigslist so he picked it up. The kids had a great time on it.

Ignore some of their goofy poses. We were having a great time and they can get very silly. I love this action shot of Jessica and Emily. They had fun spending time together at Camp and the Reunion.
Even Mark got in on the action. He is still feeling the pain from this one!

Talent Show at Camp

We had a fun time at camp doing a talent show. Here Emily and Karlie sing Lean on Me.
Piano, autoharp, guitar, piano and singers
Bekie and Sarah performing a song that they wrote.
The Bergman Puppeteers!

The Parlour and Balloon Festival

We went to Battle Creek on the way to the Hot Air Balloon Festival in Battle Creek. As we were getting off the exit Mark called. (We drove 2 cars to fit our family and Mammaw and Robin. We are one seat short in our van.) Mark wanted us to call Terri and family to see if they would meet us at Loud's/Jackson All Star Dairy/ The Parlour (it has been called many things).

We didn't have her number, so we called my mom and asked her to give Terri a quick call. She had to leave a message, so we didn't expect to see her.

When we got out of the van...there she was. Terri wasn't expecting us, but had stopped by to get an ice cream by herself and was shocked to see us there. Hannah also stopped by and we had a fun time chatting and enjoying way too much ice cream.


We found a nice spot to enjoy the balloons and some yummy snacks. I think we saw 24 in the sky at one time. Sarah enjoyed counting all of them.

4th of July

We spent most of the day at the Park with Mammaw, Robin, Gary, Joann, Shaun, Mary, Ethan, Sadie and Mary's mom and sister.

The park was beautiful and was a great setting for a 4th of July cookout. Robin had told me earlier that she wanted to go and spend 4 or 5 hours there. Secretly I thought she was crazy. That was way to long. I think we left after being there for over 6 hours.

Ethan was the only one to catch a fish despite the dedicated effort of the other kids.

Sarah was very festive in 4th of July gear from Robin and Aunt Kari.
This is Ethan's trike. Ethan said, jokingly, that he was going to ride it into the water. He rode just to the edge and got off an fished. Ty realized that he didn't actually make it into the water, so he helped him out and pushed the trike right into the lake. Memories.
Mammaw enjoyed spending time with 6 of her great grandkids

American Girl Store

The last part of our trip was visiting the American Girl Store in Atlanta. For those of you that don't know, Sarah loves Addy from American Girl. She has read almost all of her books and loves to learn more about slavery times. She has been saving money to buy Addy and earned it just before we left. We promised her we would stop on the way home to pick her up.

Mark took the two little ones for a stroll around the mall so that Emily, Sarah and I could enjoy ourselves.

Here we are at the cafe. We just had dessert. They have the cutest little highchairs for the dolls.
Emily saved up money to get Felicity's hair styled. The salon was a busy place.
Sarah and Addy. Together at last!

a long way from home...

I have tried to blog while on vacation and while the thumb of Michigan has great scenery for pictures, the trees block most of our internet connection.

We are having a great time and are hoping to fit in all that we still have planned.

Just a fun little tidbit...

We wanted some ice cream so we stopped by the country market in a small town on our way to the camp we are staying at. The man next to us left his truck running and ran into town. That wouldn't happen in Fort Myers.

Two men were chatting outside Walmart in Caro, Michigan. I was casually standing there waiting for Mark. One of the men used the 'f' word in his story. As soon as he noticed I was there he apologized to me for his language. You wouldn't hear that at home.

I just don't understand how some people survive when they are literally 50-100 miles from TARGET! How do they do it?

Wordless Wednesday

Emily

Emily is my techy girl. I love to see her on the computer visiting neat websites. Her current favorite site is Brain Pop. It is really neat educational website.

One time she found this problem solving site. It was made by Chinese people and is really cool. She got me addicted to it and we solved many of the puzzles. We made a great team!

We also consider her to be the master of Sims. When Sarah needs help she always ask Emily. It amazes me when I see some of the houses they make. I think I need to observe them and pick up a few good design tips. They are also good at keeping their people alive. ( I once 'lost' one of my people when I let him use the fireworks/rocket launcher inside the house. Oops.)

Funny Sims story--If you are a Sims player you would understand the humor in this one. One day Emily was playing and she kept getting upset with her people. She was so frustrated because they were starving and wouldn't eat. Finally she asked me to look at it and we laughed when we saw she hadn't put in a door to the kitchen. That is something I would do!

We are both looking forward to some of the adventures we have planned for our upcoming vacation. She likes historical sites like I do, so it should be loads of fun.

Happy Birthday Carter!

This Saturday we had a great time at Carter's 3rd Birthday Party. It was on his actual birthday which I think is cool. It was a pool party and lots of friends were there. We had a great time visiting and hanging out.


The birthday boy is telling me he's 3! It happened mid-bite, but I took it anyway.
Here are most of the kid. Logan and two other boys had to leave before the group shot. I don't know if Kelly planned this, but I insisted. (Kelly, thanks for letting me get my photo fill for the day. :) )
I just like this shot. Katie is giving me the Huh? look. She looks kinda small next to the big guys.
I have a lot of pictures of Bryce. He likes to get the picture taken and then look at himself in the camera. This is the must do for any little kid party. --a picture with icing on the face.

Thank you Jeremy and Kelly~~ We had a great time!