Fun with Elves

Our kids have made complete elves of themselves. Click the link below for some great Christmas fun.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1156148627

P.S. The movie "Elf" is not only the finest Christmas Movie ever, but the best movie of all time!!!

October at the Beach!?!?!?

Believe it or not, this is a photo of Will, Josh, and myself in Lake Michigan on October 5th. It was 85 yesterday evening and today it will be just as hot. The water temperature is even tolerable. I'd say the lake was about 65 degrees which is a pretty common water temperature for most of the summer.
We even saw a few birds flying North at the beach. They must have thought that it was too nice to leave just yet and turned around.


Sunsets in over Lake Michigan are always amazing.

Last week we went to the White Lake Light House. It is open to the public as a museum and there are some great displays and artifacts. The "light keeper" even had some great stories to share with us about the history and function of this house.

Last Days of Summer

Lily is growing and learning so much lately.
Her face is extremely expressive and every day she seems to show more personality.


Here are some pictures of our last few days of summer.
Lots of fun and sun.

Lily is Walking

I hope this video link works. Check it out.

http://picasaweb.google.com/ctiesma/Walking

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park

We took a trip North and stopped by what turns out to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. Just look and these pictures. These were taken at a stop on the scenic drive through the dunes. The first picture is amazing. Click on it to enlarge. The slope of the dune drops off right where Gabbie is standing.

In the last picture if you look closely, you can see Will, Matthew(my nephew) and me at the bottom of the dune. What a great experience. Although, I must warn you all that it is very important to instruct a 7 year old on the proper way to descend a steep dune. I forgot to tell will to go slowly and not take too many large jumps at one time. He fell head over heals tumbling for alost 100 feet of the descent. Once I got to where he stopped falling down the dune, he pulled his head out of the sand and said, "I'm OK, Dad". It was one of the most frightening things I have ever seen, but thankfully no one was hurt.

Summer Fun

We are still here. I hope that the three people who check in on this blog have not given up on us.

Here are some pictures from our latest adventures.


Max and Sophie enjoy the surf and the Big Lake.

Gabbie and Will teamed up with Sara and Josh to take 3rd place at a local sand sculpture contest. I think that they got extra points for their name. This sculpture is "Sammy the Super Silly Special Slumbering Sunbathing Sleeping Sand Snowman". Max and Sophie also won prizes for their sculpture, "Sleeping Beauty's Crystal Castle for America's Birthday".

If you have ever been to Baldwin, MI you probable know about Jones' Ice Cream. We had to stop for some of the best ice cream on earth on our way up north.

Carrie, Will and Max at a Mackinac Island Hotel.

Wild Kingdom

Springtime has been full of new life at our home.

There is a Robin's nest under our deck and the first egg hatched on Sunday. There are now two chicks, but they were both sleeping tonight and not ready for their close ups.

Gabbie got a baby bunny a few weeks ago, so that has kept her pretty busy. Her name is Trixie. She is a sweet animal and very fast. We have learned that it's pretty hard to catch a bunny on the loose in our neighborhood. Thankfully our dog chased Trixie into the pond and bunnies are much slower in the water than on dry ground.

We also have a bucket of 10-12 tadpoles. You can see a few legs growing in this picture. These are amazing to watch develop.

Family Portrait

My Dad took this great picture last Sunday. We had a great time celebrating Mother's Day a week early with our extended family on my Mom's side. Check out the picture of Grandma and Grandpa with the four grandkids.

Happy Birthday, Lily!!!

It has been quite a year and what a joy to celebrate Lily's First Birthday.

Vacation Photos

Thanks for checking in. We had quite an adventure on our vacation a few weeks ago. We drove 13 hours to the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina. We had a beautiful place at a great resort. But we lost power after a big wind storm on the second day of our stay.
So what could we do?
The only thing we could think of was to pack everything up and drive another 4 hours to Charleston, SC. We spent a day and a half there and then returned to NC for a few days of rest and fun in the mountains.

Lily has decided to stop eating baby food. She know prefers to feed herself.

White Water Falls in NC

Happy Easter!

Hope you all had a blessed Easter.
He is Risen Indeed!!!

Here is a very Brady Easter Collage.

Max has fun at Gabbie's birthday party

Birthday Bash!!

Well our little girl turned 10 years old yesterday. Gabbie has given us so much joy and we are extrememly proud of the beautiful person that she is. She choose to celebrate with a few friends at a local roller rink. What a blast! Everyone had a great time.

Happy Birthday, Gabbie!

Lily was a bit overwhelmed by the loud music and lights.


Here is our latest addition to the group pictures. A girl at the home school co-op took this. Carrie said the secret is to set all of them down and walk away.