Indian Summer, Last trip to the Beach

We had an awesome Indian Summer up here in Michigan. After some frigid temperatures for a whole month, we had 2 solid weeks of hot weather. Brandon and I wanted to take advantage of such beautiful weather so we decided to take a drive with the kids to see the fall colors and ended up at a beautiful beach in Grand Haven.

Leah ate more than a handful of dirt that day.

Like father like son

What a wonderful Dad my kids have!

I'm pretty sure this picture of Josiah sums up everything!

Summer Recap - Relaxing by the Lake

Our unexpected vacation started with visiting Brandon's Grandmother in Indian River. She is such a wonderful host and this visit was doubly special since Brandon's Aunt and Cousin were visiting from North Carolina! We decided to take a trip together to the northern most point of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, Mackinaw City!

It was wonderful to have my cousin Curtis and his girlfriend Jaclyn come with us this day!

My cousin Curt & Josiah

Curtis teasing Leah with the cold water!

I don't think this boy know anything else to do with the water, 

other than throw rocks into it! lol

We crossed the Mackinaw Bridge and had lunch together in the Upper Peninsula.

Like always, we had to take a trip over to my family's cabin on the lake. There we were able to really relax, go out on the boat, sit by the bon fire, and marvel at God's masterpieces!

A view from the cabin's front porch

Relaxing around the bon fire pit. Dad & Monica fishing off the boat in the background.

Josiah trying to fill the lake up with sand

Me holding two of my sisters, Erica & Hannah

Brandon and I goofing off for the camera!

Isn't God great??

The following night's sunset...

My sister Monica's fish!

Docking the boat

Precious Little Leah

Look closely... there's a fish head nailed to the tree... thats why Curt's pretending to swim! lol

Our final night...

Summer Recap - Traverse City Cherry Festival

Our summer adventure truly started at the end of June when we finally moved to Grand Rapids! Our moving day was June 30th which gave us a night to unpack before we headed on a much needed week long vacation to visit family!

Brandon and Josiah loading the Uhaul!

My sister Erica put Josiah to sleep

Almost done!

Our 4th of July weekend started in Indian River celebrating with Brandon's family, and ended at my family's cabin in Oscoda, relaxing by the Lake.

We cut our vacation a day short so we could head on over to the other side of Michigan for the Traverse City Cherry Festival. T.C. is such a beautiful town with many activities for the entire family. The beaches were beautiful and the water crystal clear.... I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves!

After a wonderful week, we were definitely ready to go home and conquer mounds and mounds of boxes.....

Anniversary in Holland

I know I am so far behind, but I have 2 more posts from the summer to go over. I don't want to skip them, so they are just going to have to show up late!

These first pictures are from our 4th Wedding Anniversary in late July.

After desert and a stroll downtown, we headed to the famous 'Big Red' Lighthouse on Lake Michigan.

We had a once in a lifetime chance to tour the inside.

Visiting Grand Rapids

As if you haven't noticed, we've been doing a lot of traveling lately.

I always love traveling and discovering new places, so preparing to move across the state has been an adventure for us. We visited Grand Rapids last week and again the other day to find an apartment and a job.

Two weeks ago we came home feeling a little more comfortable with the area, but with no real answers yet. 

But throughout our day last week we could feel the hand of God leading us every step of the way.

Our morning was rainy and unsuccessful but later that afternoon Brandon was called in for an interview and we found a town-home for lease that is right around the corner from Cornerstone University!

Brandon is use to a 45 minute drive home from work every night so being that close to the school would be such a blessing. But an even bigger blessing came our way tis morning... Brandon got a call from the place he interviewed at yesterday... THEY OFFERED HIM THE JOB! Praise God! And as if that wasn't enough, we also heard from the management office of the townhouse saying our application was accepted and a house would be open Thursday!

We will be packing up this Wednesday and leaving Thursday! This is happening so fast I can't believe it!

Here are some pics & videos from our last 2 trips to Grand Rapids...

{Beautiful flowers and sculptures throughout town}

 {Downtown East Grand Rapids}

 {No biggie... it's only a parking lot! lol}

 {I'm gonna state the obvious here and let you know that there's a fountain in the middle of the street!}

 {Cute Restaurant, adding that to the 'Must Dine At' list }

{East Grand Rapids was super nice... but apartment searching there was fruitless...}

 {Love that old brick}

 {These videos are from our trip yesterday... we had a fun car ride!}

{We're headed to Grandpa Rapids!}

{Playing Peekaboo}

{Please tell me what Leah is doing with her feet... cause I have no idea!}

{Leah loves Ranch, just like her Daddy!}

Can't wait to move! 2 days left on the countdown!