Another summer has come and gone

The cousins cheering on the cousins skiing!

The Babies (all cousins) of 08'. Joe Joe, Bella and Donnie

The Boat...for the first time, it never broke down! AMEN!

The Cottage!

Annual Cousin Picture taken the last day of summer vacation.

My son the snake charmer.....yuck!

Nothing better than big brother

Lovin the little sister.

Daily cousin fun, they think of something different every day.

It's hard to say goodbye to summer. We are fortunate and blessed to live our summers at the family cottage. For us Midwesterners, summers are magical. For 3 short months, life comes to a complete halt and we do our very best to abandon structure and daily life to enjoy the great lakes, beaches, boating, camping, etc. For winters are long, and spring is brief. For my family, it means life at the cottage...surrounded by all my siblings, parents, nieces and newphews, friends and extended family. My kids experience their cousins in ways most people cant even imagine. For 3 months, we eat, sleep and drink family, and amazingly enough, we all get along and are generally sad when its over but celebrate in the time we enjoyed.

We spent the last 2 weeks at the cottage beaching it, skiing, tubing, bonfires, cooking, catching snakes and frogs, laughing, making new memories and taking endless photos. There are not enough words to express what my family means to me. This was a summer of challenges, change, transition and joy and they were there for our family through every step. My heavenly Father, thank you for every one of them....all the way down to the youngest, Joe Joe. I love you all so much and I treasure you always.

We celebrated Bella's 1st Birthday on August 28th, I plan to post photos and updates Friday as that is our "Referral Day" and in my eye's, her Birthday. For she was born to our family on that day.

So on to Fall! We love fall and Halloween is on of our very favorite holidays! It's just so much fun to be someone else for a day.

Blessings!