Bethany Beach

Last weekend, we went to Bethany Beach in Michigan. My Uncle Dan and Aunt Marg have a house there that they stay in during the summer. It is a Christian beach community that is just so extra special.

Our kids love being there . . .

Jake was perfectly happy just playing catch with John the whole time. (Mostly in the waves, though)The high winds were PERFECT for flying a kite!! Luke and Caroline just had to stand there and throw the kite up and off it flew!! And it stayed up for a long time!!

Luke's new kite.Caroline taking a break to eat some GORP for extra energy.

Oh my!!. . .Luke had SOOO much fun in the water!!

Little Lukey got worn out from all the wind and waves . . . he took a nice long nap under the umbrella.

Some of the "gang" hanging out in the shade. . .notice Little Lukey taking his nap in the bottom left of the picture. . .don't you wish you could sleep anywhere like that?? (That's Aunt Marg sitting in the green chair.)

Uncle Dan

On the way to the beach, there is a bench that says, "Rest Awhile," so Caroline did. :)

Sweet Caroline

Caroline had a great day . . . it sure tired her out!!

Caroline and I stopped to take a break on the long flight of stairs that led to the beach.

I will post more pictures tomorrow. . .there were just too many to post in one day. :)

Taylor Get Together

Last week, we got to see some of our Taylor friends!! We gathered at the Syswerda's home in Wheaton.

Kevin Willis, who lives downtown Chicago, joined us. He is pictured here with some of the kids.

John and Laila (Dallal) Bechtle joined us from Skokie.

Scott and Amy (Landt) Kregel from Pennsylvania were passing through town.

Mark and Kelley (Baird) Syswerda. Thanks for having us!!

John and me. :)

It was so good to see everyone!!


The whole gang. . .LOTS of kids!!

What a blessing it was to see old friends!!

Weekend in Peshtigo

Last weekend we went to Peshtigo for my twentieth high school reunion. I cannot believe it has really been that long! It was good to see some old friends, but even better to spend time with my parents.

This is a picture of Luke on the way there. ..

This is a picture of Luke on the way home... we did soo much, he was TIRED!! (that is chocolate frozen custard all over his face...I thought I wiped it all off...oh well)

We started our trip by meeting my parents in Green Bay and we went to Bay Beach, an amusement park on the Bay. The kids had SO much fun riding the rides!

Jake hit a few balls in the batting cages.

Then John and Jake rode a go cart. (Jake's first time!) It was fun cheering them on!!

Grandma rode the Tilt-a-Whirl with the kids. . . Caroline's favorite ride.

This was one of Luke's favorite rides. :) We rode on a little train. (we had to wait sooo long in line for that!!)

Caroline and Luke got to ride ponies. (Jake was a little too big for that!)

We rode the bumper cars.

Luke loved the bugs.

The low swings were a hit with Luke and Caroline. Jake rode the high swings (no picture) and he didn't like them very much. . .I guess it didn't help that Grandpa said, "I hope these chains hold OK!" right before the ride took off! Jake was very happy when it was over.

All three kids enjoyed this slide.

The next day, we went to see some really pretty waterfalls up by Grandma and Grandpa's cabin. The rocks were kind of slippery because of a little drizzle. This is a picture of everyone being "careful".
On the way back to Chicago, we stopped at Kopp's in Milwaukee and got some YUMMY frozen custard.

Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa Eckstrom, for a very fun weekend!!