Fun up North-Cottage and Turtle Races-Part 1

So for the 4th of July and the week following we went up to Brian's (my step-dad) family cottage. It is on the beautiful Lake Bellaire. The weather was perfect and it was a great 10 days away. While we were there we spent time in TC and did some Cherry Festival events and our friends the Mike, Carmen and their 3 girls-Emma, Ellie and Abby came up and join us at the cottage for a long weekend. James and I weren't as camera happy as we have been in the past-but we still got some cute photo's. Mikayla turned into a fish while we were up there-the swim lessons are definately paying off-she has gotten so much confidence in the water and is even attempting to swim underwater! Beware-there are lots of photos to come-Enjoy!

Here are some pictures from the first few days!  

 Going out on the jet ski to Turtle hunt-had to get a few turtles for the Turtle races!

 Mikayla and Brian (grandpa) putting on a show-singing a song from the movie Rio!

Brian is the White Cockatoo-Nigel from the movie! Quite the stories are told when these 2 are together!

 Mikayla with her turtle at the Turtle Races!

 We brought turtles for Lauren and Camden too-This is Lauren (above) holding her turtle. Then Camden (below) watching his turtle-trying to get him to move!

 Waiting for the races to begin!

 The race-Mikayla's turtle won 1st place! So we had to wait until 10 heats had raced and then her turtle got to race again!

 Mikayla, Lauren and Camden with blue sno-cones to celebrate the race!

 Mikayla during the race-off-she didn't get first this time, but she had a great time!

Mikayla with her turtle and blue ribbon (on her shirt).

After the races we met up with Tim for a birthday dinner celebration at Red Ginger. It was a new experience for all of us and even though I would find much on the menu to eat-Mikayla and I both tried sushi for the first time and we enjoyed our dinner. Mikayla had noodles and I had lettuce wraps that were delicious!

 Happy 26th Birthday time!

Check back for more pictures in the next few days!

Trip to Rockford

So while I was in Portland with my mom, James and Mikayla took a road trip to Rockford to visit James family. They had a great time and it is amazing how much bigger Zayden gets each time we see him. James took some very cute pictures of Zayden who was about 8 months old at the time. Along with spending time with family-James took Mikayla and Zechariah (3 years old) to Monkey Joe's. They had a great time.

 Lola (Grandma-James mom) with the grandkids-Mikayla, Zayden and Zechariah!

 Zechariah and Mikayla at Monkey Joe's!

 Climbing and Sliding!

 Zayden-8 months old! So smiley! I just love the one with the hard hat on!

Mikayla and Zecharia playing hockey!

  

Mikayla with some of the dogs!

At first I was nervous about James traveling without me, but everything went really well and Mikayla had a great time! I think it helped her keep her mind of my being gone and she loved spending time with her cousins, aunt, uncle and grandparents!

Victory Days for Gymnastics

On June 22 Mikayla had her last regular gymnastics and we celebrated all she had learned throughout the year with a Victory Day celebration. Each gymnast waited for their coach and then they each got to do a routine with their coach. It is amazing all Mikayla learned this year. Here is a few collages of the day!

The first activity was Vault. The kids do the greeting pose and then run down and do the jump splits onto the mini "vault."



The next activity Mikayla did was bar. She did a monkey swing and also balanced on the bar.

The next activity Mikayla did was balance beam. She had to do a v-sit and then toe-knee touches on the beam as she walked. She has come a long way on the beam and can almost go across it completly independently!

The last activity Mikayla did was a floor routine. She did a somersault and a straddle jump. I love the ending pose...such a true gymnast!

 At the end of her routines, she got a trophy, which she thought was the coolest part. Her coach for the year was Miss Moriah-she was so proud of all the accomplishments Mikayla made over the past 9 months.  Grandma and Grandpa Schenk came to watch her too.

While we are taking the summer off from weekly gymnastics, Mikayla is enrolled in a few mornings of gymnastics summer camp and we will resume going in the fall. But Mikayla is also going to do soccer this fall!



Strawberry Picking!

We spent a morning picking strawberries as a family! We had a great time and Mikayla was a great help this year and really did a good job picking red and ripe berries. This is our 2nd time we have gone and we picked a better time to go this year because there was a lot more berries!

 Tasting the berries...making sure they are yummy!

 Delicious!

 Mikayla with all our strawberries-11 and half pounds! We made 14 containers of freezer jam and LOTS of strawberry short cake!

Swim Lessons

For the past couple of years I have wanted to get Mikayla into swim lessons. But this was the first year it all worked out...except for the fact I was gone on the first day of it, but Mikayla did great! She did the lessons with my friend Kristi's daughters-Kylynn and Addisyn-the three of them had a great time and learned a lot.

The kids all lined up listening to the directions!

Mikayla practicing her kicking!

The third day was very chilly-so we met at a hotel pool. Here the kids are practicing their strokes!  

Swimming on her own!

Jumping in the pool all by herself! This was a big accomplishment for the week. She even would jump in when we went swimming the next week at a pool.