Lots of Playing!

One of the best parts of vacation is that you don't have to come home and make dinner (usually!) or do laundry (not much anyway!) or clean the house (very rarely!) so mommies are freer than usual to just enjoy their kiddos. We took quite a few trips to the playground and had lots of time to play and relax which was just what we needed!

One afternoon, the kids and I got together with Jared's cousin-in-law, Michelle, and their three kiddos at the playground. Noah and Jenna are two year old twins and were a blast to play with! Ruby decided to take a ride on the hood of Max and Jenna's hot rod-- I think she was having more fun than they were! ;)

I got the cutest photos of these two in the car. They kept alternating watching each other as they rocked and rolled! Max thought Jenna was the cutest girl he'd ever seen...

Ruby, Noah, and Max go around and around!

A few days later we were on our way to Ludington (about two hours south of Elk Rapids, MI) for our big trip to Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa's house in Wisconsin. Since our ferry left early in the morning, we decided to get a hotel room the night before. They had a wonderful playground that the kids really enjoyed. Here's Ruby walking the wiggly balance beam!

What's summer vacation without ice cream?!?

Coming up next-- Grandma and Grandpa Bollman's house!

A Day at the Beach

On to part two! These photos are from a trip we took down to the beach on July 5th. We had all taken looong naps after church and hit the beach about 4:30 in the afternoon. It was just perfect. Not crowded, not blazingly hot and harshly sunny, just fun.

Here's Ruby makin' some mud!

Look how big my little man is! He and Nana were staring out into the wide blue yonder. Looking for jet skis and boats...

Max loves moving sand. Here, there, and everywhere.

I absolutely love it that Ruby and Max enjoy playing with each other. Ruby and I spent a fair amount of time on our beach trips digging holes to bury her brother in and he just loved it. It's hard to believe that last summer he wouldn't even put his feet in the sand!

Fire in the hole!

My pretty girl in her baggy swimsuit, but she just HAD to have those princesses.

Run, Forrest, run!

Ruby's super fabulous stick castle! (Now we know what to do with all those sticks lying on the beach.)

When we got back to the house, Bobo took the kids out for a ride on the jet ski. Max got on there and knew just what to do. He loved driving and Bobo let him!

Ruby wasn't quite so adventurous as her brother, but she had a BIG smile on her face the whole time she was out. Unfortunately, the weather was never nice enough when we had time to take them for a spin again. Oh well, there's always next year!

4th of July

After paging through the several hundred photos that I took over the course of our 18 day vacation, I decided that I'm just going to have to wing it a bit and split the trip up into a few (I'm not willing to put a number to it at this point!) posts. Hopefully I'll control myself and not bore everyone TOO much!

Once we arrived in Elk Rapids we were ready to play! In between pulling out the summer furniture and toys we managed to take a walk/ride down to the water at the end of Bob and Kay's street. Ruby's a mean tricyclist this year... I wish we could have brought her two wheeler along.

Max isn't so handy on the bike, so we were thankful for this push along version! Maybe he'll get the pedaling concept next summer!

As you can see it was a bit chillier in Michigan than we had been used to. I did bring one cool weather outfit for each kiddo--we got a lot of use out of those!

Max enjoyed helping Bobo mow the lawn, though he wasn't crazy about the noise! I guess he needs a pair of noise-cancelling earphones just like Bobo.

All the cousins, aunts, uncles, and even MawMaw were in attendance at the fourth of July hoopla. I found this little picnic table at a yard sale and the kids just loved it. I'm going to have to keep my eye out for one in our neck of the woods.

Kiddos in attendance: Ruby (4), Jenna (2), Annie (3), Noah (2), and Max (2). It was a busy group!

Jill brought poppers for the kids to throw on the patio. It's amazing how fast they can go through a box of those little buggers!

Max and Bobo just hangin'.

Check back tomorrow for more pics from our big trip!

cincinnati-style 5-way chili

Wow! We are back in North Carolina after our loooong vacation in Michigan and Wisconsin. We had a wonderful time... lots of photos to come... but I also got some great feedback about Tasty Tuesday, so I'm kicking off my return to the bloggy world with a wonderful recipe I made before we went on our trip. It's from "Family Circle" (May '09) and absolutely wonderful! Please note that this is a long simmering chili that's actually best the next day, so save it for a day that you have lots of time around the house. Enjoy!

Cincinnati-Style 5-way Chili (12 servings)

2 T. ground ancho chile powder
1-2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 T. olive oil
3 medium sized yellow onions, minced
1 T. minced garlic
1 medium-sized green bell pepper chopped
2 tsp. coarse salt
2 lbs. ground beef
2 cans (28oz) whole Italian tomatoes with juice
2 cans (15oz) kidney beans
2 beef bouillon cubes
1 pound spaghetti
Shredded cheddar, for serving
Chopped onion, for serving

1. Combine chile powder, cumin, oregano, dry mustard, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg. Set aside.
2. Brown and crumble ground beef in a large skillet. Drain.
3. At the same time, in a large, heavy pot, heat olive oil until it begins to sizzle. Stir in onions and garlic, and saute for 5 minutes. Add green pepper, salt, and ground spice mixture and saute 2 minutes longer. Add browned ground beef and stir. Add tomatoes with juice and crush tomatoes while stirring in. Add the bouillon cubes and stir in. Taste and add any additional seasoning.
4. Simmer chili at least 2 hours over medium-low heat, uncovered, adding water as necessary. Refrigerate chili overnight to allow flavors to fully meld.
5. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boiling. Cook spaghetti following package directions, about 10 minutes. Drain and keep warm. Gently reheat chili over low heat. Stir in drained and rinsed kidney beans and heat through. Serve chili over noodles, topped with additional chopped onion and cheddar cheese.