Family Fuller

After driving back down to Chelsea, my Dad went to pick Chuck up at the airport the next morning at 5 AM.  He had taken the red eye and didn’t get much sleep.  Once he woke up later we all hung out at the pool all afternoon, ordered a few pizzas for dinner and had a sleepover with the cousins (plus a movie and popcorn).

On Friday we went to Ann Arbor and had breakfast at Zingermanns with our friend Kristin, who we found out is pregnant with twin girls – congratulations to her. Afterwards we took a little drive around Ann Arbor and stopped off at the new Ross School of Business which is huge and very nice. Chuck just wishes he had gone there a few years later

Friday night we went over to my stepsister Christine’s house. The boys had a good time playing in the basement and we ordered thai food and got to hang out with Christine, Tim and my dad which was nice. By the time we went home there was a major thunderstorm starting and it absolutely poured the whole way home. We got to my dads, both boys were asleep and it was just pouring. We waited a few minutes to see if it would let up but it didn’t so we made a break for it. We really only had to run about 20-30 feet but got totally soaked on our way into the house. It was crazy.

Saturday morning we took my dad and Sheila out for a father’s day breakfast and then it was off to the airport to fly to New York for the last leg of our trip. There were a lot of thunderstorms and our first flight was cancelled. We got a different one to LGA instead of Newark and the flight was pretty rough I have to say. Our stuff never made it to the airport so we were without luggage or car seats. Chuck’s parents sent a driver to get us and it ended up being a limo which was fun (with the borrowed carseats):

Chuck’s parents were in the process of moving to the DC area so most of their stuff was packed up but we all managed to make due and got to order a lot of NY pizza (for the last time ). We didn’t do much the next day, which was father’s day. Sorry to Chuck I didn’t have much planned, but he did get to sit and watch a movie with the boys for awhile:

The next day it was off to Block Island. We drove up and took the ferry across and right after we got there Colin started saying his throat hurt. Well that was the beginning of a week long fever/sore throat sickness and Colin was not very happy most of the time. He would be OK on the Motrin but as soon as it wore off he was a wreck. I have to say though he was a trouper and really tried hard to still go out and do things.

We did a puzzle and played lots of games, including about 10 games of Monopoly with Colin.  That is almost the only game he wanted to play.  We would play for about an hour and a half and right when things were being built he would want to quit.

We ate some meals in (more than normal because of the illness) but Chuck got his favorite fried chicken and gravy:

And even with a slight fever Colin begged to go to his favorite place, Sharky’s, where grandpa had to down two “Shark Attacks” to get them both sharks:

We went down and tried on some funny hats. Colin and Holden both liked the lobster hat:

One day we went to the coast guard beach and played for awhile. There were little kids there fishing and they caught a few flounder plus a skate. The boys thought it was very cool.

We got to celebrate Grandma’s birthday while we were there. The boys made her a cake and we decorated the dining room with balloons. They love any excuse to have a party.

And we took our traditional family photo on the front porch:

Plus an added bonus of all the guys:

Finally on the last night Dad got to go out and have his lobster. Holden was very interested:

And I think Colin even more so – Grandpa was teaching him how to crack the claw, but he wasn’t adventuresome enough to eat the lobster.

Of course after that we had to go out for one last ice cream and some fun around the ice cream store:

The next day we headed back to New York for the last time. Chuck’s parents were busy with house stuff so we spent the day around Tarrytown and then headed to the airport. We had a late flight, at 8 PM. It was delayed and didn’t leave until 10:30 PM, then it is a 6 hour flight and as we were landing the guy in front of us got seriously ill and unresponsive. We had to do a semi-emergency landing and then wait while the paramedics came on the plane and took care of him. By the time we got home it was 3 AM Seattle time so we were exhausted.

All in all it was a very fun trip, and great to see everyone but after over 3 weeks the boys were glad to be home – and so was I!

It has been awhile since we updated our blog, but we were on vacation for over 3 weeks and just got back a couple days ago. I took the boys by myself for the first two weeks and then Chuck joined us for the last week and a half.

We started on June 6th, flew to Detroit to see my dad and family in Chelsea. Here is half of my family on my dad’s side at my nephew Joe’s baseball game:

Here is my dad, “John Deere Grandpa” with Holden and then both boys on the tractor. They call him John Deere grandpa because he loves tractors and has toy John Deeres in his living room. Although he always says it would be better if he was called Farmall Grandpa since he doesn’t own any actual John Deere tractors.

We spent a few days with John Deere grandpa, including going swimming in the pool.  Holden was absolutely wild in the pool, jumping in, going under and practically swimming by himself.  He was so crazy during one 2 hour swim-a-thon he even threw up twice because of all the water he swallowed, but then he just jumped right back in.

Uncle Adam and Colin in a swimming race:

We also went out to lunch with my grandma who is 94.  She seems to be doing well and is still even driving, although I am not so sure that is a good idea anymore.  My mom came down and she, my dad, Aunt Penny and Aunt Joey, plus my cousin Taylor all went out to lunch.  It was a nice time.  Then right after we drove up to my mom’s house on Torch Lake.

We spent a week up at my Moms and the weather was nice, sunny and in the 70s. Unfortunately the water was only 60 degrees and I did manage to go swimming but only for about a minute. The boys played by the lake almost every day and also rode big wheels around the driveway.

We had a surprise visit from Uncle Ben which was great. He stayed for about 4 days and the boys loved playing with him:

Going Fishing:

Teaching Colin to play pool:

Of course Nana spoiled them with all kinds of treats and toys, and many, many games of Sorry.

Playing in the fountain on the porch:

Walking up to get ice cream:

After spending a week up north I rented a car and drove back down to my Dad’s where Chuck joined us the next day…but I will blog about that in Vacation – Part 2