Fall Vacation

Last Friday we loaded up the van and headed to Grand Haven for 7 days. Packing for 5 proved to be quite the undertaking! Ella went on her first trip to Grand Haven last week. We took off on Friday so that Craig could head to Chicago on Sat. to run the Chicago Marathon. He finished the race in 3 hours and 26 minutes! The kids and I stayed in Spring Lake with my parents and it was great to have the extra help. Ella met her aunts, uncles, cousins, great grandparents, Courtney, and grandpa for the first time. We celebrated two of our nieces' birthdays at the GH aquatic center and dinner at the Ackerman's house. Allison spent a lot of time with her cousins and we enjoyed seeing friends and family.

Connor and Ella in GH

All the girls at at the pool

Rocking Ella

Papa and Allison

Great grandma Constant meets Ella

Allison and Ella

Ella 3 weeks

Kathryn and Ella

The girls

MV and Ella

Anna and Ella

Wasem Fruit Farm

Ella is officially two weeks old and this week I have been flying solo. I was a bit nervous about venturing out with three kids, two under two. The first task was getting Allison to school by 8:30 on Monday morning with all three kids. Things went smoothly and I had her there about 8:35, not bad for the first time. Come winter, things may get interesting since I have to put Connor and Ella in the jogger just to drop her off. I guess I will pray for a close parking spot:) After dropping off Allison, we went to Target to get a few things and then home to unload. Then back out again to the downtown baby story time. Connor loves to go and listen to the music and stories and I feel like Connor needs some one on one time too. Today, we ventured out to Waseum Fruit Farm with the Resident Playgroup. The kids had a great time picking and eating apples. Connor particularly enjoyed the eating part. After walking the orchard we stopped and ate doughnuts and cider. The kids ran around and had a lot of fun. Luckily, Ella slept most of the morning in the stroller. She woke at the end to eat, and then fell back to sleep. My biggest fear was keeping Connor close to me while dealing with Ella too, but he was a trooper. He stayed right with us, pointed out all the airplanes "pains" as he calls them and enjoyed his apples. What a fun morning.

Connor enjoying the fish at the Library

Connor riding the eggplant at storytime/playtime

So proud that he picked an apple

yum yum!

picking apples

Allison and Connor

Climbing the tree

Eating doughnuts