Any old day...

Just another day around the house...

Kids waiting at the bus stop...

The farmer telling the kids to not knock down the fence...

An unattended tractor, a pilot laying on the ground and a bird

And of course...Thomas pulling train cars...

2 Months!

He's sure got a lot to say for a 2 month old baby!

CANOE WEEKEND!!

This year marked the 5th year that Jason and I have been traveling to Grayling, MI for the Au Sable Canoe Race. Each year we've stayed with our gracious hosts Bob and Wendy Reycraft. Bob and Wendy are Jason Farrior's in laws and Leigh Ann Farrior's parents. Jason Farrior and my Jason went to Wabash together. So...now that that's all clear! We absolutely Jason and Leigh Ann to death and wish we got to see them more often, so Canoe Weekend is something that we really look forward to each year. Bob and Wendy are wonderful. They treat us like family and have allowed us to stay the night in their spare bedroom since having Jack. This year with two boys though, we decided to stay the night in a hotel down the street, which worked out pretty well since Leigh Ann's cousin Lance come this year with his two boys.

Jason and Jason

Leigh Ann and Mandee

So just what is the Au Sable Canoe Race? It's the longest, non stop, canoe-only race in North America. The race is always held the last full weekend in July during the annual Au Sable River Festival. The race starts at 9pm in Grayling in a LeMans-style start where the competitors carry their canoes in a footrace four blocks through town to the Au Sable River entry point. Upon reaching the Au Sable River, they begin paddling non-stop throughout the night. In addition to paddling for 14-19 hours straight, competitors must also make portages over six dams along the river race route.

Mandee and Bob

The starting line is just a bit up the river from Bob and Wendy's house which is located right on the river. So we get to see the racers near the beginning of their journey. I'd say they pass by Bob and Wendy's around 9:10...usually just before it gets dark. Bob has cleared out a sweet little spot down by the river bank for everyone to stand and cheer on the racers. This was the first year Jack was allowed to stay up "late" and see the race. After all the canoe-ers pass by we head back up to the house for the best Canoe Party in Grayling.

Our little family (Graham 8 weeks)

sitting by the river waiting for the race to start

Tuckered out boy

As I said earlier, Leigh Ann's cousin came this year with his two boys Blake and Dylan who are just a little older than Jack. The boys all had a super time playing with one another. One of the big traditions when ever you get together with the Farrior/Reycraft clan is the non stop shots of Jager. For each shot everyone holds up their glass and yells "Jaaaager BOOOMB" This year even the little guys stayed up late enough to do some shots of their own. (With apple juice of course!)

The first shot's always the hardest Jack!

Cheers

Canoe weekend is one of the big summer highlights we look forward to each year. It's changed and evolved over the years and I know it puts a lot of pressure on Bob and Wendy to host this amazing event. It really seems like the whole town shows up at their place throughout the course of the evening and they welcome everyone with a warm fire, a cold beer and good times to be had by all.

Indians Game

Another outing for The Great Summer of 2010. Lincoln and Bowen got Indians tickets for the birthdays and I picked us up some tickets from the Indianapolis Marion County Public Library's Summer Reading Program. This was the first baseball game we'd ever been to. Quite interesting. I couldn't tell you what the score was or even who won, but our seats were terrific and the game we watched was hysterical as usual.

Our view from our seat under the scoreboard

Our three families

Clark bought cotton candy for all the kids

Jack met a new little friend

And then told Lincoln his plan for hooking him up with her sister

And by the end of the game...Jack and Lincoln had both scored

Weekend at CharRoy

So as I said before I've gotten to meet a lot of great friends from Jack's May 08 birth board from Pregnancy Weekly. Melissa is one of the girls whom I have grown close to and love spending time with. Her sister's family lived in Muncie for a year or two working as volleyball coaches for Ball State, so we got to see each other more often than we otherwise would have. Melissa lives in Wisconsin with two of THE MOST adorable little girls on the face of the Earth and her husband Joe whom I also adore.Mel (as she's known on the board) has posted pictures of her girls playing at her parent's lake house on Facebook. Shannon (another May 08'er) and I fell in love with the beautiful scenery and decided to invite ourselves and our families to visit for a weekend. So after about 6 months of planning, Jason and I headed north with the boys to stay at Charlotte and Roy Everett's place on a lake in a little town whose name I cannot spell or even pronounce! It was a fabulous weekend with good friends, good weather and good food.

Jack spent hours playing with his bath trains in the sand...busting buffers and chuffing on the rails.

Jason and I got a good lesson in relaxing on our parenting and allowing Jack to have fun. The first day we made Jack wear his life vest and Jason pretty much held his hand the entire time he was in the water. After watching the other kids play, we decided it was time to lighten up a little and let Jack be a kid with the others. Him and Lily and Layla (Melissa's girls) enjoyed playing together in the warm shallow water. Amazingly all of the kids got along terrifically. There wasn't any fighting or arguing....everyone just had a really good time.

There was lots of fishing going on off that dock. Shannon's little boy Kyle caught the biggest fish all weekend. Melissa was able to hook a big'un too! And Jack was just happy to practice his casting...which I have to say he got pretty good at while we were there.

Graham (being a big 7 weeks now) enjoyed just relaxing in Momma's arms or in his swing by the lake.Shannon's husband, Wade, took their kids, Kyle and Kaitlin, out for a ride in the paddle boat. Kyle did an awesome job showing off his mad skills learned at swimming lessons. Kaitlin preferred to sit with dad in the boat.

Mr. Graham

The beautiful Miss Lily Harper

My big boy...he looks so grown here

The last night we were staying we had a bonfire for the kids and roasted some s'mores. Wade can sure roast a mean marshmellow...and Melissa does a great job putting the s'mores together. The only thing that could have made the night any better was if we were able to get rid of the mosquitoes. They were so horrible we couldn't leave the house at dusk. The last night poor Joe's legs got eaten up. He must have had no less than 100 bites on each of his legs. Good thing he's a bad mo' fo. A lesser man would have been curdled up in a corner crying.

Layla getting to hold Mr. Graham

Jack's "happy face"

Joe enjoying some delicous candee fluff...that had totally flattened out

Three magnificent May Moms

Shannon, Melissa and Mandee

All fifteen of us that stayed at Charlotte and Roy's house.

Meeting Emily and Barrett

So now sure if you've heard me mention anything about Jack's birth board before or not. But when I was pregnant with Jack I joined Pregnancy Weekly which is an online forum for women who are pregnant. It connects people due in the same month so they can offer support and commiserate being pregnant with people going through the same things.

I've had the good fortune of meeting and getting to know many great ladies from that May 08 board and even had the wonderful opportunities to get to meet many of them in life. Krystal, Melissa, Shannon, Stephanie, Bethanne, Mickey and Amy are all girls I've met and grown close to over the three years since joining "the board".

Stephanie having grown up in Indiana and living in Illinois is probably the one I see the most often. The last time we met up, we had a chance to meet another girl from the board who has relatives in Anderson. So we made plans to meet Emily and her son Barrett at the mall, have dinner and hang out. It was a great time! Jack and Barrett hit it off really well with their common love for all things Thomas. Emily is one hip toy packer so Barrett was well equipped to keep the kids entertained during dinner. It's always nice getting to meet the person on the other side of the computer. I hope that Emily and I can continue to get to know one another better and have similar meet ups in the future.

Emily and Barrett...who is all sweaty from running around before dinner

Sami loved her dinner so much, she licked the plate clean!

Addi really enjoyed helping feed baby Graham (6 weeks old!)

Jack discussing trains with Barrett...he looks thrilled huh?

What could be cuter?