The Sullivans drove up from Des Moines for a week at Stormy for their summer vacation and we couldn't thank them enough for making the trip up. When they arrived it was still a bit chilly, so we headed over to my in-laws beach to play and let the kids hang out in the shallower (is that even a word?) water.
The girls decided to give Jen a spa treatment
While the boys relaxed on the raft (Blake and Wheaton are about 6 mos. apart and are two peas in a pod--brothers from another mother!)
*plotting*
I took this picture one night on my phone...the moon looked so cool shining through the clouds and then perfectly reflecting off the water (those little white lights are cabins across the lake)
Matt did some barefooting in the mornings (while the water is still calm and other boats aren't out yet) with Sharon Carlson--70 year old professional barefooter who taught Matt to ski years ago when he was just a kid. She is truly unbelievable and taught Matt over the last 2 years to get him to be a real 'barefooter' (more on this later).
These boys loved practicing
Probably the coolest story of our summer of teaching someone how to ski was Ryan--he had tried skiing MANY MANY times before and everyone always told him they would be able to get him up but to no avail. So this was a challenge we definitely had to rise to!
He's a big guy at 6'5" and definitely strong enough, but you realize how much of skiing is form and not strength when you watch someone like Ryan struggle and then Sadie just pops right up!
We started with a few runs off the boom....and that's about as far as we got the first day.
Ivy wasn't impressed!
Sadie had been looking forward to seeing Elle for MONTHS--literally--and picked out these matching sandals for her and Elle. Do you think they were excited?
It was pretty cool so we headed into Soda Pops for some variety in our day--these boys had been waiting all day for this moment!
And Wyatt decided to try the Zombie Brain Juice pop
Amazing sunsets almost every night in the north woods
When we got home, the water was so calm and the sunset so beautiful--
we couldn't pass up the photo op!
Such a great friend who I am SO thankful the Lord placed in my life--we started our jobs at Allied Insurance in Des Moines on the same day and were in the same training class and have been friends ever since. We have walked through some pretty painful life-stuff together and we can't go more than a few days without talking on the phone. I so desperately wish we lived in the same city, but am thankful for the fact that our relationship has grown even deeper despite the distance. This woman loves the Lord with all her heart and knows me so well--I am so thankful for her example, love, support, guidance--and so thankful that our daughters seem to be developing a similar friendship!
A little late-night fishing!
I LOVE this picture of Elle looking up at Ryan!
And one last one for this post....the kids all sleep in one room in the bunk room and Blake had taken a nap that day, so he wasn't very tired when all the other kids went to bed. Matt brought him down into our room and when we went to bed, we found him sleeping like this! (That pile of clothes were the clean clothes I had taken out of the dryer earlier in the day to fold)
more to come....
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