4th of july.

wow! the forth of july feels like a really long time ago.  we had wonderful weather, a lot of swimming, a lot of s'mores and a spectacular fish fry.

my littlest man playing in the water:)

before this weekend i would have never guessed how much max loves swimming!  he was like a little fish and this life jacket was awesome, he was able to swim off on his own in any direction:)

riley and lilly.

max and daddy at the fish fry.

max and nick with the master fryer:)

just some of the minten family:)





max's first time keeping the headphones on in the car to watch a movie!

winter up north.

our family really enjoys up north in the winter, it's our time to get outside and breath in the fresh air:)

baby grey all bundled up in his snowsuit.

i was laughing so hard after i took this picture!



a family picture:)



grandpa elrick giving grandma, lilly and max a push down the hill.

after the fun of sledding we took a ride around the lake on the snowmobile, then took a nice walk on the road... lilly and max had a blast running in their snowsuits... they looked like little penguins wading down the street:)



with all that fresh air baby grey was out for hours:)

grandma and baby grey taking another cat nap.

boy,  it was a lazy weekend:)



lilly just hangout on the bunk beds.





come on max give your mom a smile:)



oh, there it is:)



max is all about doing the things his big sister is...



no bunk bed is going to stop this little man from following his big sis:)

max giving his daddy a five for making it to the top!

lilly is so excited to have him playing on the bunk beds with her... and

max was happy to be there with her:)

fall at the cottage.

we went up north this past thursday night, nick had taken off of work on friday so we were lucky to have a nice long family weekend:) my mom road up with us on thursday, my dad joined us on friday after work:) lilly and grandma elrick in one of the many leaf piles!

max outside having a great time:)

daddy and greyson:)

lilly and max were having such a great time in the leaves.

daddy and max.

family picture in the big leaf pile:)

grandma and baby grey:)

baby grey wide-eyed.

lilly liking the bowl after making brownies...yum:)

now that's one messy face:)

our weekend.

another first for max... he now weighs enough to turn his car seat around to forward facing!!!

he loved it. now he was able to watch a signing time movie with lilly, but he really didn't care for the headphones on him. he still loved the new view:)
the way little kids can bend without getting a neck ache. oh, i forgot to mention we were on our way up north to the cottage, just us, my mom and dad were up this weekend.

on saturday nick, the kids and me went to an up north local park at chute pond. i went there every once in awhile when i was a little kid. there is an area that is call "slippery rock" the name says it all. but just in case your wanting a little more information... chute pond has a river that flows over this rock and then into another river:) the above picture is lilly waiting for her daddy to go down the rock with her!

nick and lilly:)

max, looking like he is not having at all.

until it was his turn:)

max and daddy.

max playing in the river.

lilly joining him:)

then we had a picnic at the lake:)

when we got back to the cottage we took a golf cart ride over to visit grandma minten and aunt jenny.

lilly and i went frog catching and after we caught one, we noticed the a leach caught her!
lilly thought it was pretty neat that if you put salt on it they just let go.

lilly and her frog.

we told lilly that he might turn into a prince if she kissed him:) ...nope, not this time!

lilly catching fish with grandpa in the morning.