Auntie wants more pictures..

Uh Oh, double trouble! Those blue eyes... what are we going to do when they get older??

innocently eating

We went to Julie and Kevin's tonight for dinner and birthday cake for me!! Thanks Jules and Kevin!

Just playing with some playdough... Joey made a 'samwich'

My nephew drew got his hair cut short like his uncle. i don't think he's ever had hair this short!!

last thursday, ed came out to the lake, and had brought some fresh salmon he caught on lake michigan, it was delicious!!

friday night we went to the wacutah grill out at the quarry for me and angie's birthday, with the gang from work. i have to go back to work tomorrow after having a week off and i turn 30!! =(

Vacation Part One

I have this week off of work, so we decided to go stay up at the lake. Of course we had to drive up to Ely and go to Sir G's. We let Joey play at the park before we went to eat, hoping to burn off steam. We figured a Monday at 4:30, it wouldn't be that busy... we were wrong. We were armed with toys, but no luck. The boy would not sit still. He kept peeking through the curtains to say hi to people.. arghh.

Of course, he's all cute and chilled out on the ride home.

We came back to the lake and had a nice fire. There was a family of ducks that were hanging out quacking at the dogs. Joey wanted to try swimming, but it was too cold, instead we opted for the outdoor sauna?? See below..

Our modified sauna, we've got everything right? A hot fire, a bucket of water, and a Finlander

Joey had to read Sport Aviation before going to bed.

On Tuesday morning we picked raspberries and went for a walk. Then it started to rain, so we went to Sulu's coffee shop in TOwer, what a great place! Good drinks and food, toys for kids, and the internet. We also went shopping at Zups, JOey pushed around his own little shopping cart, which we filled. Back to the lake for lunch and a nap. It rained again. After breaking out Boggle (remember that game), and coloring, and being confined to the cabin, we headed back to V-town. Hopefully the weather is nicer tomorrow. (derek has to do homework anyways..)

Finally a nice day

but still too cold for this mama to go in the lake.. Joey wasn't afraid though.

Joey was lucky his Grandma B brought him in the water, she kept getting nibbled on by crawfish.

progress...

At the lake

JOey found a perfect spot for a "sand box". He entertained himself much of the weekend in this small pile of sand.

My parents are adding on a screen porch at the lake

So joey got to play with the extra pieces of wood. "humm.. what should i do next?" (this is a new face of his)

knock it down knock it down!!

day in duluth

On Tuesday we spent the day in Duluth, first stop, the zoo. The tiger kept pacing back and forth between the window, he would come right up to the glass, his head was huge!

The polar bear was waiting for treats. She is 19 years old, and i guess in the wild, they live to be in the middle teens.

I think Derek may have had more fun than Joey at the zoo.

We also stopped at the lake walk for some serious rock throwing!

4th of July in Tower

This just might be my longest post ever. If you don't know already, the 4th is my favorite holiday. I love that my extended family gets together every summer to celebrate, watch the parade, and eat good food! The only way it could be better would be if EVERYONE on the Burgess side was there..... like how Joey gave me so much body and volume to my hair?

I loved watching the next generation of toddlers at the parade. They had such a great time.. except for the older bullies that stood in front of them.

The mom's and their babes...

We had to call the dad's out to regulate.. and help with getting candy.. Jeff, Josh, Todd, and Derek were rockstar dad's out there... "be aggressive..be be aggressive!"

Joey was so excited about the 4th of July festivities, he decided to wake up at 5:30 a.m., after going to bed late last night, no sleeping in for this guy.. He fell asleep after the parade on the way to the cabin, for about 2 1/2 hours.

But he fired up and was ready to play in the Elmo sprinkler when he woke up. It was so fun to watch Sophie, CC and Joey. There may have been a few collisions, but no blood...

Everyone stopped by the cabin, which was really nice. Even Uncle Jack in his stylish TED socks enjoyed the day.

Derek was super dad, managing the dogs, the toddlers....

Even Madi came over. Her daddy was nice enough to catch two crayfish for them to play with.. poor crustaceons..

Grandpa Dale holding Madi. Hope everyone had a great day. We missed the Maras's, Binz and Brian, the other Feroni's, the Thompsons and Linnea.. hope everyone had a good day, no matter where you were in the world.

Gilbert Parade

At the Gilbert 3rd of July Parade, we went with the Skubic gang.

Jumping for joy at the parade!

We were at the parade for about 2 1/2 hours, and the kids did great. They were so excited. We werent' too speedy on catching the candy. We figured this was a practice run before the big Tower parade this morning.. more pictures to follow.

Joey was waving his flag so fast.. you can't even see it!