The End of Summer

A few pics from our summer vacation we took before school started up again last week.  We started out driving to Chicago to see family and then finished the week in St. Joseph, Michigan enjoying the beach and sun.  It was our first time traveling with Madeline and having more kids than adults.  It was hard to take pictures but I tried to get a few.  The beach is not the best place for a camera or ipod.

Owen's First Birthday party at Grandma O'Donnell's!

It was also the first time all the babies were in the same place.  

I think they really enjoyed having other people that were the same size as them.  

So fun to watch them interact with each other.

Madeline of course went straight for Nora's hair.

Girl party!  (That's what Claire likes to say)

Blake and Claire were so excited to meet cousin Nora for the first time!

The best picture I could get of Grandma O'Donnell with all the grandkids.

This group is going to have lots of fun once they are all walking!

Off to Michigan!  We drove there, we didn't ride this crazy bike of course.

I think the second day we were there the kids asked if we could do this.  I had Madeline strapped on so that I could help Ben pedal.  It was quite the workout!

The kids had a blast sitting up front and ringing the bell about a thousand times.

Blake and Madeline in the hotel room.

We spent a lot of time at the beach of course.  Perfect weather and nice beaches!

It was a nice change from the beaches we were used to in Rhode Island.  

The sand was better, the water didn't drop off drastically like the ocean, and you don't have to worry about jellyfish or anything biting you!

The last day we were there we even got some huge waves!  They closed some of the beaches because of the huge waves but we found a spot that was still open.  I guess we weren't as afraid since we used to swim in the ocean.  It didn't look so bad to us?  The kids loved jumping over the waves and getting knocked down.

Beach Baby!

Heading out to the water with Dad.  I still can't believe how nice the beach was.

Looking forward to our next family adventure!