Friday Favorites!

It's Friday Favorites time!

 So I'm linking up with Erika, Andrea, and Narci! 

1.)
One of my favorites this week has been the weather. I'm so grateful that we had some extra beautiful days outside. Pretty surprising for November and so lovely!

2.)

It was so nice outside that the youngest and I were able to take a walk. Running, walking, running, giggling, walking, running....

3.)

We also were able to play outside on the grass barefoot....and loving it! 

70 degrees will do that to you :). We played football, airplane, played in the woods and I took some sweet pictures. Such fun!

4.)

Sometimes you just have to create your happy place by making pumpkin bread while sipping on a whipped cream topped pumpkin spice coffee while watching Dawson's Creek. :) Pumpkin bread is my fave to make in the fall. It's so easy and delicious!

5.)

This came in the mail. Christmas is in the air :). I just adore paging through the "Pottery Barn Kids" magazine. Everything is just so cute!

6.)

And this isn't necessarily a "favorite" picture but what it symbolizes is a favorite of mine. 

-2 backpacks (meaning the boys are home from school)

-Groceries (meaning we have food to eat)

-A mess on the stairs (meaning I have a family :) )

Because this is my everyday beautiful messy life and I wouldn't change it for the world!

7.) Some of my favorite new bars here. These Clif bars are scrumptious! "Iced Gingerbread" and "Spiced Pumpkin Pie." Hello yummy!

8.) This week I had paint class with some sweet gals! Painting is so relaxing and fun! I've never went to one of these classes but I am so thankful I did. A night to remember! :)

Happy Friday to you, 

Jamie 

A beautiful day for a bike ride...

Last week we took the opportunity to go on a bike ride to the nearby park while big brother was at school. The sun was shining and it was a glorious day! I rode my bike with the trailer for the kiddos. 

It started as such a picture perfect bike ride. The kids enjoying the scenery and myself enjoying the exercise. The bike ride to the park is only a little over a mile away so it didn't take too long for us to approach the path through the woods. Although, I underestimated the ditch we had to ride in. 

Woops!

The bike trailer hook broke from my bike. I tried to fix it but it was not going to hold the weight in the back. Possibly the weight in the back exceeded the max limit? :)

My sweet boy had to walk and was not loving that idea. You can only imagine. (Insert whines here). And I was thinking how am I going to get them back home? We can't go to the park as I promised and now I'll need to force him to walk. I knew he could do it, though. But I needed to gain patience to encourage him. 

So with some coaxing and "You can do it"s we were on our way back. Thankfully I was able to walk my bike with the trailer still attached fine. I started chatting about the day and the road. Distracting. As well as asking God to strengthen us. 

Then I noticed the tar strips in the road. Hmmm...I asked Troy see if he could jump over the tar strips. He did it once and twice. Smiles from ear to ear!! And in that second I was thankful for something as silly as those tar stips on the road! Because they encouraged Troy to keep going with no more complaining. Pretty soon he was running far ahead and I was counting each one he jumped over and cheering him on.  And they just kept going..... 

And that is the day I wrote "I am thankful for tar stips" in my thankful journal. I never thought I'd write that :). We got home and all were happy. From feeling frustrated to feeling more thankful is an awesome thing!

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." -Proverbs 3:5&6

Thankful!

Blessings, Jamie

Fawn Doe Rosa

This summer I couldn't wait to take my kids to the Fawn-Doe-Rosa! I just knew they'd love it now that they're getting a little older. I remember going there when Austin was just about 1.5 months old with my in-laws for their anniversary. It was so much fun! And here we were, 7 years later :).

As soon as we entered, the deer (and other animals) came to us. Such a warm welcome ;). This was Austin's expression for the first time when they were digging into his bag for food. Complete shock and joy at the same time! I love it!!

Proudly standing with one of the bucks. 

Troy was also loving it! He kept feeding them very generous amounts :).

Look at all the deer at Austin's fingertips. He so enjoyed feeding them and taking in their beauty.

We fed the ducks, too. And there were 2 baby fawns in this gated area with their Mom and Dad under a big tree. Such a beautiful place.

Farmer Troy :).

How cute is this pony!

Cute little piglets eating away.

We weren't allowed to touch the deer's antlers because of the fuzz on them. But how amazing to look at.

This silly boy was enjoying the adorable goats.

He picked one right up. Strong 4 year old he is!

He even asked if we could get a goat. 

My sweet hubby and I sure had fun with our family here. It was a perfect family fun outing. 

Jamie :)

Cragun's Resort Summer '15

Such a fun trip we had 4th of July weekend. I told my hubby "Now this is our kind of a vacation." Cragun's resort had so much to offer for our kids. We were able to stay there and just walk down the path to eat and enjoy activities all day long. I highly recommend it to those with or without kids.  I'll recap some of our favorites from the trip!

We arrived around 6:00pm. The boys sure were happy to see that sign! I didn't get any pics of the outside of the resort but it was beautiful. Click HERE if you want to check it out. Think brown/white with turquoise accents and lots of beautiful bright pink flowing flowers. Gorgeous sight!

Here is one of the paths to follow.

Here's part of Gull lake and to the right is where we kept our boat on the dock.

Such a cozy feeling it had all around.  

The first evening there we got some food and hung out on the deck. Here are 2 of my handsome men :).

Here was one of the hungry birds ready for some fries. Troy had the BEST time feeding them and giggling like crazy because they chowed down a whole fry. Haha! It was fun entertainment!!

We got a bag of duck food for a quarter and had some fun feeding the ducks after. I love watching them so happy doing something so simple :)!

The next morning we had a delicious breakfast buffet. It was scrumptious!! And we got ready to do some boating and fishing. Gull lake is HUGE with so many areas to fish. The kids sure enjoyed the boat ride. Troy loves going fast! 

Austin was ready to get those fish! He had tons of bites in the beginning. We finally realized that his line was messed up. Once it was fixed, he was reeling in the sunnies and a nice bass. 

Happy fisherman!

This kid caught 2 bass right in a row and reeled them in all by his big self. Big brother was proud of him!

Bass #1

Bass #2

And Daddy caught a nice one, too! Great fishing on Gull lake.

Mama caught a little one! After my husband took the picture, he was like "You always do that face and hold the fish like that!" And now that I see "the face" he is 100% correct. It is just how I roll :) He tried to get me to hold the fish inside his lips but I just can't do it. Not, yet anyways.

We played on the beach for awhile. Frisbee was a favorite. The kids swam and swam some more. We even met some sweet friends.

This cutie pie fell asleep. 

Time for some walking and supper. 

And playing pool. The boys were taught how to play by Dad. And Austin really enjoyed himself. The indoor pool was also in this giant room. 

After supper we went to the rec room. And it was huge! The upstairs "deck" had a running area. Troy and I ran around twice and were tired out afterwards. I was thinking that so many "firsts" were on the trip. Austin's first time playing pool, tennis and volleyball by the beach. 

The next day, July 4th, the big boys did some golfing in the morning. The resort package included a 9 hole course for each of us. But since the rest of us weren't interested, Billy and Austin did the 9 hole twice and had a total blast together. They even rented a golf cart. 

We went to the beach which also had a playground in the sand. And I had the most beautiful view :). 

Then we went to the outdoor pool when they opened. There was a kiddie pool that was just right for little kids. 

That afternoon we signed up for the horse-trolley ride. The "driver" was so sweet to talk to and has been giving these rides for many many years. He said he has a farm and loves his horses. He even gave out suckers to the kids on the ride. Such a nice man. 

We had reservations for supper at the Hungry Gull Restaurant. We told Austin he could  order anything that he wanted. He chose.....the Walleye. Most expensive thing on the menu :). And he was a champ because he ate the entire thing. I didn't even get a try. The food was amazing and the service was spot on. 

It was the street dance in the evening. Austin and I noticed the sumo wrestling suits! He wanted to do it bad. So, like a good Mother, I did it with him. :) It was so much more difficult to get into the suits than I imagined. But with some extra help we were ready. 

They went down the inflatable slide over and over. 

And loved every second of it. 

After we played beach volleyball Austin put the suit on again with someone his size. Troy was laughing because Austin fell down. And he might have also jumped on his big brother, again. And afterwards Austin said "It didn't count" because he was in the suit. :) Brothers.

The fireworks that night were gorgeous and so close! We sat in a big field and were handed out a TON of glow sticks. It was a beautiful night. 

The next morning we had a yummy breakfast and headed home. 

Such fun memories together! :)

Jamie