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| A beautiful rainbow greeted us our first morning at Natalie's. We traveled to MI for a fall family gathering in place of our Christmas gathering this year. With Natalie pregnant and due just after Christmas, we figured it would be more relaxing to schedule a gathering this fall. We flew into Grand Rapids direct and rented a car, driving 3 hours north to their house up on Lake Charlevoix. Jameson was a far easier traveling companion than Ava this time around. He was easily entertained by the iPad, whereas Ava wanted to move! |
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| Doing puzzles with grandpa. |
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| Ava and Penelope sharing puffs. |
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| As our first excursion, we drove up and through the "Tunnel of Trees" - a beautiful drive up in the countryside. Our destination was a delicious Polish restaurant. I don't have any pictures of it because my time inside was limited. Jameson fell asleep on the drive so I stayed out in the car while everyone went inside. Jameson napped for quite a while and Rob informed me that when he came out to check on us, I had apparently fallen asleep too! Once we were both awake, Jameson had a complete meltdown about going inside...toddler nonsense which I'm sure was prompted by a more awkward napping situation. Eventually, after some food he was back in happy spirits. On our way back from the restaurant, we made a couple of stops including a brewery pictured above. We got a couple of flights and Rob and my dad were impressed by how good they all tasted. Natalie and Matthew had to head straight home from the restaurant after getting a phone call from police on suspicion of breaking and entering at their house - thankfully it was a false alarm! |
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| Jameson loved the pretzels (and I did, too!). |
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| Loving time with the grandparents :) |
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| Our next stop was the Kilwins headquarters - this day was full of treats for all! |
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| A happy Jameson in front of the Halloween candy display. |
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| We get all kinds of weird expressions when asking him to smile and say "cheese" these days! |
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| Precious Ava before sampling some delicious ice cream. |
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| Day two of our stay greeted us with morning snow! We couldn't believe it. We encountered a few flurries during our drive the day prior through the Tunnel of Trees, but we certainly weren't expecting snowfall on the day we set to go apple picking!!!! |
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| Natalie and dad enjoying morning coffee in front of the winter wonderland. |
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| Jameson peeking out the window on his way downstairs after waking up....excited about the snow. |
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| Ava, dressed up for her apple picking/pumpkin patch day, with the winter wonderland as her backdrop. |
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| Comfortably lounging inside :) |
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| Jameson attempting to be as tall as the trees in Natalie and Matthew's house...lol. |
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| Jameson was re-introduced to Doc McStuffins this trip - I don't think he and Penelope could have gotten enough! |
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| Matthew's truck in front us us on our way to the apple orchard. |
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| Fall colors covered in snow. |
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| No fun to be had outside :( So, we moved our party inside where all the yummy food was. I think it was a smart choice :) |
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| Jameson tickling Penelope as we all enjoy apple cider and pumpkin donuts, coffee and all kinds of delicious food. |
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| On our drive from the apple orchard to the pumpkin patch. |
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| Bolt Farm's pumpkin patch. |
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| Jameson pointing to the cows getting snowed on out in the pasture. |
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| "This one!" |
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| Ava sadly waiting in the car while Jameson picked out pumpkins, but I think she would've been just as sad outside. She was tired and wanting to nap. At least in the car, she was warm. |
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| The snow didn't stop Penelope from getting out there. |
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| Loading up Uncle Matthew's truck. He and Natalie wanted 9 pumpkins...happy we could help them find a few :) |
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| Uncle Tyler's ready to head back to Natalie and Matthew's - loving any chance to drive his "brand new" used car which he just picked up the day before arriving at the Malpass'. |
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| Later that same afternoon, the sun came out again and all the snow cleared. The guys had guessed that around 5 inches actually fell. Sunshine and a warm ground allowed for a quick cousins' photoshoot outside. |
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| Oh, that sunshine! |
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| Game day necessitated a second photo shoot. |
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| Our next generation of Packer-backers. |
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| Go Pack Go! (Happy to report we won this game.) |
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| Playful tackle. |
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| I guess Doc McStuffins gets a little bit more attention than a football game at this age. |
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| At one point, there was some noise coming from the bedroom so Aunt Natalie went to check on them. Apparently, Penelope was trying to get on/off the bed with Jameson's help (or so that's the way we'll tell it!). When asked what was going on, Jameson explains to Aunt Natalie, "I had a good grip on her." Hmmmm. |
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| Enjoying some relaxation in the hot tub out back after the kids went to bed. |
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| Monday, our last full day in MI, Natalie and Tyler volunteered to watch the kids while the rest of us drove down an hour south to the Leelanau Peninsula near Traverse City for wine tasting. |
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| The vineyard of Chateau Grand Traverse. |
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| Second stop, a cute winery called Shady Lane Cellars. |
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| Partway through our day excursion, Natalie sent us photos of the kids. They all had great, long naps after we left the house and then enjoyed a playful lunch and a nice stroll/walk. |
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| Putting Uncle Tyler to work - dog and babies!!! |
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| "I'm stuck!" |
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| If she were a teen, this expression would translate into "Uh, seriously?!?!" |
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| "I'm with Penelope on this one - get me out of here!" |
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| "Finally, I'm outta there!" |
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| Bee-lining it for the house. |
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| Third stop, Black Star Farms winery. |
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| Fourth and final stop was Chateau de Leelanau Winery and Vineyard. At this point, we all enjoyed a yummy platter of some food, too! |
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| Jameson had to brave the shower as there isn't a bathtub at Aunt Natalie's house. Rob took the helm on this one...bless him! Showers were not Jameson's favorite, and the rest of the household was easily able to tell from downstairs! Although once he got past the initial meltdown at the beginning of each shower, he really did enjoy it. On a more positive note, after getting back from this trip Jameson started taking swimming lessons and got on good terms with the shower in the locker room at the gym...latest experience was that he started tantrumming when I had to turn the water OFF because he didn't want the shower to end! |
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| Sweet Ava kept the resident bruise on her forehead. She definitely wanted to keep up with the "big" kids. During our stay she also cut her first top tooth. Unfortunately we didn't realize it until the morning after when I saw a little bit of blood on her gums. The night prior she seemed inconsolable, keeping us awake much of the night and actually causing me to relocate our "bed" to the floor of the loft (we were sharing a room with her and Jameson was sleeping in the playroom). I think that, as parents, when our baby/toddler is all out-of-sorts we often, dare I say, "over-blame" teething. If she's being a picky eater, or cranky, not napping, crying nonstop, runny nose...you name it..."Oh, she's gotta be teething..."). So, sometimes I pull back on that tendency... well, I missed the real deal this time and it could have saved us a night's rest! Moral of the story: when in doubt, still blame teething! |
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| Flight back to Denver. We left Natalie and Matthew's around 6:30am and drove the 3 hours back down to the Grand Rapids airport (the airport reminded us of a lot of the Milwaukee airport, in a good way). The plan worked out great as both kids slept the majority of the car ride, though it did make for a rather wakeful remainder of the day. |
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| 'Till next time MI! |
