Michigan

At the end of August, Bailey and I made a trip home to visit my family in Michigan. My other two sisters ended up going home, too, so the whole family was there (minus the husbands). It was a lot of fun.

Bailey and I were the first to arrive. We had a day just to hang with Lauren and Zach. We all went to Wall School to play on the playground. Bailey had a lot of fun. I realized it's actually a lot of work to go to the park. She still needs help doing most things, so no break for me.

She suddenly decided this was not so much fun.

My Mom bought all three grandkids a swing to go in our backyard. I wasn't sure how Bailey would like it because she used to love swings, but the last time we had tried to put her in one she hated it and cried. Well, this time was a huge success. She loved the swing. She asked to go in it all the time while we were there. It was funny because she became so mellow while she was swinging. It really calmed her.

Bailey, Lincoln, and Kaylee enjoying some cousin-bonding time on the swings. A pretty funny sight-- three baby swings. Not to mention, my parents also bought three Pack 'n Plays. Crazy.

Another funny sight, three strollers. We were taking a walk down to Wall School again. Bailey is actually in a stroller that my parents still have from when we were little.

Bailey loved my dad's garden. She would go and check out all the tomatoes. She would also be very helpful at picking the tomatoes. Especially the little green ones that weren't ready yet. My dad had a few tomatoes picked, and Bailey was looking at them, when all of a sudden, she took a bite out of one of them. She kept eating it, so it must have been good.

While we were there, we had unseasonably cool weather. It was crazy. But we did have one or two days that were warm enough to bring out the pool. Bailey and Lincoln were having a great time playing in the pool, sans water.

Bailey also helped my mom with the flowers, feeding the birds, and putting more rocks out in the walkways.

Finally, some water.

Whenever we're playing with other kids, Bailey is usually the youngest, so I don't have to worry about her hurting any of the other kids. This time she was the oldest, so I was the one who had to keep telling her to be careful, be soft, no poking, no splashing, no more kissing.... I like it the other way around.

Bailey and Kaylee.

My Grandma and Grandpa Kellogg came over for dinner one night. It was great to see them. Here's my dad, grandma, and Meagan pushing the babies.

Bailey's Great-Grandma and Grandpa Kellogg.

One of Bailey's favorite things to do is to help me unload the dishwasher. This didn't change in Michigan. Anytime someone started unloading the dishwasher, she was there to help.

For some reason, Lincoln was the only one to wear one of our old tutus that my Mom found. (Sorry, Eric.) He's a very confident little boy. You've got to be when you're surrounded by girls.

More dress-up. There's lots of fun stuff to play with at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Mom, Meagan, Dad.

One night, we all met up with Zach while he was getting his senior pictures taken. (I still can't believe he's a senior now.) We got to be in a few group shots with him. It was a lot of fun. Afterwards, our family hung around, and my mom took a few pictures of us. They didn't turn out very well because it was starting to rain, and it was also getting pretty dark, as you can see. Still a good looking group though, I must say.

After all the posing, we were ready for a DQ treat.

Tyler and Beth.

Lauren is a freshman this year and made the JV volleyball team. She's following in her sisters' footsteps (but is actually better than we were at her age- don't tell her that). We got to go to one of her tournaments. It was so fun to watch her. She did and incredible job.

Bailey surprisingly loved watching the game. She was so into it. She just sat there for the first game, not taking her eyes off the court. She was so interested in what was going on. Definitely a future volleyball player.

Lauren's fan club.

Go #14! Lauren kept the tradition going and took our family number.

Grandma thought it was an okay idea to let Bailey walk out onto the volleyball court during a time-out. Then she had to run out and get her when they were ready to start the game again. Hey, it wasn't her mother's fault.

Lincoln was usually the first to wake up, then Bailey. We ate many breakfasts together.

My mom has saved some of our stuffed animals and toys that we grew up with. She pulled them all out, and the babies had a lot of fun playing with everything. Bailey is definitely not used to having so many toys around her.

Bailey absolutely LOVES babies. (She loves kids of any age, older or younger.) She couldn't get enough of Kaylee and Lincoln. She gave them countless kisses and insisted on helping their mothers when they were trying to feed them.

Play-time with Grandpa.

All the kids loved going over to Grandma Miller's house. She pulled out all kinds of fun toys from the kitchen. They were surprisingly entertained for quite a while.

A trip to Sturgis is never complete without going to Applebee's. Bailey helped herself to Grandma's Root Beer. (It was empty.)

Usually Bailey gets pretty antsy when we take her to restaurants these days. She just wants to walk around. She was surprisingly content this time. It was a nice change.

Grandmother-granddaughter duet, pajamas and all.

One of Bailey's absolute favorite things to do while we were there was to go into my sister Lauren's bedroom. She had all kinds of fun things to play with: chapstick (Bailey's favorite), hairspray, perfume, makeup.... Bailey was in heaven. She loved to go in and look at everything. Then she started taking the chapsticks (Lauren had about seven) one by one and handing them to me. Once I had all the chapsticks, she would take them from me one by one. She would come down the stairs, take a chapstick, climb back up the stairs, into Lauren's room where she put it away, then back downstairs to get another one. Not the most efficient way of collecting them, but she really enjoyed it. Then she started taking other things from Lauren's room and made her own collection on the stairs. Lauren was a very good sport and is on her way to becoming Bailey's coolest aunt.

Without my realizing it, she had found some of Lauren's mascara, figured out how to open it and even how to apply it.

All three kids were enthralled by our dog, Cloe. Bailey always wanted to see Cloe first thing in the morning and had to say goodnight and give her several kisses before she went to bed. She always needed to know where Cloe was at all times. She also tried to feed her by bringing her one piece of dog food at a time, but Cloe wasn't into it. Bailey also enjoyed splashing her hand around in Cloe's water. Nice.

Lincoln also got very excited around Cloe and would follow her around and laugh. Kaylee was a little confusing in her response. She would crawl towards Cloe, following her wherever she went, but she would scream and cry the whole time. Like someone was forcing her to follow the dog. It was funny.

Time for Lincoln and Kaylee to say goodbye to Uncle Zach. Zach has always been a great entertainer for his neices and nephew.

One last song...

Until next time...

Lincoln gave Grandma one last gift: spitting up in her arms moments before he was leaving. Nice work, Linc.

The next day it was our turn to say goodbye. Never fun.

Bailey really loved this trip. She quickly learned everyone's names; it was amazing. She even learned the difference between her name and Kaylee's, something that has confused her in the past. She talked about everyone for a while after we got home. It's hard being so far away from family.

See you at Thanksgiving!