Chilldogs 2012

This year's annual gathering of Jon's friends was up in Holland, Michigan, at the DeKruyter's.  We always have such a good time when we all get together. This year we had 10 adults and 16 kids, all staying together in one house for the weekend.  We did our typical white elephant gift exchange, spent the day on Saturday at the DeKruyter's family lake house on Lake Michigan (where Hannah got to go tubing with her dad), the kids got to have fun with a pinata made by the Mooney girls, and the guys were crazy as usual (including Jim making an appearance as Gumby during Sunday pictures).  Enjoy some pictures! 

  Lots of shoes!

 

Mommy & Lauren

(we spent some time together inside for afternoon naps)

Daddy & Lauren

 

Kids watching TV

The condo had a really cool bunk room with 5 beds (3 shown) - it was a really cool place to hang out for the day.

The view from the porch - a private beach - Lake Michigan.

Just to the left of the picture was a public beach that was jam-packed with people. Meanwhile, we had the beach to ourselves.  It was a ton of fun for everyone to play in the sand and water.  The girls loved being in the water and took some boat rides too.

Cheese!

16 chillpups

The Whole Gang!

The kids didn't quite know what to think about Gumby.

The Chilldogs



Of course, cardboard Erik makes an appearance, since he doesn't come ; )

Chilldogs

The Wives

Lauren with her taggie

Waiting for the pinata - age order (minus the two youngest)

Candy overload

This is one tired kid - she fell asleep with a ring pop in her mouth!



The Wilds

Jon's Father's Day present this year was a trip to The Wilds.  I had reserved a yurt for us to spend the night, and we were going to get a safari tour, and in the morning Jon was going to go on a fishing trip while I sat on the deck and read a book.  It was fantastic.  First, I was surprised by the quality of the food.  Having been to a party at the zoo, I was nervous about the catering that was included since this place is owned by the Columbus Zoo, but it was FANTASTIC.  Organic and local food prepared by a chef.  We ate well.  We were some of the youngest people at the yurts, but we enjoyed meeting and talking to the others around a campfire that overlooked a big lake at night.  The yurts weren't air conditioned and we had great weather for a July weekend - it wasn't too hot - but we were told they are vented and have heaters, so they are good from May to September or October, when they are open.  Our safari tour on Friday evening was a ton of fun - I got a lot of great pictures, and Jon loved fishing on Saturday morning.  Meanwhile, I had a leisurely breakfast and then read a book in the peace and quiet...I almost didn't know what to do with myself : )  This little getaway was fantastic for us to hang out and have fun together.

 

 

Camel

Rhino



On Safari!

Giraffes

Catfish - lots and lots of catfish

 

Lots of lakes - filled in after coal miners finished with the area.

Jon is planning his next fishing trip.

Cheetah

More Giraffes

 

Zebra



 

Ostrich

Our Yurt

Sunset campfire overlooking The Wilds



The Yurts Wooded Area



Last Day @ the Beach

We had such a wonderful trip to the beach.  Mom and Dad got tee-shirts for them and the kids for some fun pictures.

Peyton did not want to be in the picture

Hannah & Liam are such good buddies

Lauren wanted to be buddies with Peyton, but Peyton wanted her mommy

 

 

Hannah finally got comfortable in the water

Hanging out in the basement on the last day.  The fun experience of the trip was the A/C breaking on Friday - at first we thought it was a little problem, but after workers came, we discovered one of the units went totally out -- the unit for the upstairs, with the bedrooms.  So they put small window units in the bedrooms for the overnight, but the house had such an open floor plan, it really didn't do much.  It was SO HOT.  Ugh.  But, at least we had a pool in the backyard.

Jon decided that rather than spend an entire day driving home, he'd rather just drive all night, so Saturday evening after dinner we packed the car and hit the road.  12 hours later, we arrived home.  Lauren was only cranky for a little bit....we missed one exit and ended up driving through downtown Norfolk....and around Williamsburg Hannah insisted she had to pee, so we got off at the next exit, which was the Busch Gardens Exit, which meant that we had to drive forever to get to Williamsburg, and then Hannah decided she wanted a snack more than to go potty.....after that, we didn't stop until Beckley, WV.  Jon did a great job getting us home and letting everyone else sleep.  I'm so glad he is a night owl.  I fall asleep as soon as I stop moving : )