The VandeKopples: So Long, Summertime

*Warning: Picture Overload in this post!*

We have had such a wonderful summer around here, and I am dreading cold weather! On the bright side, it is still warm out, and it's supposed to get warmer by the end of the week as well. There's just something about September that makes it feel like Summer is over (I guess it officially is at the end of the month.. boo) and Fall has arrived.

Early in August, Jeff, Lauren and kiddos came for a visit. We had such a good time pretending to be firemen, playing "bunny tootsies", and yelling "Ohhh Toodles"!! Will and Anna are hilarious and getting so big. In fact, today was Will's first day of Pre-School! Time sure does fly!

*Some of these pictures are from my phone, so they're not the best quality...

Two of a kind

I love William's smile in these pictures, it reminds me of an old man!

Miss Anna and her "silly face"

Silly face and Grandma

Everyone's "silly faces"

That same weekend, one of my friends from Starbucks, Amy, got married to her long-time boyfriend! Their wedding was beautiful! I had a good time hanging out with my Starbucks friends, it's not very often that I get to see them all in one place!

Outside of the reception

August 16-19 we headed to Beaver Island with a big group of friends. We had SUCH a good time. I love going to Beaver and it is super fun with a big group!

Boys smoking cigars and drinking beer on the roof... pretty standard, really

Dominating "Battle Shots"... kinda like Battle Ship

We did a lot of bike riding... Rick's bike of choice was pink, of course.

Newly engaged, Gabe and Nellie

Love these girls!

The Beloved Beaver... the mascot of our trip!

Donegal Bay on my walk in the morning

The human pyramid... Nate didn't do so well balancing...

Ricky did many handstands... even in the water

The water was real cold... but we didn't care

We took an afternoon and did the "Island Tour" and hit up all of the famous Beaver spots, looking for actual beavers along the way.

First stop: some steep hill that led to a pretty beach...

Second stop: a lighthouse that we all climbed to the top of... note the creepy, frightened look on my face... I am super scared of heights, and once we got to the top, I was shaking and on the verge of tears.

This mucky lake was our third or fourth stop... Gabe and Christian thought it was a good idea to haul a row boat (they couldn't find any oars) out into the muck... Gabe got SO DIRTY and smelled AWFUL!

BFT... Big F-ing Tree

Fav new shirt: "Got Beaver?"

BFR: Big F-ing Rock

We found no beavers on our tour, but posed many places with our beaver mascot.

Chillin' at the Shamrock Bar, listening to Beans, the one-man-band.

On our last full day there, we pontooned around on the Beaver Barge... it was a tad bit to chilly though so we weren't out for very long.

Our last night, we went to the city beach and played some volleyball and just goofed around.

So calm

Spread Eagle... lovely.

So, as you can see, we had a ton of fun and did not want to leave!!!

The view of the town on the Island, from our flight back to the mainland.

On Labor Day weekend, I left Ricky at the cottage and went up to Traverse City to hang out with my mom, aunts, and great aunts. We had a fun weekend eating, drinking, going to the casino, and shopping at all the cute towns on the Leelanau Peninsula.

My mom and I paying homage to our distant relatives (and my maiden name) and posing at the "Belanger Creek" sign at the 45th Parallel (halfway between the Equator and North Pole)...

Other than family visiting, a wedding, and going to Beaver Island, and a trip to Traverse City, we have been busy doing other things as well.

For instance...