Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Summer Vacation Part 5: Family Pictures and Grant's 2nd Birthday!

I love when we can be home at the same time as my sister, Paige. Not only is it fun to see her, but she usually gets some great family pictures for us too!Grant wasn't being super cooperative and we still got some great ones! I especially love these ones and they are the last ones of our little family of 3!













We had to fly back to Cleveland just a few days before Grant turned two (so we didn't have to pay for a ticket for him!). So we decided to have a big family birthday party for him while we were there. We have been super lucky to be in Spokane for both his 1st and 2nd birthdays so far. We did an Elmo/Sesame Street theme and had lots of family come. It was super fun and Grant was in heaven. 

Here's the birthday boy with his Sesame Street shirt and his "2" Elmo cupcake

 opening presents

giving Great Grandma Margaret a birthday kiss

mmm, good cupcake

playing with Katelyn and Aunt Paige

yum!

Grant mostly loved the eyeballs

I loved these cupcakes! I am SO not crafty, but thanks to Cameron and Nicole, they turned out awesome!


helping dad make the cupcakes



happy guy







Monday, August 6, 2012

Summer Vacation Part 4:Glacier Camping Trip

We were able to spend the last week in July at Glacier National Park in Montana. It is a huge Lovinger family tradition and it was so fun to get to take Grant for the first time. He was in heaven getting to play around in the dirt and rocks the whole time and just be outside running around all the time. Even though we were there for I think five nights, it went WAY to fast. We went on hikes(more like easy walks with the kids in tow), had great food, played games, built fires, relaxed, played in the water and just had a great time as a family. 


I think this picture of Grant is funny. This was on the drive to Glacier from Spokane when we stopped for lunch. He was deciding what he wanted (;

finding rocks

one of the days we were there was Mimi's birthday, so the kids got to help her open her presents!

This was the day that we went into town to pick up Tyler from the airport. I looked over and saw Grant trying to "drink" his hamburger. 

you can't tell in this picture, but Papa and Grant were dancing to some music on the boat

BEAUTIFUL

like I said, lots of relaxing!


playing baseball with Papa

playing baseball with Mimi

Jackson hanging out

Katelyn pitching to Grant

warming up by the fire

these two would often be off exploring in the woods together. I love that they got to spend some good cousin time together since they don't get to see each other very often right now. Hopefully that will change in the next few years!

water time!

floating in the water

we lost Grant's swimming suit, so Papa and Mimi bought Grant a new one. I had to buy him this cute robe to go with it!

the cute swimsuit!

skipping rocks with Mimi
Can't figure out how to change this right now, but they are ready for a boat ride!

Grant thought he wanted to be out with Dad, but when he got going he wanted to be back on the boat!

We stopped the boat for a while and all jumped in and swam for a bit. I was afraid Grant would freak out when he jumped in and realized it is FREEZING, but he loved it. 





yeah, that's how Grant rolls... driving the boat while Dad was tubing!

some good hot cocoa

taking Grandma Carole's dog, Bonji on a walk(or Bonji taking Grant on a walk might be more accurate!)

going on a hike




yes, very responsible to teach the little kids how to make a fire.

like I said, good food. I think we all gained five pounds

yummy!

looking at pictures


reading with Mimi

skipping rocks again 

Grant was a big help and tried to keep Jackson entertained. He would always make sure he picked up any toys Jackson dropped too. 



It was such an AWESOME camping trip. I don't think I took enough pictures of everything to do it justice, but we are all eagerly looking forward to when we can go again!