the lodge... part two...

hi everybody! sorry for the minor delay, but i'm here for my update on our recent lehman family trip to the lodge. i had a great time too, of course, and was a really good baby the whole time. i loved hanging out with the gang and especially loved how everyone took turns holding me. pretty much i just like to eat and be held and i'm a happy baby. here i am on the plane ride there...


and here's me and daddy at porcupine state park...

later at that same park, asleep in momma's arms (while she sports a bad hair day), with beamee beside (who's personally just glad she has hair!) :)

in the running for cutest picture ever (me and lauren one morning)...

grampee's hat...

hanging out in a bean bag chair, while beamee looks on and i think, "just pick me up and hold me, beamee, you know you want to..."

see, i knew she did! isn't beamee the best? :) we had a lot of good times out on the porch together...

getting a bath in the kitchen sink!

no, i really mean it - - who you callin' chubby? i eat a high-protein diet and work out a lot, don't be jealous of my manly physique...

so that was pretty much the trip for me - good times! thanks to everyone for helping take great care of me. i miss your arms already!! :) and now to close, a few more pictures of that silly ben, sporting his now infamous "silly eyes" (such a ham for the camera)...

we hope to post again soon with a report on what we've been up to since we got back. thanks for checking in!!

the lodge... part one...

well, we're back from our vacation with the lehman family and have lots of pictures and stories to share! we went to a really, really cool "lodge" in the UP of michigan. first we flew to chicago and then we drove a long, long time through wisconsin (in a white "bus" though, so that was fun!) until we ended up here...

it was really neat and we had loads of fun together all week. we have a few good pictures, but it's hard to really do this place justice and describe all the cool things we did (plus momma had her hands full and didn't quite get as many good pics as she would have liked). here's the big dining table where we ate (a lot - thanks ladies!)...

and when we weren't outside playing, we were on this big, awesome porch hanging out and doing crafts together...

(note the awesome view of the big lake in the background)...

there was a piano too, which i really enjoyed playing. lauren did too, but uncle greg was the true piano master...

and one of my favorite parts of the whole trip was the big bear in the great room! we became friends right away. i said hi to him a lot, shared my food with him, and just generally liked him. there were animals all over the place in every room, and i thought that was really cool...

i spent a lot of time pushing the stroller around outside on all these yellow ones! what more could a kid ask for?!

and here's grampee and me on a big tractor - cool (with a golf cart in the background - little boy paradise)!

and one of my favorite things to do was go on a boat ride! there were three different types of boats which i got to ride several times, and here i am "driving" the fast one...

i like to sit by beamee...

here we are on an evening ride in one of the slower boats. allegedly i dozed off for a bit after a long day of playing without a nap, but i think it was just a coincidence that my eyes were closed during this picture...

silly picture outside...

long steps down to the boat house...

what whip cream, momma? aunt elaina and aunt aimee and i don't know what you're talking about...

one day we took a short road trip to see lake superior and visit porcupine state park (although no live porcupines were spotted, sad!). here i am playing with gabrielle and taylor at the park...

and here we are playing in the sand on the lake shore (the water was definitely too cold for me to get in - yikes!)...

i got to take a shower each night instead of a bath, and that was pretty neat. here i am wrapped up in my towel...

all in all, it was an awesome week. i loved hanging out with everyone, playing outside a lot, eating good food, seeing and experiencing new things, and staying up late! there was so much more to share and momma said she'll post more pictures on our picasa site soon, so i'll let you know about that. also, luke wants to do a post next to talk about his perspective on the trip, so check back in for that. good times...

it's the final countdown...

hi! it's luke, with a few recent pictures to start things off...

we've been getting ready for our week-long trip to the UP (upper peninsula, of michigan), so things have been a little silly around here, as you can see above and are about to see below... as we've mentioned before, ben loves his "grampee shorts" and here he is pulling them up in a goofy way...

and then wearing them gangster style, which was "cool" for certain boys to do when momma was in high school, but she really hopes this is no longer the trend, although she thought it was hilarious when ben was doing it at the time (diaper and all)...

(that container above was empty, by the way, but that doesn't stop ben from pretending...) and here he is playing with a few letter tiles that momma made for him to practice learning his lowercase letters using pictures of his favorite things (better pictures of those another time). she had daddy cut some wood, then sanded, painted, drew/colored, and mod podged 26 different tiles, which it turns out ben loves... because they make perfect "yellow ones." here he is lining them up just so...

and driving the new car over them (yes, momma is a little worried about his OCD characteristics, but what can ya do?)...

and giving a silly face for all the pictures (featuring daddy's cuero hat - go gobblers!)

more silly pictures of ben...

playing with noah's ark (notice the polka dot socks, clearly momma's, which he's been wearing around the house for 2 days)...

messy face from a "hamburger samich"...

okay, i guess that's all. i realize it wasn't much, but we've been busy packing and getting ready for our big trip and will have much to report and share afterwards!! can't wait to see all our lehman family relatives!! and definitely are missing our matthys family relatives and look forward to seeing you sometime soon after we get back. bye!