Vacation Memories: Our family

Last year, we had so much fun spending part of our vacation with family and part of it at a cottage. We decided to stick with that winning combo: we began the vacation visiting our families and celebrating Matthew's birthday. Here are the boys with Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Bryan.And here are the three grandmas!Then, we headed to Holland, MI, where we rented a cottage and spent a week exploring the west coast of Michigan. We spent a lot of time at the beaches, walking along boardwalks and to lighthouses and just enjoying being outside. We especially enjoyed watching the sun set over Lake Michigan -- it was gorgeous!

When not at the beach, we had fun grilling and roasting marshmallows at the cottage.

The lakeside towns offered many delicious restaurants, a real soda fountain, museums and parks.

We also had a great time when Stephanie visited us and I'm hoping to convince her and Bryan to vacation with us in a few years when hopefully we can exchange babysitting duties! We gave her plenty of opportunities to see what having kids is really like.

And, what trip would be complete without a funny story about David? One evening we went to downtown Holland where we could watch a wide variety of street performers. We saw a yo-yo man, a belly dancer, a live statue and many musicians. In a courtyard, we sat and watched a show featuring a man who performed such feats as walking on glass and a woman who swallowed fire. The very first time they needed an assistant, who should they pick but David! You see, they said they needed a big, brave, strong man and that is OBVIOUSLY David. David used his big strong muscles to pull a small sword out of the man's nose -- yuck! Sadly, the photo is a little blurry but nonetheless a priceless memory.