: weekend visits :

It's not very often one of your bestest friends or brother come strolling along in your neck of the woods...

when you live half way across the country that is!  

Lucky me... both these rare occurrences came my way within days of each other:)  

Lindsey's husband's office was moved to Toledo, Ohio for the remaining summer months and my little brother has been working as a camp counselor at the Blue Lake Fine Arts camp in Twin Lake, Michigan this summer.

Lindsey came out to visit her hubby for the week and Andrew finally got a break in his busy schedule!

So, we took full advantage.

We met up with the Shipleys in Ft. Wayne.  Linds found a beautiful park of flower gardens and fountains.

Jaden scared played with the geese to his hearts content and ran wild in the fountains with the other locals.

Lindsey is expecting and just found out she is having a boy!  So excited for them!

A combination of heat wave and cravings called us over to the Snow Cone shack.  It was de-lish.

Such a fun day hangin' with the Shipleys.  Jaden adored them just as we do:)

 The next weekend we were off to see Andrew at his awesome camp.  Who would have thought between Indiana and Michigan, we would come so close to our neighboring country of Mexico? ;)

So we met up with Drew-dog, toured the campgrounds, met some of his fellow counselors, and got a good feel of what Andrew's been up to all summer.  Definitely rugged, but such a great experience for him.  Then it was off to the beach for a picnic.

 If you live in the Midwest and haven't experienced the wonders of Michigan Lake/beaches.... YOU MUST GO!  It was a little piece of paradise... just a few hours away from us!

: instant buddies :

: swinging on the beach :

: lovin' the water :

: sweet sand :

: walking the boardwalk :

 That night: chocolate chip cookies.

The next morning: Jaden's way of waking up the big boys.

Then we were headed to Michigan Adventure... the state's biggest amusement park.  

We had a blast!

 Some of the rides we dared to ride...
(yes, that is Andrew and I riding the front of the famous Thunderhawk)

: some rides for Jaden too :

 We all loved the water park.  One of the best I've seen.

Everyone around seemed to rave about Fricano's pizza place.  

So we tried it - and loved it!

 After a super fun, but exhausting weekend... we dropped Andrew off at his cabin and snapped a few photos of the place.

Love you bro.