Congratulations Eric!!!

Today was Eric's last day at Whirlpool for the summer. He got to work on some really cool projects and enjoyed his work. He also got to go to lunch with the CFO last week. That was pretty cool. The best news is that Whirlpool has given him a verbal offer. Way to go Eric! He really did a great job! Now we get to decided what we want to do. 

For his celebration party he wanted to go to dinner at Big Boy.

Horse carriage ride

About a month ago we saw a horse drawn carriage around town. I made the girls go home and take a nap and promised we could come back after their nap. Well when we got back we found out that they only do carriage rides from 1-3 on Wednesdays. We have tried 2 other times to go on a carriage ride and both times the horse didn't come. This week we arrived right at 3pm because I had a hair appt I couldn't change. They told me they were already done for the day, but let the girls pet the horse. I am sad we never got a ride this summer. Oh well.  The horse name is Andy. He is 13 years old and weights about 2, 000 lbs.

Beach Day

Today was our last ward beach day. The weather was beautiful and the lake was calm. We all had a great time. Here is Gretta swimming with Maren.

Eliza digging in the sand. She loves to dig in the sand.

Showing off their sand castle 

Then we walked over the the carousel and I finally bought Gretta some cotton candy. She has been begging for weeks for some. The girls sure enjoyed it!

Then we rode the carousel.

The splash pad was just to enticing when we walked by, so we jumped in.

After which we enjoyed some coconut ice cream on the bluff. It was almost as good as Yogurtland.

On the way home we had to say, "Hi" to Robo dog. Eliza calls him her doggie.

After dinner we went on a walk downtown with Eric that also ended up at the ice cream shop. 

What a great day!

What a great day in St. Joseph's!!!

Around town...

This morning we walked around downtown. I bought a poster of the carousel and the pier to remember our summer here. Then we were going to go to the carousel, but the girls had a great time playing "store" with this block outside the Chocolate Cafe. They pretended to buy watches from the "Watch Dog". It was pretty cute.

We did finally make it on a carousel ride. Eliza rode the panda and Gretta the Colma Comet. What a great morning. Then Eric took us to lunch! Thanks!

This weekend...our last in St. Joe's

Friday, July 23rd

Friday afternoon before Eric came home the girls wanted to paint. They had a great time and then all of a sudden Eliza had the great idea to paint her toes and legs. Couldn't get a picture of that because I was to busy cleaning her up. Luckily it was just water color. I painted her toes bright pink with nail polish after I cleaned her up to console her. 

Friday night we went to the Ward Beach party at Lion's beach.It was an early 24th of July celebration. It only lasted for a while because we watched a huge thunderstorm move across the lake and ruin our fun party. Oh well it was fun while it lasted. It rained, and rained and also put on a good thunder and lighting show. It rained almost all night and into a good part of Saturday morning.

Saturday July 24th

Saturday morning while it rained we worked on getting ready to leave this next Saturday. Then the storm passed and the weather turned beautiful and we headed outside.

Then to the Kids' Museum at the beach.

And finished off the afternoon with a ride on the carousel. 

Saturday night we went to some friends house and roasted marshmallows and made smore's in their awesome backyard. The girls also liked their play structure.

Sunday July 25th

We had a nice last Sunday at church. Everyone has been so welcoming and nice. Gretta  & Eliza have especially enjoyed Primary and nursery here in Michigan. Gretta's class filled up their reverence jar and got a prize. Gretta was so excited.

After church, lunch and naps we went on a walk around town. It was a lovely evening. The temperature was perfect and there was a nice breeze. We left our house and walked down to the beach. On the way we saw 4 police cars and an ambulance. It looked like they were looking for someone in the water.  It was really scary. The search took a while and we left before we found out the whole story, but I looked in the paper and found out that a 26 year old Indiania man drown and was under 6 feet of water for 40 minutes.  It was sobering to find out an adult inside the swimming ropes died.

http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/Police-Silver-Beach-drowning-proves-fatal--99207384.html

We had a talk with Gretta about how you have to be water safe. She has a lot of confidence in the water and it has made me scared a few times this year. I am so grateful for the safety we have enjoyed this summer.

After the beach we headed to the bluff.

This cannon weights 8 tons.

We enjoyed a beautiful sunset!

Visiting Daddy at work

Eric starts the last week of his internship tomorrow. We went down last Thursday to see his desk and meet some co-workers. Whirlpool has quite a few campuses around the area. His building's name is Harbor Town. Everyone we meet had great things to say about him and what a great job he has done. Way to go Eric!!!We are so proud of you.

Who doesn't love ice cream!

We had ice cream cones at home. It was a little messy! But Eliza sure thought the chocolate cone was great!

Aunt Allison's vist day #3- Tuesday

This morning I found Eliza in the cubbie with her formula can. She was calling it her baby. Glad I found her before it was all over the floor.

Then we headed down to the beach for ward beach day. They waves were HUGE and Gretta had a great time. She kept wanting to swim with the big kids. I on the other hand was convinced she was going to drown. I was glad to leave after only 2 hours today. The weather cloudy and over cast. I was convinced it was going to rain which it never did. Oh well. We had a fun 2 hours.

See doesn't it look like it is going to rain.

When we got home the girls wanted to pick flowers.

Then they took baths and Eliza took a nap while Gretta rested. 

After everyone woke up we went to the Curious Kids' Museum.

Eliza liked being the teacher.

Gretta wanted to take pictures of all of the animals with Aunt Allison's camera. 

The Lava slide

All of us in the ambulance. I am the patient.

rocking out.

Giving us the weather report.

Then we rented a Surrey Bike downtown.

We rode all over downtown and to the beach. Here is Eliza's favorite dog, Robo Dog.

The night wasn't over yet. The library was sponsoring the Wet and Wild Olympics so we went to join in on the fun. Here we are making our team flag. Our name was 4 x 4's.

competing 

After the medals were awarded. We were all winners we headed home for dinner.

While Eric grilled the pork chops the girls showed off their new shirts that say, "I love St. Joe". Thanks so much Grandma Linda!

Thanks so much Aunt Allison for coming! We sure had a fun time.