Wisconsin Dells

I cannot believe how fast summer is going by. I know I say that every year. Summer is like a weekend. June is Friday, July is Saturday and August is Sunday. We are surly creeping up on Sunday. For sure no one likes what Monday brings...back to school. But, enough of that silly talk. We have had an awesome summer so far. I can't get over the independence of the kids Jackson. He is spending is day playing more with buddies and less time asking me to plan things. It makes me a bit sad, but he's having a blast. Aubrin's favorite spot is still as close to me as she can possibly be. She is playing more independently with friends, but still likes to stick very close to me. I'm embracing it. Before long she will be off doing her own thing as well and not even looking back.
So far a lot of our summer has been baseball. Jackson's team has played 58 games this season. that's a lot of baseball. That's for another post....
We have spent many days at home just hanging out and keeping it simple. Other days we are out and about as busy as can be. Jackson has started golf once a week. He is loving knowing that he will at least get o play once a week along with great instruction. I'm not sure that he like the 6:15am wake up call that goes with it.
Last week Jackson had his last tournament is of the season is Battle Creek. After the tournament we headed to the Wisconsin Dells with our friends the Donovan's.  Nick and Andrea asked us to join them. Once I did a little research on it I was super excited to go.
We drove from Battle Creek to just North of Chicago for the night on Sunday. We got there late. We showered and all climbed into bed. The next morning we drove to the Dells. Of course all summer it has been pretty warm...nope, not this week. It was 65 when we got to the Dells. Oh well! Our resort had 3 indoor water parks and 3 outdoor parks. I didn't think the weather would have too much of an impact on our stay. We got there a bit before the Donovan's and a bit before we could check in. We changed into our suits and explored a bit. The sun was shinning so we went to an outdoor pool first, although a bit chilly. Jackson and Todd went directly to the watersides. Aubrin and I ventured into something a little less scary for her. We went down a few smaller slides and just played in the water.
 A bit later we checked into our room and met up with the Donovan's that were right next door. It's a perfect match- Aidan and Jackson are the same age and so are Clare and Aubrin. Little Julia (2) was a trooper to keep up with the big kids. We headed to an indoor pool for the rest of the day because it started raining and the temperatures dropped. The kids had a great time.
The next day we got up early and went on a Duck Boat tour. It was chilly, but we dressed for the ride and headed out. It took us on a tour and gave us a bit of history and then landed us in the Wisconsin River. Aubrin was a bit anxious when she saw the road was ending and we were headed straight for the water. Maybe I forgot to mention to her that it's a car that goes in the water or a boat that goes on land? Either way, it was an adventure. Once we got back we headed to the wave pool. The indoor pools were packed because it was raining so hard outside, but we found a spot and got settled in.
That nigh the boys decided to do a high ropes course and the girls played in a huge indoor play scape and adventure area-hours of fun. I was proud that Jackson had no nerves about the ropes course. He went for about 45 minutes.
The next day it was beautiful, sunny and 78! I'll take it. We headed out to one of the water parks to get a spot and meet up with another group of friends that were there. We had a blast going down all the slides, hanging in the lazy river and playing in the water. What a great way to wrap up a few days of fun with friends.
The next morning we packed up and headed home. We had been gone a week and an 8 hour car ride sounded tragic to me, but it went quick. The kids did great in the car and we were home by 7pm.
Can't wait to vacation with the Donovan's again!

Fairy Party

Aubrin was so excited to have her first friend birthday party. She decided that she wanted a fairy party. She was also very specific of what she thought the party might look like. She said her biggest wish was that all of the girls could get fairy wings when they come. Pretty simple request. This little lady pretty lucky that her mama LOVES planning parties!
Aubrin invited ALL of the little ladies from her class and a few friends from the neighborhood. Who would have thought that 14 out of the 16 invited could come on a Tuesday morning. Aubrin was thrilled. Of course in Miller fashion, it was a rainy day the day of the party. I could not bring myself to have a fairy party inside...it just didn't seem right. So we made it work and still had it outside.
Kaye and my mom came to help Todd and I will the party. My dad came too, but snuck out to play a little golf when it wasn't raining. Of course we need the "Fairy Grandmothers" there:) It would not be a complete party without these special ladies there.  
They were such a huge help before, during and after the party. Caryn came to take pictures for me as well. I feel like I always miss so much because I'm always behind the camera capturing the moments instead of being part of them.
A few minutes before the party started the face painter arrived and quickly followed by 14 very excited little girls. 

Each of the got their faces painted and then headed out to the tent to each lunch. My dad and Todd walked each girl out with an umbrella to keep them dry. It was adorable with them all sitting with their wings on, faces painted and having girl talk.
After lunch we sang happy birthday. Aubrin is not one to like a lot of attention, so she got overly embarrassed and giggled the whole time when her friends were singing. 
The girls then had a choice. They could either head into the garage to paint fairy houses or to the kitchen to make bracelets. The girls took their time painting their houses and made them very colorful. At one point "Let it Go" came on and each little girl was singing so loud. It was such a sweet moment. 

 

 

Finally the rain stopped and we were able to go outside and take a few pictures. 
Aubrin sat with all of her friends and opened her presents. She was so excited to see what each one was. 
Then it was time to go. Each little fairy took their wings home, a fairy house and they very special bottle of fairy dust.  
Happy birthday sweet girl!

1st Communion

Today we celebrated Jackson making his 1st communion. It was a beautiful day spent with our family. For the past two years Jackson has been attending religious ed classes once a week on Mondays from 4:30-5:45. Mondays were a long day for Jackson. Todd would pick him up from school, eat a quick snack in the car and then drop off at church. Of course every now and then we heard a complaint that he didn't want to go because he was tired, but overall it has been a wonderful experience for Jackson. 
We decided to keep the crew small. We only invites our parents, grandma and both of Jackson's Godmothers and their families. Erin and Will came from Chicago,while Jayson and Emerson stayed back. Will thought it was a pretty special weekend to be here all by himself.

Jackson was very specific about what he wanted to wear. This is how he described it. " I want to look like a Michigan football player when they get off the bus for an away game." He was very specific about wearing khaki pants, a blue sport coat, yellow shirt and a blue and yellow tie. Crazy enough I could find all of that for him. 
Jackson was pretty excited to get to church. He was sharing his day with two of his buddies, Kyler and Aidan. The boys looked pretty handsome all dressed up.
The mass was nice and you could tell all the kids were concentrating hard on what they needed to do. 
After the mass we headed back to our house for dinner. It was a nice evening of cousins playing and adults catching up.
We asked for no gifts, but of course no one ever listens to that:) Jackson received very meaningful gifts. I think he mostly loved his new books and his bible that he received. It was Todd's when he was a little guy. A great treasure for sure.