Vacation

Paul, Chloe, Griffin, and I took a whole week of vacation during the week of Independence Day.  This is one of our favorite holidays and it always seems like the best time to take some time to relax.  We headed up to Hubbard Lake on Thursday night.  We thought starting the four hour trip around 7:00 p.m. would mean that Chloe would be sleeping in the car for at least 3/4 of the trip.  This, however, was not the case.  We spent about 2 hours listening to Elmo's World blaring on the DVD player, 1/2 an hour singing every single song we could think of from our childhood, 1/2 an hour listening to Chloe scream, and were finally blessed with sweet peace when she fell asleep for the last 1/2 hour.  Chloe wasted no time loving up to my Dad and pretty much ditching her parents.  Here she is enjoying one of many meals on Papa's lap.

This picture pretty much just defines Chloe.  Hot mess.  Hey I guess if anyone can pull off the bikini top, diaper, pink water shoe look it is Chloe.

Here we are eating some regular yogurt instead of Greek.  It happens to be a little runnier and it turns out Chloe is just not as skilled at eating runny yogurt.  She had quite an audience.

Here is a picture of Andrew and Chloe enjoying their afternoon snacks on these special chairs Grammy bought for them.  I can't help but notice how sweet and clean looking Chloe looks here.  What a rare moment.

This is more like it.  I had this terrible shopping experience at the "Alpena Mall," which consists primarily of a JCPenney.  There is a new mall down the road I guess.  It is called Wal-Mart.  I was looking for "the perfect 4th of July outfit" for Chloe.  Without getting all upset about the shopping trip I will just say that I never found it.  My Mom did find this lovely bikini at the new mall down the road.  Paul said Chloe could wear it as long as she doesn't think that an American flag is an acceptable article of clothing when she is a teenager.

Here is our second annual family photo at the lake.  You can't really see Chloe's face, but it is the only one where Paul is looking.  I guess my brother needed to wave a little squeaky toy at Paul for the pictures.

We had to cut our vacation a little short, because Chloe starts acting up after too much Papa time.  She refused to eat in her high chair, screamed bloody murder before bed, swatted at her Mama on several occasions, and was just being a little brat.  We left on Tuesday.  I'm always sad to go.  Hubbard Lake is so peaceful and I have so many great memories there.  I love having my family and friends around and relaxing at the lake.  We had a great time, but we were happy to have the rest of the week at home as a family.