… LETS GO RACIN’ BOYS!!!

And the grand daddy day of my brothers visit was Sunday… a day at the races! For those of you who aren’t fans, I’m talking Nascar. For Christmas, my parents got all of us tickets to the Michigan International Speedway for the Nascar race (on Father’s Day). All I can say is it was so much fun! I’m not exactly sure when we all became Nascar fans but it happened and we can’t go back. Maybe it was all those Sunday’s my dad would have the race on TV in the “background” and we all just got so used to it and then actually started watching it and then found ourselves cheering on certain drivers, etc, etc, etc.

It was an all day adventure (without kids might I add… beautiful). We get to MIS and pop the trunk for some serious tailgating… ahhh the racing crowd… how fun. It was a beautiful day… rain clouds threatened but stayed away until after the race… how nice. The roar of the engines was thrilling and LOUD!!! (good thing we had ear plugs). Not many crashes, just some spin outs but the end was exciting. It was a Green, White, Checkered (GWC) finish. During caution prior to the GWC, Dale E Jr. is on empty trying to conserve fuel by turning off his engine and coasting and restarting it… he’s in the lead and as they start back up, on the last lap another spin out by someone and they finish in caution and just as he crosses the finish he runs out of gas and has to be pushed to Victory Lane… I was bummed cuz he couldn’t even do a burn out… oh well, it was exciting. (I probably didn’t explain that at all right or it probably didn’t even make sense but it was a cool finish).

Ok, here’s some pics from our “day at the races”

Dad’s guy, Jeff Gordon

The fam… sorry I cut you off Mom!

I think Jr & Gordon are in this picture

The winning moment

Categories: Family, Vacation
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After visiting Sauder Village, we spent the next couple days playing outside in the pool and sprinkler, going out to get ice cream, taking the kids to Monkey Jump, having an “adult” dinner with steak on the grill, going to watch the Toledo Mud Hens downtown (which included fireworks) and then on Saturday we went to my 2nd cousins graduation party! Whew, what a week. Oh and one night we had a low country boil, which is a southern dish (I think). Shrimp, corn on the cob, sausage, potatoes, onions, etc. all thrown in a big pot of boiling water & beer… YUM!!!

Noah and Ethan playing at a pond at our hotel in Sauder Village… little mischievous boys

What a crew… Noah, clipping a clothes pin to his lip and Ethan eating his sandal

They LOVED Monkey Jump!!

Rain will NEVER keep the Smith family from a game!! On our way to the Mud Hens… but it stopped in time for the game.

The best is yet to come….

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A few weeks ago my brother and his family drove to Ohio for their semi-annual visit. As usual our days were packed with fun-filled activities for the kiddos that left us all begging for more sleep. Despite the exhaustive days running after 4 toddlers, we all had a blast together and enjoyed our visit tremendously!
Mom has become so organized in preparation for our visit together and this year we all received (in advance) a printed itinerary of each day of the week. Believe it or not, we pretty much followed it to a “T”.
To start off the week we spent a night over in Archbold, Ohio to visit the Historical Sauder Village. The kids (and adults) really had a fun time “going back in time”, riding the choo choo train, visiting to the first school house and tons more.

Ryleigh Mae … oh, so cute!

The babies (for now)

We visited the Little Pioneer Village that was complete with a log cabin (kid sized) with all kinds of kid sized home toys… they had a blast cutting food for the “stew” and ironing clothes. It was a kids (and parents) dream!

Ethan, so serious ironing his clothes!

All Aboard!

So excited!

Cousins

So I’m just realizing I’m going to have to break our week into a number of posts so… stay tuned for more family pictures to come!

Categories: Family, Vacation
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I spent the last 5 days on a much-needed, wonderful weekend away with the girls!!! Back in February(ish), my college friends, Jo & Tiffani, had a great idea to get together for a weekend away from the kiddos… just us girls. They brainstormed how this could happen and presented me with an offer to help cover the cost to fly me out to Phoenix (where they live) and spend a few nights at a resort in Scottsdale, AZ. They asked if I would be up for it… ARE YOU KIDDING?!!! OF COURSE! And my lovely hubby was up for it too. What a sweetie. Thanks Babe!

So after making arrangements for the boys to head to grandma’s, I was off!

I arrived Thursday afternoon and spent the day chatting, watching their precious little boys and of course watching Grey Anatomy and Lost (can’t miss an episode). Then Friday we went to a yummy restaurant for lunch… Rumbie’s (I think)… Hawaiian food. Friday night we headed over to Scottsdale to our resort. Ate at a great Italian pizza place, Oregano’s and spent some time chatting over coffee and cookies. Saturday was a wonderful, relaxing day at the pool. I couldn’t get enough of the beautiful sunshine and warmth! I think they got really sick of me saying how much I loved the sun!!! (winter has been LONG in Ohio!) Saturday night we met up with some more college sisters (we were all in Omega Alpha Phi together). So fun to catch up on each other lives… just like old times. But we are all moms and apparently just can’t stay up late anymore… we were back to the hotel by 9:15! We did spend some time in the hot tub… but were in bed by 10:00… I guess no more partying for us. hehe

Sunday we met the Rob (Tiff’s man) & Josh (Jo’s man) and the little ones for lunch at Which Wich for lunch (yummy sandwiches). And then watched the kiddos play in a nearby fountain. Cuteness! Sunday evening we ordered in and watched Juno and Monday EARLY morning, I headed back home. What a FUN, FUN time away with the girls! We had a great time visiting, catching up, reminiscing and making great new memories. I just love getting together with old girlfriends and picking up where we left off 5 or 10 years ago. What a blessing. We can’t wait for our next get together!!!!
Enjoy the pics.

Jack (Jo’s oldest)

Elijah (Tiffani’s little one)

Jonas (Jo’s youngest… until July)

Categories: Friends, Vacation
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We had a great week in Colorado! It was a fun adventure and the boys did great for the 20 hour car ride. Next time we want to bring Kevin along though. We sure missed him and Ethan talked to him everyday. He would often say “talk to daddy” and we’d pick up the phone can give him a call. Kevin got lots of school work done while we were gone so that’s good.

While we were there, Ryan and Heidi took us on a 3.6 mile hike in Estes Park. Ethan hiked a little over a mile down the mountain… he loved it. Lucas loved riding on my back and Noah hiked the whole thing! He did great and earned his first Rocky Mountain National Park patch! Good job Noah!

We also went to the Cheyenne Frontier Days in Wyoming. We watched an air show in the morning and then hit the Rodeo in the afternoon.

The kids had lots of fun just playing around the house. Ethan fell in love with Noah’s tricycle and learned how to stay clear of Noah’s “hugs” All in all, we had a great visit and we look forward to being together again at Christmas.

Love you guys and miss you already!

Categories: Family, New Photos, Vacation
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Earlier this week my mom and I decided to take an adventure and make the 20 hour drive to Colorado to visit my brother and his family. We had to leave Kevin home as he still has classes and can’t take off much work. This will be the longest we’ll all be away from him. … We sure do miss him and Ethan can’t go to sleep at night until he talks to Daddy and has him pray with him over the phone. (too cute!)… We love you, hun, and miss you so much!!!

We packed the van and took off Thursday morning hopeing to make it to Omaha, NE and crash there for the night. The boys did amazing in the car. Ethan loved looking out the window, reading his books and playing with cars. And Lucas only cried when he was ready to eat! We took our time and made it to Omaha with enough time to take a short swim in the hotel pool before bedtime. We crashed and then Friday was 8 hours of flat, straight driving through exciting Nebraska. We finally made it to CO in time for dinner.

We were greeted with great big hugs from Noah and Ethan was finally able to see his cousin he’s been talking about all week!

Here’s some pictures of our drive as well as some play time around the house:

Categories: Ethan, Family, Lucas, Vacation
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