Fun Times in August!

We had a really fun August.  We did some fun things in June and July, but August was really our best month of the summer.  Things were going really well with Bristol by that point, the weather wasn't unbearably hot (especially for a newborn that cannot regulate temperature), and we were wanting to make the most of Sara's last couple of weeks home on maternity leave. 

We spent a weekend up north, as I posted about last week. 

We went for a couple of family hikes on the Dauner trails in Fenton. 

We went on regular family walks/bike rides (Carson and Kevin ride their bikes, while Sara and Bristol walk).

We had a playdate with the twin girls from Carson's preschool class, Natalie and Charlotte.  Sara went to high school with their mom, Katie, and they live pretty close to us.  We've played with them a few other times, too.  But we had a really great playdate with them.  The kids all got sad when it was time to leave. 

We spent an afternoon at Michigan State with Auntie Sara, Uncle Adam, and Aiden.  We had a nice time walking around campus, shooting a few pictures of the kids, and just chatting and having a good time. 

We spent a morning and afternoon at Impression 5 Science Center with Aunt Mary, Rebecca, and Abram.  We've been wanting to meet up with them in Lansing since Abram has been born, but it just finally worked out.  It was so fun!  The kids had a blast playing together and Mary and I had a great time chatting and hanging out.  Carson and I really hope to meet up with them again soon! 

We visited MDOT (Sara's workplace) to show off... errr introduce... Bristol to everyone.  :) 

We made a trip out to Saranac in West Michigan for Amber's and Russ' reception in Amber's/Auntie Sara's mom's backyard.  We went out a little early so Sara could shoot some family pictures of Auntie Sara, Uncle Adam and Aiden, and then Auntie Sara's sister Rachel's family.  Carson always has so much fun playing with Rachel's two youngest kids, Noelle and Noah.  Carson and Noelle were really breaking it down at the wedding reception... if I can get the video to upload later on, I'll add it b/c it is hilarious!!  So check back in a day or two to see if I've succeeded in getting it up here. 

Then Sara went back to work.  :(  Thankfully, she is able to go back to work part-time for awhile.  She is starting out at two days per week, but will be going up to three days per week next week.  It has been going ok so far.  It is actually the first time since having children that we all feel balanced, which is really nice. 

We took another trip to the library for story time and to check out some more books. 

We met some friends from preschool at one of the local parks to play. 

We did some summer crafts and finger painting. 

We had our friends, the Freeses, over for dinner and to hang out.  They have two little girls, Malerie (5) and Natalie (3).  It had been awhile since we'd hung out with Beth and Curt... like several years since we've actually hung out.  So it was really fun to get together again.  We're hoping to make it more of a regular thing. 

We had our friends, the Kozaks, over for dinner and to hang out on the last weekend in August.  We hadn't seen them since St. Patty's Day (well, Kevin and Paul have been mountain biking together a lot, but we hadn't all been together since then).  Carson was so excited to have Seth (5) and Carter (4) over to play again.  As soon as they walked in the door, they were off and running and playing together. 

We hung out with our neighbors a few times.  Carson and Jace love to play together.  And Kevin and I think Eric and Kerri are pretty fun to hang out with, too. 

We took a drive down to visit our friends Kati and Tony.  Tony started walking a couple of weeks ago, so it was fun to see him trying to keep up with Carson.  They had a lot of fun playing together.

And lastly, we went to Michigan State for the MSU season opener game against Boise State.  We didn't go to the game, but we just went to tailgate with some of our friends.  Kevin's late friend, Jeff Sambaer, who passed away just before New Years in 2011, and his dad were huge MSU fans.  They tailgated for and went to every home game and had an entire tailgate crew.  At Jeff's funeral, one of the crew members pulled Kevin aside and asked us to come out for the first tailgate since they were planning something special for Ron (Jeff's dad).  So we set up our tailgate next to theirs.  It was nice to see Ron and we got to see the nice placque their crew had made for the Jeff Sambaer memorial ladder golf tournament (a tradition their crew has, but they just came up with the placque idea).  It was a very touching thing for them to do.  We had a great time with our friends.  Ben taught Carson how to plank and Carson is now planking on everything... asking us to take pictures to upload to planktheworld... which I doubt we'll do.  :)  But it is funny to think about.  :)

We did some other small things, too.  And of course, had lots of fun just in our yard and at our house.  It was a very busy, but very fun month!  We're looking forward to lots more fun in September, too!