Starting August off right

We had a lovely weekend to start August off right. We had our usual Saturday breakfast at Dino's, where we were joined by Tyler, Beth, Sylvia and Calvin. After we all had our fill of French toast and eggs over easy, it was time to head off to Benton Harbor for the car show. It was really fun to see the Arts District and I hope to see many more changes in that neighborhood in the years to come. Jonathan and Sylvia loved walking by all the fancy cars, and had their picture taken with the BH Chief of Police. They also enjoyed their Italian sodas at the coffee shop.

Chris and I took the boys to the cottage in the afternoon after their nap. Jonathan has matured so much this summer and he is playing much more nicely with Alex. We walked over to see the new elevator, which looks like the Popemobile, and watched the waves roll in.

The following morning, Chris took off for a golf game while I headed back to the cottage. The Parks joined us soon afterwards. Sylvia is already a good swimmer and Jonathan, after watching her closely, put his head underwater a bunch of times. It took some doing to convince him to put his hand over his nose instead of his eyes. The water was pretty calm and the perfect temperature, and even Alex and Calvin got in a for a little swim. Alex most enjoyed feeding Calvin bites of his snacks, however. I took the bigger kids down to the creek for boat races.

We had grilled burgers for lunch. While we were cooking, we had Sylvia and Jonathan collect buckets and buckets of acorns - they picked the steps clean, which will be a big comfort for all of us who like to go "bareprints" down the steps. (That's my favorite Jonathan word.) We tried to get those two to nap, but they just giggled and talked to each other, then tried to fake sleeping when we checked on them. Alex conked out for four hours, and Calvin slept in the car for a trip home to check on the dog. Chris came in the late afternoon and we headed down for another swim. DiMaggio's was pretty busy, so we wound up convening at Beth and Tyler's for takeout from Silver Beach Pizza. Jonathan, who fell asleep before we left the fire lane, was passed out on the couch for the whole dinner. Alex liked feeding his dinner to Moose the dog. We all love August!