There's No Place Like Home...

...especially when your new nephew Cohen gets to live in the same place!
Brad, Jayne, and Cohen moved from California to Colorado a few weeks ago. Brad got a teaching job at Arapahoe, so it will be fun to be coworkers as well as siblings. It's been a crazy couple of weeks, but we are so glad they are here!Hangin' with Uncle Brad...
Payton loves her Auntie Jayne!

Once Upon A Time...

Once upon a time, (1999 is starting to seem like a VERY long time ago...) a group of girls went to college in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
During their junior and senior years, they lived together in this house on Woodcliff. They slept, ate, studied, hung out, but mostly, they laughed A LOT.
All of the girls still look back on those memories and smile. So, they get together every once in a while to catch up, relax, and laugh some more. This time around, they stayed in this beautiful house...
On this lake.They putzed around on this pontoon boat,
They swam (well, more like floated) in the water,Acted a little silly (we were without our kids you know),They even squeezed in an evening booze cruise :)When they weren't in the water, they talked, ate (A LOT), and had a great time.
And of course, there were some pedicures, a movie, and some shopping.
All in all, it was an awesome reunion. What a blessing it is to have lifetime friends.The End (or they lived happily ever after).

The Diva's Dinner

Last Sunday afternoon, Sue hosted our first annual "Diva Dinner". A ladies only tea, Sue went all out in decorating Oma's summer house with flowers, white lights, and even a bubble machine. We all brought some sort of "tea party" food--chicken salad on croissants, scones, cucumber salad, lemon poppy seed cake, etc. Sue pulled out all of Oma's old hats and we had fun trying them all on. She was one stylish lady! The little girls--Addie, Alaina, and Payton--had a blast and even put on their own fashion show. It was so much fun to relax and hang out with just the girls.

Sue and Sami (she hosted TWO parties in one weekend). Busy girl!Oma...93 and still looking great in her hat...
All the ladies and all of our hats!
Karen and Colleen...
Peg and her granddaughters. It was her birthday this week, so this was an early celebration!
The girls and their fashion show choices. Not sure why Payton chose a black veil, but she always has had an interesting fashion sense :)

A (Few) Minute(s) To Win It (?!)

Earlier this spring, Mark and Abby went to a Minute To Win It Party celebrating their friend Rick's birthday. Considering the competitive and game-loving nature of our family, we knew we had to have a party of our own. So, Sue hosted a lovely summer picnic with some KFC for dinner. Man, sometimes KFC tastes SO good!

The hostess and her sister (Sue is holding my mom's eyes open...they tend to shut whenever cameras snap!)
After dinner the competition began. We sort of invented our own rules...men vs. women, a certain number of competitors per event, score each round, determine the ultimate champs...

Round 1: Move five cotton balls from one bowl to another about ten feet away using only a nose full of vaseline...
Oma Bosch watched this event on tv and asked Sue if snot was hanging from their noses. I can't imagine where she got that idea...

Round 2: Move an Oreo Cookie from your forehead to your mouth without using your hands.
Such dedication...

Round 3: Stack 36 cups in rows beginning with 8 on the bottom up to 1 on the top. Given the slanted angle of the patio and picnic table, this task was next to impossible!
Round 4: Thread five rigatoni noodles onto one spaghetti noodle using only your mouth...

Round 5: Unwind two full rolls of crepe paper by swinging your arms wildly in circles.



And Rounds 5 & 6: Shimmy, shake, or gyrate yourself silly. The goals? "score" a basket, or empty the "junk" from your trunk.
In the end, I'm not exactly sure who won. But, we had a great night. Thanks Sue and Abby for planning such a fun night!

May The 4th Be With You...

We once again headed up to the cabin yesterday to celebrate the 4th of July. There was a fair amount of rain, but certainly not enough to slow us down or keep us from having fun. Some of the best parts of the day...
1) The Parade: There's nothing like dogs riding on the backs of bikes, Todd trying to give a four-wheeler a running jump start, Ernie cozying up to monster trucks, and of course, the kids in the pick-up truck winning the cutest parade participant hands down.
2) Games: It doesn't matter if they are played inside or outside (yesterday's rain forced more inside games than usual), we can make a competition out of anything...
3) Hiking: We did the same loop as always, but that's part of the cabin experience. We sat and remembered on Opa's Rock, found the perfect hiking sticks, took pictures in the meadow, and climbed giant boulders.
4) Fireworks: The rain and lighting stopped just long enough for us to bundle up for the show. The sky looked quite different as explosions lit up the fog and clouds. But, a fitting end to another great cabin day...