Lake Michigan

That next day we went back up to Michigan to go to our hotel and catch our flight the next morning back home. We were going along the coast of Lake Michigan and decided to stop and see the sunset. A band was playing music in the park and it was a pleasant evening. The sand felt good between our toes. The water was cool and we got to collect some shells off the beach to bring back and show the older kids.
It was a nice little weekend trip for us.

Indiana

Ryan flew to Michigan the last part of August for a business trip. Ashley and I were able to join him when he was done. Emily, Jacob and Jared stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Mangus while we were gone. I was a little nervous about going through security at the airport with all the baby essentials. We ended up getting through just fine though. Ashley did great on the flights! She never cried and always had a big smile for her audiences. It was fun to spend some one-on-one
time with her.

A couple days before we left on our trip Ashley started crawling and pulling herself up onto things. (Just turned 7mo.)

Ashley was relaxing on the bed at the hotel waiting for us to finish getting ready for our big day out. She ended up propping her leg up and it cracked us up seeing her do that! Too cute!

That day we traveled down to Indianapolis, Indiana to visit Ryan's two brothers and their families. It was fun finally visiting them and seeing where they live. His older brother Shane is a transplant surgeon and he and his wife Claire have lived there quite a few years. His little brother Brandon and his wife Amber are nurses and just moved there a few months before we came. We got to spend a day out with Shane's wife Claire and their five kids and Brandon's three kids at the Indianapolis Zoo. It was a long, hot day but it was worth being together since we had to leave the next afternoon. We appreciate the time they were able to spend with us for such a short period of time. We're glad we visited! Below is a slide show of us at the zoo. Enjoy!

Indianapolis Zoo

Me, Ryan and Ashley at the Indianapolis Zoo

Ashley is sitting in the snake's coil--Oo!

We went to the Indianapolis Zoo for the day with our nieces and nephews
(Matthew, Xavier, Me, Meghan, Abigail, Ryan, Ashley, Johnathan, Anna, Benjamin, Dallen)
Our sister-in-law, Claire, went with us too. She was our tour guide for the day and did a great job!

Here are a few of the animals we saw. There were lots of neat animals there!

It was so hot out and the kids were tired so Claire took the kids home. Ryan and I sat down to relax and ate a cool, refreshing treat. Ashley was exhausted! When people would walk by they would comment on how cute she was.

First Day of School

Jacob 's first day of Kindergarten (5yrs. old, Mrs. Clark's class)

Emily's first day of 2nd grade (7 yrs. old, Mrs. Baumstarck's class)

Ashley (8 mos. old)

Love Ashley's pigtails!

Oh, so sad!

Mezmorized!

Ashley was so tired laying on the couch. She was just laying there relaxing and Emily brought in her jewelry box to play nice music for her. She layed there mezmorized.

Emily and Akira

Emily has always been so good about taking care of Akira and loving her!

Bath Time

Boy, these two love taking baths! Jared will stay in until he's all wrinkled up, he thinks it's funny to see his fingers when he gets out! He calls them raisins.

Silly Face!

Jacob wanted me to take a picture of him making a silly face--silly boy!

Fishing In Devil's Canyon

Ryan and his brothers try to go fishing down in Devil's Canyon about once a year. Taylor was here during this annual adventure so Ryan took him along.

Ryan's brother John took his son Shiloh and Barry took his son Carter and Ryan took Taylor. Shiloh and Taylor are 11 yrs. old and Carter is 9 yrs. old. Each pair took off and went down separate ways in the canyon. The plan was to meet up at a certain place at a certain time. So the adventure begins!

Taylor is standing to the side of the canyon that they're going down into

Here we go fishermen, almost time to climb down...

...into that deep canyon!

Hey, starting off good!

Nice fish Ryan!

Fishing in the cold river

The view from down below

Good fishing hole

Great job Taylor!

It was a fun adventure, but rough! It was a steep climb down and back up, they got bit by mosquitoes, and they fell into the water a couple times--typical fishing trip. Makes it more memorable!

It sure was beautiful though, not many people go down in there

Evening In The Mountains

One evening my Mom was in town we went up and spent the evening in the mountains. Ryan played fetch with Axel.

Ashley liked being bundled up!

My Mom enjoying a campfire meal

Jacob picking flowers for us girls

Jared roasting a hot dog on a stick (notice the dark brown object by the log)

I love this picture of the kids watching their dad fish

Emily doing her usual cute pose when she came over to eat (notice the wet pants from walking through the tall, wet weeds while going fishing with dad)