Natalie & her buddy Maxine DeWitte.
Memorial Day Weekend was one for the record books! Here in Grand Rapids temperatures reached a high of 94 degrees breaking the all time high of 92 set back in 1977. And if you weren't near a pool or lake this weekend we sure hope you had access to air conditioning and ice cream instead!
For us, each year Memorial Day Weekend officially kicks of the start of summer with family and friends at the Lake Bella Vista in Rockford. It was the first time the entire Kladder family had all been in the same place since Christmas and we certainly made the most of our time together cooking out, tubing on the lake and playing on the beach. My favorite part of the weekend is the after dinner pontoon boat rides around the lake. At this point, the whole crew still fits on one boat. I figure we still have a few more years of this till the girls grow out of it both literally and figuratively. We joke about how it won't be long before they'll be taking the boat for rides around the lake solo leaving us in the dust.
We forgot what it was like to have a 1-year-old at the lake during summertime. Thomas reminded us that babies are weird about sand and grass while he opted to spend most of his time in the shade on the blanket with toys. Natalie played so hard she asked to take naps and I think both our kids had a weeks worth of sugar in one single afternoon. But hey... it's summer!
Two weekends ago we partied hard with neighbors for a 40th birthday bash. Rosewood took our celebration duties seriously starting at 7pm at City Built Brewing for tacos followed by a 4 hour brew tour around the city. The bus ended at Billy's in Eastown which made for an extremely convenient walk home. A very happy birthday to Stefano and big thank you to his wife Kari for being a fantastic party planner.
Earlier that week the Watermark Women's Association hosted our first summer golf outing: Golf is in Full Bloom! It was a partnered 18 hole scramble and my partner Jamie and I didn't even come close to winning. However, if there had been an award for the best team sunburn... that would have been a different story - I'm still peeling on my right arm. It was one of those perfect summer afternoons and I completely forgot to put on sunblock. That night (after I rubbed aloe over my sun kissed skin) I promptly put 2 bottles of SPF 30 in my bag. Won't be making that mistake again.
I'm still pretty jazzed about golf and improving my game. Jeff continues to be my biggest source of motivation in both his affiliation and talent for the game. I'll never be as good and him (no seriously, I won't, because he gets WAY more practice than I do) but at some point in our lives perhaps he'll be proud to play on a couples league together.
Wednesday Night Womens League at Watermark C.C.
And a quick shout out to some of my best mom friends who I get go through parenting with. Sharing summer mornings with you and your kids over coffee and delicious donuts is exactly how I pictured parenting to be. I will continue to savor watching our kids play together and become best friends themselves. This season of life is so full in every sense of the word and I'm glad you're a part of it.
Heading into June we've got a lot ahead of us including Neocon in Chicago (the biggest week of the year for my office), a family trip to Florida, my birthday and a few more golf tournaments including a day spectating at the LPGA again this year - I promise to pack my sunblock!
POSTSCRIPT - Stuff we're into lately...
- Check out our newest post on the GR FAMILY page highlighting 5 family friendly breweries.
- Sandy the Pony at Meijer stores. Only a penny! A grocery shopping tradition.
- Double carts at Costco. I obviously went grocery shopping with the kids last weekend.
- And be sure to check out my guest blog post on Experience GR all about West Michigan Golf Courses.
