Traverse City for the 4th!! Elle has a special time Up North and we surprise the boys to Dude Perfect in Detroit!

Another beautiful time with Papa and Grandma Cooley up in Traverse City!! There is no better place to be than up north in the summer!

Organizing, sorting, and looking over their tackle boxes!

This bait is Papa approved.

Mom and Dad gave Ben and I an Anniversary day of surprises...17 years! We started the day with a boat cruise on West Bay. 

Then out to dinner just the two of us at The Glenwood in Onekama! We even saw our friends the Cosbeys at their cabin in Onekama on the way back to Traverse.

It's hard to beat the Bay but swimming next door at Aunt Carol's is pretty awesome too.

Speaking of the Cosbeys, they came and hung out with us for the day! Ben and Tony have coached all the sports together over the years. They have coached rec soccer, Upward basketball, Little League, and still coach the boys Raptors travel baseball team and oh, did I mention...Ben is starting a new basketball league this year through all the Rochester Elementary Schools and both are coaching a team too. Clearly we don't get to see them enough. :)

Lots of jet skiing, tubing, and swimming.

Ellie and Kayla will be at the same middle school for 6th grade in the Fall!

Gma and Drew working on their puzzle!

And Drew cooking with Gma too. We love having all this time with Papa and Gma!!

Spending some time on Haserot Beach on the peninsula!

We stopped by to see the old Johnson house that Mom and Dad used for a summer. We have all called it the "little, yellow house" for reference. Ben laid this patio for Mom and Dad when they were there and even though the house is pretty decrepit, the patio was still there! 

We all LOVE Mom and Dad's part 1 of their remodel! 

Game nights are my personal favorite! The fun, the competition, and the laughter is what I'll always remember. Case in point...Mom's drawing of a walrus. We died with laughter...A walrus with big, floppy, puppy ears, Mom?!

Happy 4th of July!!

Getting ready for fireworks on the Bay!

It has become a Morin family tradition to decorate bedrooms with all the gear from the 4th!

The triple bunkbed is a crown favorite.

Grilling out.

And it starts to rain. No problem. Brewskis on the porch while they grill. I love these guys.

The kids have taken turns staying with Papa and Gma. Last summer Drew stayed and then Luke got to go down to Florida over Spring Break, so this summer it was all about Ellie!!

Ellie jet skiing with Papa and Gma!

Treats from downtown!

And Ellie ran the Cherry Festival Mile run!

Ellie ran her mile in 8 minutes and 10 seconds!

We are so proud of you, Ellie!

She also joined the rubber ducky race on the Boardman River! Papa and Gma bought her 5 ducks to decorate and one of her ducks came in 5th place and so she won 15 bucks!

Below is a snapshot from the ducks getting ready for the race. There were thousands of them so 5th place is pretty, darn lucky!

Ellie reading the morning paper...

At our family cherry farm!

Pedis and manis with Gma!

A pretty great time for sweet, gal!

The boys had no clue what we were up too! We drove all the way down to Detroit, even parked the car by Little Caesars Arena and they still had no guesses...But once we walked up it was Pandamonium! :)

Drew wasn't quite sure at first.

He warmed up quicky!

These 2. Two peas in a pod.

All my boys.💙

It was a fun night! A few small moments I will take with me is Luke, cool almost 8th grader, just screaming his head off with excitement. Pure childish fun and it was so awesome to hear him absolutely all in. After the show was done, the guys stayed out to give their testimony and a message from the Bible. The way they spoke their truths and about Jesus' love, specifically for our kids, was nothing short of awesome and inspiring. We are so thankful to have positive role models for kids...We love Dude Perfect!