Ellie and Riley, BFFs.
Due to COVID Rochester Hills postponed their fireworks until mid-August. It was kinda weird celebrating so late in the summer but a bonus was that it gets darker earlier! This year Luke went to a youth group event with buddies so it was just the 4 of us. ( We did decide to switch churches after taking a break during COVID. We are now attending Woodside, Troy and we all love it. One of the main reasons was their youth group program for middle and high school and now that we have a middle schooler...omg!)
It was the worth the wait! Such a great show!!
Meanwhile, Luke with his buddies...These boys all grew up playing Little League together.
Also, we are at the stage that when I pop open my photos I have all sorts of surprise selfies!
Elle has her top braces on now too AND now Luke is gearing up for his braces! First he has some brackets and rubber bands to wear first.
AND here we are. That moment when all of a sudden you realize your sweet, little boy is on his own adventure. It's that moment when you realize his time left at home is limited. Only 6 more first days of school holding the frame in our front yard. He will learn all the things that we've tried to prepare him for and now he is stepping into a new, bigger, and unfamiliar world. The happy and heavy exists all at the same time. We are so excited for you, Luke. You, kiddo, are so ready. We love you.
Hart Middle School....Lead with HART.
Ben took Luke and Drew to Luke's orientation. My school year had already started so I was working and Ellie was with Riley.
Luke timed himself opening his locker until he could get his time just right :)
The best and most patient little bro around...
Luke and his buddies checking each others' schedules.
We were able to go on our next Morin family baseball trip! Ben and I just didn't want to say goodbye to summer quite yet...SO, we made a quick trip to Chicago! We left early Saturday morning and drove right to the parking lot of Wrigley Field. This is my favorite stadium so far. On the outside it looks so unassuming and is just plunked down in the middle of this cute Chicago neighborhood. Cute bars and restaurants surround it.
Because there isn't a ton of space devoted to parking, or really no space at all, you park your own car about a mile down from the stadium in a huge empty lot. Then they have buses that take you right to the Wrigley's entrance.
At one point our kiddos wanted to sit by themselves... We had to get a shot of them just hanging.
And Ben and I could just hang too. ( See Drew in the back!)
It was a hot day and we did have a rain delay but it was a quick delay and we were under a cover. All good.
Cross it off the list. Wrigley Field, done and done.
Afterwards, we checked into our hotel...
And then out we went.
We walked ALL over downtown. On Luke's watch he clocked us at like 7.6 miles by the time we got back to the hotel. ALL 3 kids walked until 11 with no complaining...Drew rocked it. We were all excited to watch this street show from a group of gymnasts who had been on America's Got Talent.
Ben was picked to be in the show...
So was Elle... She was so BRAVE! The stunt was for the guy to flip over all 7 people lined up! The group gave Ellie 20 bucks for being so brave. :)
I LOVE OUR FAMILY!
The next day we checked out and headed back out to downtown. Look at this beautiful traveler waiting in the lobby all ready for her next adventure!
Of course, we had to check out The American Girl store!
This was outside the Lego store and Drew said, " Mom, get a picture with me and all the girls!" OH, DREW?!?!
Before leaving downtown, shakes at our favorite Shake Shack!
On the way home. we dropped the kiddos off with Uncle Tom and Aunt Cathy for the night!
That week, Aunt Pam and Don came into town. Ben and Drew met up with everyone for a Tiger's game...
Drew was living it up being the only kid...totally spoiled!
And this big guy, got his phone. Here he is making his first call...To who? This Mama, of course! (I was at work)
The last Saturday before school, we scooted around downtown going to the Farmer's Market and out for donuts.
At Top Golf for Carter's birthday party. I'm pretty sure the Dads had just as much fun, if not more!
At our church welcome back picnic!
These boys. Love them all.
Luke played great! Here he is batting. He also played catcher again since breaking his leg!
Of course this double header was scheduled the Sunday night before the first day of school. This was clearly NOT planned by a Mom. Thank goodness it rained and so the 2nd game was canceled!
And here we are. Summer 2021, we LOVED you.
1st Day of 6th grade! The bus comes at 6:34 am. I am happy to report that since this picture was taken, Luke LOVES middle school. He tells us almost every night. " Mom, I love middle school!" He loves the independence. He loves switching classes. He loves having a locker. He loves his teachers. He loves all of his friends. He was even invited by his principal, Mrs. Roberts, to be on her advisory board. She asks 3 students from each grade-level (6-8) and she asked Luke. They meet with her monthly and had their first meeting last week. Luke we are so, so proud of you! ( And you haven't missed the bus yet, so I'm pretty proud of Ben and I too)
Elle and her first day of 4th grade! This year Elle has all of her girlfriends in class and she has the "new" teacher, Mrs. Weisupt, so needless to say Elle is loving her year! Since this pic she has applied for Student Council and to the Word Nerd Club. She also spent one afternoon emailing all of the teachers, principal and paras to tell them how much she loves them. Elle, you AMAZE us every single day.
Drew and his first day of 1st grade! Drew has Ms. Davis and we love that Drew has her! (Elle had her too) Drew has already grown so much in reading and writing and we are so proud of him.
This day was so important to us. It was another step forward in our new normal after COVID. These 3 haven't had a "normal" year since Luke was in 3rd, Elle was in 1st grade, and Drew well he hasn't had a full year of in-person school yet ever. But here we are. We are so grateful!
Janae and Freddy got married! They were able to celebrate just the way they wanted too. Before they eloped, we got to celebrate with them for a bit over Labor Day weekend! Elle had her first game EVER on her new travel soccer team. Not only was it her first game but it was also a tourney! Her team made it to the championship game! Luke also had a tourney and lost in double overtime in the championship game. Good thing the tourney was just a few miles from our house. We were back and forth all day Sat. and Sun. in between both of their games! It is so much fun watching them do what they love!
Janae and Freddy got married!! Here we are celebrating them up in Leelanau!
Bring us all the soccer games.
And still rocking gymnastics.
Elle and her girl squad getting ready for the Fun Run!
