First Day Of School

Kyle's first day of 1st grade was great. He was so excited to go and it was a totally different start then Kindergarten. Last year he was so anxious and worried. This year he was so excited to see his friends and get started learning. He is doing so well in school his teacher Mrs. Todd is the daughter of his Kindergarten teacher Mrs. B. So the transition has been seamless. He is reading everything and his math skills wow me (lets be honest I was never that great in math). It is just so fun to see him excited to learn. But lets also be honest when asked about his favorite parts of school it normally involves gym or recess.

Though Kyle was excited his brothers, especially Ryan, could not wait for the school day to end and have Kyle back home to play. Brotherly love how sweet.

Amazing Vacation in Maine

I don't even know where to start, we had such a great vacation in Maine. It started with at 17 hour drive with three little boys which I must admit I was dreading. We took two and a half days to get out there and the trip was so easy. The boys all did great. Even Brady, our sweet boy who now screams to get our attention :).

We arrived in Northeast Harbor Maine (right by the Acadia National Park) Saturday afternoon and were joined very quickly by my parents, who had arrived on their sail boat the day before. Very soon after, Don's sister Sharon, her husband Jon, and kids Kate and Jon Boy arrived. We had rented a house about 1 block from the town of Northeast Harbor which was so cute.

Right away Ryan and Kate were paired up as roommates, and Ryan was quick to begin to tell Kate how she does not need to be afraid of the dark. Kate was so good with Ryan and even let him cuddle with her in the morning when he would wake up before everyone else.

Ryan and Kate

The first thing we decided to do was go sailing to see the island that surround Mount Desert Island. We took a trip up the only Fjord in North America. On the trip we saw a seal and many lobster pots. I am not kidding, many!! I normally find helming (driving) kind of boring, but have to say with the challenge of dodging lobster pots it is kind of entertaining.


Kyle, Jon Boy, and Kate decided to take a swim off the boat. Oh yes, it was COLD! Lets say they might have needed a little help to get into the water and for sure they were not in long. The water temp where we were was about 60 degrees.

Uncle Jon helping Kyle into the COLD water.

And Kate too!

We all decided a whale watching adventure was something we had to do. It was truly an amazing day. Maine can be very cold, windy, and foggy all of which make whale watching questionable. Well, we picked a day that was sunny, warm, and the water completely calm. We got to see whales so close up and one even breached (jumped out of the water). None of us had been whale watching so it was amazing and wow they really are huge!!


My mom (Dee Dee) organized a treasure hunt. Everyone had a pirate name: Kyle (Toothless Nick), Jon Boy (Peg Leg Pete), Ryan (Little hook)...I can't remember the rest of our names but Dee Dee gave us all clues, we had to drink swill, and we had promise of a treasure if we could complete the map. The kids loved it as much as Dee Dee loved it. It was pretty funny on the walk around town to complete the treasure hunt. Ryan decided he did not want to be Little Hook, but Big Hook, so we all had to vote with an "Arhhh Matie" and then he changed his mind, and wanted to be Little Hook again, "Arhh Matie" and then again back to Big Hook...I can't remember who he ended up being.


One day we spent biking and stopped for a picnic at a really pretty "creek". The boys loved the idea of jumping in. but we made sure they stayed on the dry rocks. After biking through parts of Acadia, we headed to Sand Beach. We quickly realized keeping them out of the water would not be possible, we also realized we adults wanted nothing to do with the COLD water. Later we found out the water temp at Sand Beach rarely gets above 55 degrees. Despite the COLD water the boys had a great time.



One of the highlights of the trip for the boys, Jon Boy especially, was the tide pool hunting. We spent hours looking and hunting for sea creatures. They actually caught a number of crabs but not King Crabs like Jon was hoping for. It was more about the hunt then the catch.

Aunt Sharon giving a science lesson by dissecting a crab...Stinky!!

Maine is beautiful and we were able to enjoy many of the sights by boat, bike, and foot. We even sailed to an island and took the dingy ashore exploring. We learned that a family had lived on the deserted island and had raised 12 kids there with no electricity or running water. Oh my that might have killed me :). I won't even camp without running water and electricity.

We found a lobster Pot on the beach

You can't go to Maine and not cook lobster. We did exactly that. I have to say it might have been one of the funniest parts of the trip. Sharon and I were committed to cooking the Lobster. One had to hold them and the other had to cut the rubber bands off. I was quick to grab the scissors out of Sharon's hand :). Lets just say it was good that we had not taken the lobster boating museum tour before we cooked our lobsters. If I would have known that if the one claws latches on, you have to have a screwdriver to get it off...I am pretty sure I would have not gotten close to those things.



On our way back we decided to stop in Niagra Falls to show the kids this amazing sight as well. They thought it was pretty cool that you could get wet by the falls even when you were so far away.




Over all we had a wonderful trip. The big boys had so much fun!! Brady was such a trooper and went on every adventure with us without much protest. We were so blessed to have such a wonderful time.

Brady the Birthday Boy

I can't hardly believe it but our baby turned one. On July 20th Brady turned one and we had a small celebration for him. Our friends the Dole family came over to celebrate.

We have had much discussion over the past few weeks about what would be Brady's birthday cake. The boys had lots of ideas but we ended up settling on a train cake. My thought was to just do the engine making it a pretty quick and easy cake.

Well, we had been out of town and did not start the cake until Monday night and could not find a good picture on line that was not Thomas the train. Finally, Ryan and I found a picture we liked but it had train cars as well. Oh well he only turns one once.

Lets just say it did become a bit of an extreme cake and we had plenty for all. Brady was given an entire train car to eat but guess what...he would not eat any of it. He did not even want any ice cream which he normally likes. We all wondered who's child he was :). We actually think his belly was not feeling well from our ecoli exposure so we may try another cake eating when we celebrate with my mom and dad on our vacation to Maine in a week.


At one Brady weighs 23 pounds. He is very close to running. He loves to climb the stairs and is figuring out how to come down backwards. He has started screaming to communicate (it is making me crazy). He loves his brothers and is a sweet boy.

Tiger's Game

For fathers day this year the boys and I decided tickets for a Detroit Tiger's baseball game would be a perfect gift. So we picked a dated in July and bought 4 tickets (sorry Brady you had to stay home).

The day of the game was great...hot but great. The boys so enjoyed the experience and Don so enjoyed watching his favorite sport with his favorite boys. The boys enjoyed the game, but really liked the hot dogs, cotton candy, peanuts and what ever else they were able to get their hands on.

Camping Adventures

Don, Chris and Angi (said I blinded them with the flash...our camper in the background)

We have started a new activity in our family. Don and I both grew up camping but we have not done any camping with our kids. Last fall we decided we wanted to find a camper of some type so we could start camping with the kids. After much searching and debate, (I grew up camping in a nice travel trailer and Don grew up camping in a pop-up) we decided on a pop-up but with some added features. Most importantly a bathroom with toilet and shower. We finally found a used pop-up on Craig's List, about 2 hours from us, with all our requirements plus a few nice extras.

A few weeks ago we had our first camping adventure at School Section Lake, about 30 minutes from our house. Over all it went well and the kids did very well. Lets just say thank you for the new sound machine we bought that helped cover all the noises that are involved in sleeping all in one small space.

Kyle 6 1/2 was our master marshmallow roaster...made to order light golden brown, a darker crispy brown, burnt...he could do it all.

Though the camping trip went well, over the next few days Kyle, Ryan, Brady, and I all ended up with stomach issues. After plenty of puking and pooping over a week we found out many people camping at this campground were sick. Found out it was ecoli making people sick. So though the camping experience overall was great, the after effect was a bit hard to take.

Being mostly recovered from ecoli, we decided to try another camping experience. This time in Ludington. Our friends, the Beland's, joined us again and we had a great time. The campground we stayed at was nice and everyone had fun. Oh, but I forgot to mention, the HUGE thunderstorm that came through at 4am. The kids slept through it, but I have to say there were a few prayers said by the adults.

We have two more camping trips planned this summer and looking forward to campfires, swimming, riding bikes and getting really dirty :).

July 4th Fun!!

I am a bit behind in my blog post, but today I am committed to catching up. We had such a great 4th of July weekend up north in Boyne City. Boyne City might be a small town, but they sure do a great job with the 4th. We headed up Friday night and arrived just in time to see the end of Friday night stroll the streets. Every Friday night in downtown Boyne City they have different musicians performing on different street corners or in front of certain shops/restaurants. Since we have a music lover (Ryan) stroll the streets is often a fun activity.

We spent a nice day at the beach with our friends the Belands. Their little boy Jace is 3 1/2 and played very well with Kyle and Ryan. Brady again enjoyed the water and the sand and really mastered the eating of the sand on this trip to the beach.

Brady 11 months

Kyle and Chris with some help from the other boys build a pretty impressive sand castle.

We also had fun at the parade. Don complains every year that it is the longest parade ever. It does get a bit much when the fire trucks from I swear from every county in Northern Michigan come through honking their horns, but really it is a great parade and the boys love it.

Kyle (61/2), Ryan (4), Jace Beland (31/2)

After the parade we headed to bounce house village where they have about 7 difference bounce house inflatables and one that is a water slide. It was a very hot day so Kyle loved that one. Ryan was not to fond of the COLD water so he enjoyed the other inflatables. One was a jousting competition. Kyle some how convinced Ryan to joust him. Though it was an uneven battle Ryan held his own and most importantly the brothers fought nice...I am sure someday soon that is going to change.
So you might be thinking well what about 4th of July fireworks? The 4th of July is not the 4th of July without fireworks, or at least that is the line Kyle kept repeating to us. Well for the past few years we have kept everyone up to watch the fireworks and lets say it is more work then it is worth. So this year we decided to skip them and put kids to bed closer to normal bed time. Well, lets just say Kyle was very sad. So Don and I decided when they started we would wake him up and drive if we had to to the end of the street to see them. Well, when the fireworks started we discovered there was perfect viewing right from my parents back yard. So Don went and scooped Kyle out of bed. I think it took Kyle 5 minutes into the fireworks show to fully wake up. It was a very special thing for just Kyle and he was a very happy boy and he did not rub it in to his brother the next morning so we were very proud of him.

Family Reunion

Well the Lopez/Diaz family does not get together very often but my cousin Glenn also turned 50 this year so he and his wife decided to host a birthday/family reunion party this summer. Well guess what I was the only one left in the state this summer to represent the Diaz part of the family. My brother lives in Grand Cayman...so he was not going to make it. My mom and dad were someplace on the east cost being sailing bums (yea for them). So Don and I packed up a crew and off to Detroit we headed.

The party was nice and it was good to see my aunts and uncle and many of my cousins and the kids had a BLAST!

Ryan had a love for music and I found him in the basement with all the girls playing the video game rock band. I asked the musicians, "Is your group called 3 ladies and a dude?" they thought that was a fitting name. The girls were much older than Ryan but they were so nice to him and let him sing (young teen girl songs), play the guitar and the drums. He spent most of the party rocking it out Ryan style.


Kyle on the other hand was scamming his way on the six person bike thing they had. The first person he scammed was his dad who he convinced to ride him and Ryan around the block. Lets just say I think Don was the only one who was peddling.


Over all we had a great day and it was fun to visit with everyone. Maybe next time we get together there will be a few more Diaz's.