Oh Boy It Has Been A Long Time

Hello Everyone! It has been a VERY long time since the last blog post. I would guess it has been about a year. So much has happen in the last year which has made this one full post. There has been a summer filled with fun, school events for our nieces and nephews, baseball games, soccer games, cross country meets, band concerts, choir concerts, auction of our old house, dismantling of our old house, birthday parties, Christmas tree hunt, Christmas cookie bake, holiday get-togethers, the county fair, visits with out of town guests, a spring break in Florida and the finishing of our new house. WOW that is a lot of stuff!!!

BIG A$$ POST

It has been some time since the last blog post and this one is a big one.  The new house build is coming along and a lot has happened on that front.  We have been very busy with all sort of events including Christmas with our families, Sydney's volleyball, spending time with family from out of town, Andrew's band concert, Sydney's choir concert and middle school play" The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe", Easter, Mother's Day, Adam's Cub Scout award program, Andrew's Boy Scout award program, Sydney's Soccer, Sydney's 8th Farewell Dance, Sam's 3rd Birthday and Memorial Day.  It has been a very busy few months.  This is a big blog post, Enjoy!   

Fall

This fall has been a busy one with our house project going on (see house post for pictures of the house project).  However besides the house project we enjoyed the last of the warm weather on the lake, went to the local fair with the Melchi's/Rozema's, watched Andrew run cross country and Sydney play soccer, attended a choir concert for Sydney and even spent a fun filled weekend in Nashville visiting the Fitch Family.  We also did our annual Christmas tree hunt over the Thanksgiving weekend with the Bird family.  It has been a fun filled fall and hopefully winter will not be coming any time soon.

House Is Coming Along

It has been some time since we posted pictures of how the house is coming along and a few of you have asked for updated pictures of the house project so we figured it was time to do a post.  The house is coming along but the weather here in Michigan has not been good to us but we are moving forward on the house project.  Enjoy the pictures!!!

Summer Fun

The summer of 2014 has been a busy one for the Baker's.  What we have been doing I'm not sure.  I know we have spent time with both of our families, time at the lake, taking in our nephews' baseball games, time in Chicago and had a wonderful Rosebud Quince Reunion the first part of August that saw 41 people at our house.  We have also been spending time working on the new Baker Bungalow.  I'm not sure where the summer has gone as now kids are back to school for another year and the lake has turned quiet.  But I do know it was a fun 2014 Summer.  Here are some pictures from the summer.  If you want to see pictures of the new Baker Bungalow there is another post for that and more to come.  I hope you all had a great summer!!!

We've got WOOD!!!!!

The builders have been busy the past week or two! First floor almost complete. Only a few issues popped up, but were quickly resolved. Enjoy the photos.

The Baker's Get A New Bungalow - Part 1

Construction has finally begun! We spent the winter designing our new bungalow, and now the building phase has started! Take a look!

Winter, Spring and Early Summer

It was another busy winter, spring and early summer filled with all sorts of fun stuff.  We attended band concerts for Andrew and choir concerts for Sydney.  Soccer games and swim meets for Sydney.  Baseball games for Adam and Andrew.  T-Ball games for Jack.  Sydney turned 13 and is now a full on teenager.  Sam turned 2 and got his very own John Deere tractor.  Sam came and spent the day with us and got some one on one time with Autie E and Uncle K.  We also spent some time on the lake enjoying the nice weather we have been having this summer.  Yes it was a busy winter, spring and early summer but it has been filled with fun things.  We would not want it any other way.  Enjoy the pictures!!!

Fun Filled Fall and Holidays

The fall of 2013 turned out to be a busy one filled with all sorts of fun activities.  We spent a lot of time with the Rozema kids between watching them so their parents could have some adult time, Jack's 4th birthday, Halloween and Sydney's soccer games we got some quality time in with them.  Gene turned 70 so we HAD to have a birthday get together for him which included friends and family.  Some of which he has been friends with since he was in high school and college.  Erika was inducted into the Sturgis High School Athletic Hall of Fame which was a great honor for her and our family.  We are very proud of her!!!  We were able to attend one of Andrews cross country meets which he did very well in and I think he enjoyed cross country this year.  I can see more cross country meets in our future.  Erin took a trip to Rochester, NY to get together with her dear friend Monica Taylor who she met 20 years ago while attending RIT.  Neither one of them had been back on campus for 12 years.  They enjoyed being back on campus.  They took in a volleyball match, caught up with one of their roommates from their college days and spent some time with their old volleyball coach.   We also went to visit Monica's brother who has a poultry farm.  Mostly we relived a lot of great memories!!! It was a wonderful trip!

From the fall we rolled right into the holidays which were filled with fun times as well.  We spent Thanksgiving with the Baker family at Scott and Michelle's house which was very nice.  We attended a few Christmas/holiday parties at friends houses.  Took in Sydney's Christmas choir concert, which was very good.  We did our annual Christmas tree hunt with the Melchi and Bird families and the Melchi family got together to bake Christmas cookies both events were fun.  On Christmas Day we spent time with both the Melchi and Baker families.  It was a very festive holiday season this year.  Now we are well into 2014 and so far it has been a cold one but good!

Here are some pictures from our fun filled fall and holiday season!  I hope you enjoy them and everyone is staying warm during this cold winter we are all having!

New York

Over the Labor Day weekend Kirby and I went to New York City.  This the fourth time we have made this trip over the Labor Day weekend.  Our main reason for going is to attend the US Open Tennis Tournament but we also try to do some sightseeing and we always take in some good food while we are there.  We started our trip with a GREAT meal at Wolfgang's Steakhouse.  Which is a steak house that was right across from our hotel.  Kirby had a nice steak and I had a lovely lobster.  We ate too much and were SO full when we left the restaurant but it was well worth it.  This year we saw some very good tennis that included seeing Roger Federer, the William's sisters and many more.  We also ran into a friend from Michigan (Ann Orca).  It was a lot of fun spending time with her at the Open. 

We had another great trip to New York City and made some great memories!!!  Enjoy some pictures from our trip!!!

Summer 2013

Another summer has come to an end but the summer of 2013 was full of lots of family time, lake time, baseball games for Andrew, a Cubs game, a birthday party for Andrew and Adam and all sorts of other fun times.  Here are a few picture of the fun filled summer.  Hopefully it won't be long before summer returns again!!!

Sam Turns 1

On May 23rd Samuel Beckett Rozema aka. "Super Sam" turned 1 year old.  We had a fun filled family first birthday party at Klinger Lake.  Sam is a very cute and busy 1 year old.  Enjoy the pictures from Sam's 1st birthday party!

Spring Break 2013

This spring The Melchi Parents went to Florida for a few weeks so the Melchi Kids and their sidekicks went down for a visit over Sydney's (our nieces) spring break.  All seven of us made the trip down over the a period of a few days.  We had a lot of fun going to the beach, the pool and just relaxing.  The kids had fun swimming in both the pool and the ocean.  We looked for shells by the ocean and enjoyed the sunny weather.  While we were there we even celebrated Sydney's 12th birthday.  I don't think there is a better way to celebrate your 12th birthday than in sunny Florida. 

There were a couple of downers to the trip, Sam (our youngest nephew) got sick just before it was time for his family to head to Florida for the trip so he and his dad did not come until a few days later when he was feeling a little better but then got sick again while they were in Florida.  So Erika and Rob had to spend some time at the local hospital in Florida with him.  Then just a few days before Kirby and I were to head home Kirby came down with a sore throat and sinus infection so off to the walk in clinic we went where they confirmed what we already knew but gave him a prescription for some medication.  Kirby was a trooper and made the best of the situation.  He would take a nap and I would go to the pool to swim with the kids, read a book or take a nap in the sun.  Even though there were some downers to the trip we had fun and it was nice to get away as a family. 

Here are some pictures from our trip, enjoy!!

Spring 2013

Well it was another busy spring with lots of fun activities to go to for our niece and nephews.  They are all very busy which in turn keeps Kirby and I busy running from one activity to another.  However we enjoy it.  Our spring was filled with swim meets, soccer games, baseball games, band concerts and choir concerts.  They were all fun and the kids did great!  Here are some pictures from the different events.  Enjoy!

The Holiday's

The holiday's for Kirby and I are always a fun time of the year as we get to spend extra time with our families.  Seeing that we don't have any children we seem to do all the running while it is a little tiring it is well worth it.  We spent Thanksgiving with the Melchi family (my parents and my sisters family) at my parents house and Kirby's parents joined us there, it was nice to be all together for the holiday.  Kirby and I are so thankful to have such a wonderful family which includes both sides. 

The day after Thanksgiving we did our annual Christmas Tree hunt with the Bird family.  We first met for breakfast then it is off to Fairview Tree Farm to get our tree.  The owner lets my dad driver the tractor and the rest of us pile on the wagon and off we go into the field.  It was very cold and windy this year so Sam the littlest of the group rode in the nice warm truck with his dad.  We had a great time finding our trees, I believe we ended up with five for the group this year.  It is such a lovely holiday tradition.

To bring some holiday spirit to our holiday season we attended Andrew's holiday band concert and Sydney's choir concert.  It is great to see them both taking part in the arts and enjoying it.  Kirby and I also went to my parents one Saturday night and made Christmas cookies.  It is a tradition in the Melchi family to make Christmas cookies.  We have been doing it since I was a young girl.  I can remember having my friends over when I was younger to help out.  We would end up with the sugar cookie dough on the bottom of our socks and the dough everywhere.  I'm not sure how my mom did not get mad at us but we sure did have fun.  Over the years there have been a lot of people that have taken part in this tradition but this year it was Kirby, My Mom, My Dad and I.  Mainly my dad and I did it while Kirby and my mom told us how to do it :) we had a good time though.  Plus the cookies turned out very well.

On Christmas Eve we had my parents and Kirby's parents over for some appetizers and merriment.  Then it was off to church for a lovely Christmas service.  On Christmas day we went to Kirby's parent's for Christmas lunch, his brother's family was there as well.  It was so fun to see the kids open their presents and be excited about what they received. The adults also enjoyed their presents but not as much as the kids I don't think :).  Then Christmas evening we went to my parent house and celebrated the holiday with my parents and my sister's family.  We had a lovely evening and the little ones got some fun presents. 

All and all it was a very merry holiday season spent with all the people in our lives we love so much!

Autum Activities

Our fall was full of fun activities.  We attended the county fair and ate all sort of things that are not good for us like fries and elephant ears.  Celebrated Jack's third birthday where he got Hot Wheel cars and a carrier for them from Auntie E and Uncle K.  He loved his cars and the carrier so much that he took it to bed with him that night.  We took in a few of Sydney's soccer games and attended Andrew's Boy Scot meeting where he was awarded some medals.  Spent some quality time with the Rozema kids.  Had a hot dog roast where Kirby built one heck of a fire.  It was so big and hot that at times we had a hard time roasting our hot dogs.  We spent Halloween evening with some very cute goblins.  It was a very fun filled fall!!! 

NYC/US Open

Back the early part of September, Kirby and I took our annual trip to New York City.  Well it used to be annual but then we took a couple years off because we got married one year then the next year a friend of ours got married.  But last winter Kirby and I decided we were going to start making the trip again.  Our main reason for going is to attend the US Open Tennis Tournament.  See both Kirby and I played tennis growing up and have a love for the game.  Then when we were dating we got talking about things we would like to do before we die (like you do when you are dating, telling the other person all your hopes and dream :)) and it turned out that we both had attending the US Open on our "bucket list".  So that first year of dating off to the US Open we went and had a great time. 

Now fast forward to September 2012 (five years later).  As I said our main reason for going is to attend the US Open but while we are there we take in the sights of New York City.  This year besides seeing great tennis and great tennis players we also went to the 911 Memorial and Museum, saw the Enterprise shuttle which is now located on the USS Intreprid and did a lot of walking around.  I think one of the highlights of the trip for us was that we got to see Andy Roddick play as this was the last tournament he played in.  We had a very nice trip and enjoyed our time in "The Big Apple".  Here are some of the pictures from our trip!

Summer FUN!!!

So I'm behind on my blogging but here is a little slice of summer to brighten up the day.  We had a busy end of the summer that included outdoor concerts, Cubs games, nephew's birthday parties, dinner parties and Kirby's 40.5 birthday/movie party in our side yard.  It was a very busy but fun end of the summer.  Only a few more months and we will be back to that warm summer weather.  Enjoy the picture slide show. 

The Fitch's come for a visit

Back the first part of July the Fitch's (Waren, Jill, Sam, Ty, Alli and Evan) came to spend the day with Kirby and I at the lake while they were in Michigan for a visit.  We had a lovely day with them.  We went to the middle of the lake and went swimming or at least most of us did.  Evan took a nap on the boat while everyone else went swimming.  After swimming we had a cook out and made S'mores.  We had a great time and hope they come back soon to spend more time with us. 

Fourth of July

We celebrated the 4th of July on Klinger Lake with our family.  We had a lovely cook out with both sides of our family.  The day included swimming, playing in the water, a 4th of July boat parade, eating and fireworks.  It is always nice when we all can get together.  Enjoy the photos from our 4th of July get together.