Gladwin County Fair

Nothing like a county fair! The Gladwin County Fair was held this week. These photos were taken Wednesday, 7/26/2006. Here is Heather, Ryan & Rosa (Heather's friend) going down the big slide.
Of course, every fair has a scambler!

The kids had a great time. We closed down the park that night and didn't get home until well after 11 pm. Ryan was so happy that he was tall enough this year to ride most of the rides. He was actually too tall for some of the kiddie rides that he enjoyed last year. They would't let him right the little rides this year.

AWESOME Sunset on Lake Lancer in Sugar Springs! 7/27/2006

Look at this AMAZING Sunset on Lake Lancer!!!! We decided to take a late evening boat ride to watch the sunset and we got to see a spectacular show of color!
The kids and the dogs enjoyed our little trip.

What do you think this looks like??? It looks like a house on FIRE to me..... but it's not. It's a trick of light. The sunset relecting off of this homes windows made it look like the place was going up in flames. Quite amazing!

More Fishing Photos!!!

These were taken from Blue Lake about a week ago.

Wow! Two days of AWESOME Fising! Look at this nice bass, caught with a nightcrawler! He was 14 1/2 inches long.
And this beautiful Rock Bass!
And this really nice perch!
And this BIG Fat Bluegill...
And another Big Bluegill....
And another fun fighting Rock Bass!

Ivie Baker - Realtor of the Year for the Clare/Gladwin Board of Realtors!

Surprise!!!!!... At least it was for me. I just found out last week that I was voted Realtor of the Year for the Clare/Gladwin Board of Realtors. Wow! And it wasn't even something I was shooting for!

The B.O.R. is paying for my Michigan Realtor Convention registration and for our (Jim & I) stay at the Amway Grand Hotel in Grand Rapids for 3 nights in Septmeber. The Realtors of the Year for different areas of Michigan will be announced at this convention!

What a pleasent surprise!!!

Swimming at Blue Lake July 13th 2006

Here is Heather, Rosa and Ryan sitting on a chair in the lake.
Here's Heather! The water in Blue Lake is unbelievably clean. You can see right to the bottom, even when you are in 20 ft deep water. It's awesome!
Here's Heather doing a cannon ball off of the raft.
Here is Heather's friend Rosa jumping off of the raft.... and here is Heather and Rosa jumping together.
Here is Ryan, kicking back and relaxing in the shallow water. It's soooo refreshing!

We've been spending a lot of time at this beach lately. It's supposed to get up over 95 degrees today with a heat index of over 100. YUCK! Guess where we'll be today? THE BEACH!!!

Ryan's Big Bass

Here is Ryan with his big bass that he caught last night on Lake Lancer. He was fishing with a worm and bobber. We didn't get a chance to measure him before we put in back in the lake to get bigger. He sure what a pretty bass! Ryan was very proud. He caught the biggest fish last night.
Here was the scene we watched as the moon began to rise, last night. The photo doesn't do it any justice. It was a BIG orange moon. What a beautiful night to be out on the lake!

Lemonade Anyone???

4th of July weekend, the kids had a lemonade stand out in front of our house, during the Sugar Springs Craft Show. This has become a yearly event for the kids. Since the show is just across the street, lots of people walk by our house to get there. It's a perfect opportunity for the kids to earn some extra money. This year, however... they decided to donate their money to a fund raiser being held for a friend of family. A very good friend of Heather's, lost her grandmother to cancer a couple weeks ago. The Secord Eagle Club is having a bake sale fund raiser in late July and all of the proceeds are being donated to this family to help defray some of the major medical costs incured during her 2 month stay at the hospital. The kids earned a total of $65.04 from their sale, and the money was dropped off at the Eagles Club yesterday. Good Job Kids!!!

Here are some photos of the Kids at Blue Lake

Here is Heather with a house finch that, we think might have run into our window. Eventually, he did fly away.
Here is a spotted bluegill that Haether caught a couple weeks ago.
Here is Ryan with his BIG Frog. He caught this near the shore, when I moved the rowboat.
Here are the kids swimming and playing with friends at the beach across the lake.
Here is Ryan with his friend Michael, building some little river valleys.

The Chalet at Blue Lake

Here are some more recent photos of the Chalet at Blue Lake. We spend the first 2 weeks in June at the Chalet with the kids. We went fishing and the kids did some swimming at the beach. I will post some of those photos in another post above.
This was taken from the road side, looking down the driveway.
This is our little creek that runs through the middle of out 2 lots.
Here is the dock with our paddleboat and rowboat.
Here is a rainbow about a week and a half ago.
Here is Ryan, Heather and their friend Rosa, enjoying our new hot tub.
I took this photo while sitting out in the middle of the lake looking back at the Chalet. That yellow swim raft is ours. We have yet to use it!

Memorial Day Weekend Sunset

I wanted to share this photo with you. This was taken Memorial Day evening at sunset while enjoying the company of some good friends of ours, out on Lake Lancer. We spend a lot of our summer evenings out here on the lake. On this evening, we took the BBQ grill out onto our pontoon boat and tied our boat to their pontoon... and cooked dinner, while enjoying the beautiful sunset.

After Dance Recital at McDonalds

Here is Ryan & Heather with some little friends. The girls just LOVE Ryan!!!! These two girls were in Ryan's class this past year.
The little girl to the left is named Lainey and she was also in Ryan's T-ball team this past spring. She REALLY likes Ryan! The girl to the right is Keylee (I hope I spelled that right).
Here is Heather with Grandma Phillips-Baker.

Heather's Dance Recital

On June 8th, 9th & 10th, Heather had her dance recital at the Gladwin High School. This was her first year of dance classes and she seemed to really enjoy it. She learned a lot. On Friday the 9th, Grandma K, Grandpa K, Grandma P, Uncle Mike & Aunt Mariann came up here to see her perform. She was so excited that they all came up to see her dance.
Here is Heather and I in her dressing room before she went out on stage Friday.
Heather with her good friend Rosa.
Look at that BIG smile! This was taken on rehearsal night.

This picture was taken a couple months ago. I could resist posting it. Heather looks like some deranged bunny! Scary!

Ryan just turned 7 at the beginning of June. Doesn't time FLY! Also, he just wrapped up another season of T-ball the second week in June. Next year he will be in coach pitch. He did really well this year. We're proud of him!

Summer is here and I thought it would be fun to share some photos and fun times through a news blog online. Please feel free to check back any time to see if there is anything new posted.

Here is Heather and Ryan with some creature they made out of these KidKe'nex things.