Father's Day

This year, we had a great Father's Day, celebrating with the Boss side on Saturday at a Tigers' Game in Comerica Park (they won 12-7!)...

...then celebrating with the Hwang side Sunday, where our KIDS ended up with a pretty fabulous gift (how did THAT happen?)...

...then celebrating at home (and later Whippi Dip for ice cream) with just Daddy.

What great FATHERS we have in our family! THANK YOU! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Father

Montreal Girls' Trip

Whew! What a May I have had! After returning from my family's cabin, I (Carley, not Ed!) traveled with my mom and sister to Montreal for our first ever girls' trip. We had a riot! We hope to do it again in another 5 years or so...The weather was NOT very cooperative - rain EVERY day, for MOST of the day, so we felt the go-ahead to shop, shop, and shop some more! We also met some very interesting and friendly people. We were expecting the opposite and had been forewarned that this French-speaking city may give us the cold shoulder. To the contrary, the store clerks we met LOVED us! This may have something to do with us being very good customers, but still! We ended up knowing several store clerks by name, taking pictures with them, being offered PRIVATE tours, given items for FREE, offered peanuts, cookies, and to be made coffee, subject to MANY personal stories, invited on a mission trip to Haiti, and even had DINNER with our favorite new friend, Mary. It was crazy. We all decided we had NEVER been in such a friendly city! We feel we owe it to these people to go back to Montreal someday just to visit them again! And our giggling fits...oh, words cannot explain, but we found ourselves in uncontrollable fits of laughter on several occasions. It was just way too much fun. Sounds crazy, but I can hardly wait to be 35 when I'll hopefully be able to embark on another girls' trip like this one!

Cabin Fun

We just returned from a terrific Memorial Day weekend at my parents' cabin in the U.P. with our family of 4, my parents, and Steve and Meghan. We usually make it there twice a year, in the fall and winter. It has been a while since we had been there in the spring, so we weren't prepared for the TICKS and BUGS the spring apparently brings! We got used to regular tick-checks (sang that Brad Paisley song often), and whole-heartedly enjoyed an extremely ambitious hike, a.k.a. geo cache, many fantastic dirt bike and ATV rides through the woods, delicious food, and great company. The kids were terrific - LOVEd the rides we took - don't tell the authorities, but Jake and I would sit in the front seat and Claudia and my Mom in the back. It was a blast!

And...Ed set up the camera for this next picture...

Claudia's Princess Party

Claudia turned 4 on May 21! We celebrated with a Princess Party for her and even Cinderella showed up! It was so much fun to see her interact with Cinderella and the other princesses we had invited. She loved it! And we love our little princess so very much! Claudia is fun, outgoing, smart, inquisitive, easily frustrated, emotional, and so very, very cute! She says some great stuff - at the party, it was all about Meijer and telling Cinderella what a great store it was. We'll definitely be watching for Cinderella in future grocery shopping trips!

My Sister the Doctor!

My sister, Katie, graduated from Michigan State College of Human Medicine! That means she is a doctor! After 4 years of dedicated study, we had a wonderful celebration for Dr. Katie! My Dad had the honor of robing her while my Mom, Grandpa and Grandma Kastelin, Aunt Mary and Uncle Jim, Steve and Meghan, and Ed and I watched. Then, we all went out for a fabulous dinner at our family favorite, Bistro Bella Vita, in downtown GR. Good work, sis! Also graduating that day was her boyfriend, Steve Swistak! Just think of all the free medical advice we'll now be entitled to!

Tulip Time

The kids and I enjoyed Tulip Time this year with Uncle Steve and Aunt Meghan. We enjoyed the parade and REALLY enjoyed the rides at the carnival! Getting close to naptime, the kids "posed" with the tulips in Centennial Park. There isn't much Dutch in their outward appearance, but their new Dutch hats helped!