Round Two ...

The day after my SIL and the girls left, I picked up my sister's three kiddos for a weekend stay.  Last year we had the little loves for a weekend and not only did they have a blast, but we did too!  So, I asked my sister if she would like us to take them again - and of course she wouldn't turn that down! 

We picked them up later in the evening - so I told them as soon as we got home we'd be heading to bed, but we had to make a quick stop for ice cream first ;)

Otis, once again, loved having kiddos around.  I'm pretty sure he would have stayed here if we let him! 

The next morning I was not prepared for the 7am wake up as my sister always says how the little loves usually sleep in, so playing started right away! 

We did go into my classroom for a little bit too - they let me get some work done and they enjoyed playing with the toys I had there too! 

For lunch they each got to make their own pizza - a hit for sure! 

Otis LOVED all the attention he got from the little loves, you'd think we never show him any attention - ha! 

Rest time for the four kiddos :)

That night we grilled out and had one of my friends over with her little girl for s'mores.  And would you believe it, I didn't take a single picture!  Shocking I know!  

Again, Otis wanted to sleep with the little loves - Kylynn wanted him too, but Addi wasn't too sure about it :)

A little science fun with one of Kylynn's tinker sets - a rocket! 

And then it was time to bring the little loves back down.  It was down pouring rain during our drive - and I thought all three of the little loves would pass out, but Addi stayed strong! 

A fun visit for sure - and I'm pretty sure they're already planning their visit for next summer :)

Spaghetti squash lasagna ...

We always have a spaghetti squash laying around our house - it's pretty much a Webb staple.  I'm always trying to find new recipes for them - and sometimes they just turn out too good to be true.  Tonight was one of those nights!

Typically I'll cook up the squash on a Sunday afternoon and then have it for easy meals during the week - but tonight, I cooked it {so time consuming!} and tried to use the time wisely while it was cooking for this new recipe ...

Because tonight was my first night making ...

Spaghetti Squash Lasagna

What you'll need:

2 1/3 cups of spicy italian turkey sausage, casings removed {I used pork sausage because that's what we had at home.}

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 1/2 cups tomato sauce

1 cooked spaghetti squash

2/3 cup of mozzarella cheese

The Process:

Cook your spaghetti squash (cut in half, take out "guts", rub with EVOO, sprinkle on salt & pepper, place upside down in baking dish cooking for 45-60 minutes at 350 degrees). While spaghetti squash is cooking, brown the turkey sausage until no longer pink.  Spray an 8x8 casserole dish with a little cooking spray and begin the laying process.  First, spoon about half your sauce on the bottom of the dish.  Then add the spaghetti squash.  Next, the sausage and follow up with about 1/4 cup sauce and about 1/3 cup of mozzarella cheese.  Then add the ricotta and finally top with remaining sauce and the rest of the mozzarella.  Bake until cheese is melty and bubbly - about 15 minutes.  If you want your cheese to brown more, increase time or raise temp to 400 (that's what I did!), just keep an eye on it.

Enjoy! 

{Now this is a 21 day fix recipe - so if you need the containers it is 1 green, 1/2 blue, and 1 1/2 red.}

Little Visitors {plus their Momma} ...

Last week my sister-in-law brought her two girls up for a visit.  She works weekends so we don't always get to see her that often.  It was an added bonus to have them come stay a night, to show them our town, and just relax together. 

Otis, well, I'm pretty sure his world was rocked a little by our visitors!  He did REALLY well with them, besides getting very jealous whenever I would pick up one of the girls.  His word will be rocked when we eventually have kids !

We enjoyed some time outside playing - Chloe loved Otis' ball gun ;)

And Miss Ava - she is just a cutie! 

The hubs had to leave shortly after they arrived to head downstate for a project - so we soaked up a little time with him outside. 

Ava loves books - and Otis loved being a good audience :)

Playing with some more toys in the house - this girl, she's the cutest! 

Watching the hubs leave - I promise Ava did not go through the screen, ha! :)

We walked over to the school as Chloe wanted to see my classroom - and we spent a good chunk of time playing on the playground.  The girls loved all the different slides!  Even Ava had a blast going down them! 

After dinner - we walked to what else but ICE CREAM! 

It was an adventure with the ice cream - blowing winds, sun out, ice cream melted - we'll just say baths were needed when we got home! :)

Ava's favorite thing was emptying out Otis' toys - it was the cutest thing to watch her offer him every single toy in his bin, made me giggle! 

And that was the quick - but oh so fun visit!  Can't wait to have them visit again soon - and hopefully with their dad this time too! :)

Goodbye manhood ...

Well ... the time came for Otis to say good bye to his man parts!  He has slowly become very aggressive towards other days {especially when his momma is around} so we're hoping that getting rid of some testosterone will help that situation!

Otis was very confused the morning of his operation as to why he couldn't have breakfast BUT when we asked him if he wanted to go for a ride, he was beyond excited!   If only he knew where we were taking him!

We dropped him off at 8am, I received a text a little after 1 saying he was out of surgery and doing well, and we picked him up at 3.  One would think he'd be a little out of it, a little calm, but NOPE!  As the vet tech was bringing him to us he started running and she has to bring him back to the vet to make sure he didn't do any damage.  She wished us good luck on keeping him calm and let us know if it was needed she could give us something to knock him out a little. :)

We got home and upon the vet's advice put on a pair of the hub's old boxers to keep him from licking his incision.

I must admit he looked pretty funny with the boxers on!  But, he didn't try to take them off which I was pretty impressed with! 

We felt so bad for him that day.  He would follow us around and quickly sit down.  He also went into his cage a lot, which was a good thing to help him rest!  And he wanted to be cuddled!  Only problem was we picked one of the HOTTEST days to have his surgery done - it was over 80 degrees in the house and cuddling this fur ball made it even hotter, but apparently it made him feel better. :)

Day two we did a boxer change.  Just watching him walk around the house cracked us up!  He was doing much better on day two, like getting toys out to actually play with them happy which was crazy! 

We had a wedding that afternoon and when we came home in between the wedding and reception to check on the pup, he had the boxers off and they never went back on!  I'm happy to say that the next day he was really back to his old self and has since bounced back !

Here's to hoping we notice a difference in his behavior! 

North Manitou ...

I will be the first to admit that I live a deprived life and have never been camping.  Yes, me - a Northern Michigan native has never been camping.  But, I'm happy to say that has now changed!  Over the weekend the hubs and I, with two of our great friends, went unplugged and backpacking through North Manitou.  

It really was a trip to remember with great guides!  We hiked a little over 5 miles to where we made camp, swam, had deer visit our site, watched a beautiful sunset, got bug bites galore, and endured a wicked storm on Lake Michigan. 

Prepare yourself for picture overload ...

We started off preparing our gear for our trip.  Since we were backpacking we had to carry everything -this meant packing light and only the essentials.  Matt & Annie served as our guides and Matt had figured out our meals, we were slated to have breakfast sandwiches for breakfast so we ended up cracking on the eggs into a little orange juice bottle - a great way to fit them all in! :)  

On the Ferry and ready for our adventure!

Our first stop was South Manitou where we dropped off the first batch of campers.  South has assigned camping sites so it isn't as rugged as North, where we were headed.  We had to hike out and find our own perfect spot to set up camp.

Leaving South and headed to North while enjoying some Cheese Shop - these sandwiches are delish!

And off we go!

Our goal was to find the big barn as we would set up camp near it {you have to be 300 feet away from any buildings are water source}.  Seeing this large barn was a welcomed sign!

Everything inside the barn hadn't been touched in so long - but it all held up so well!  It was pretty amazing to see!

Leaving the barn to find the perfect place to set up camp.

We found water!  A welcomed sight after a long hike!

So beautiful!

One of our amazing guides!

So glad we made it!

Take a dip in Lake Michigan - it was surprisingly SO warm!

Our own private beach :)

Back up at camp making dinner - chicken tacos!

Our home base.

We were just sitting talking when we noticed this guy by us. 

A doe and buck munched around us without a care in the world.  So neat to see!

The boys resting :)

A beautiful spot to watch the sunset.

Up and at 'em!

Looked like a storm coming in!

Ready to hit the trail and head back towards the ferry!

Just after we left our site it started raining - so we took shelter in the big barn and got on our "rain" gear.  Annie and I were very fashionable in our bags :)  Hey, it kept us dry, our gear dry and kept the mosquitoes  away!

Although this sign says Entering - we were officially exciting the wilderness :)

All smiles!

And another storm started to roll in ...

We did stand out in the pouring rain as one storm came rolling through.  We were already wet and it really wasn't that bad - we watched as it blew over South with an amazing lightning show.

Eventually we headed out to the dock because our ferry was due to be in soon.  Then these clouds showed up.  Needless to say - about an hour late the ferry showed up, it was raining hard, winds were picking up and we were told that we had to seek shelter and do it now! We all hunkered down for the walk back down the looooooong dock - the rain felt like pellets being shot at us and I might have thought a time or two I was literally going to be blown off the dock because of how windy it was!  Scary stuff!

After sitting out the storm in the boat house - we were able to board the ferry and go to South to pick up the campers there.  Needless to say it was a very interesting ride with a full ferry and people trying to get on even thought they were scheduled to be on the island for another day.  

We each got a beer on the ride home - because WE MADE IT! According to the Captain on the ferry, we witnessed one of the worst storms he's ever seen on the great lakes.  While we were there we didn't think it was that bad - but in reality it caused a lot of havoc to Northern Michigan ... down trees, major power outages, and just a very scary scene.  We were very thankful to be safe and sound!

And that wraps up my first camping adventure. While the departure wasn't ideal - we were safe the entire time.  There are talks of this becoming a yearly tradition, and of doing for a whole week next time.  I let them know I might be open to two nights, but a week might be pushing it. :)