Cousin Cuteness - Week of July 22nd

"Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the cousins together." ~ Woodrow Wilson

"Cousin to cousin we'll always be, Special friends from the same family tree." ~ Unknown

In the aftermath of the big storm, our family felt fortunate to have only lost power for 12 hours due to the early storm on Saturday, July 20th.  On Monday, there were still over 60,000 customers 'in the dark' due to outages.
We learned that some of our friends didn't have a power restoration time until Tuesday evening!
Cam and Amanda went investigating Monday morning.  On their stroll, they came across multiple downed trees in the nearby park.

This week, Cam's long awaited private swimming lessons started again on Tuesday afternoon.  Ms. Laura, his instructor, had taken a year off of work to start a family.  Cam peppered her with questions about her baby throughout his lesson.  He was happy to be back in the pool at Mary Free Bed and was certainly worn out that evening.

Sunday we headed up north to Oma and Opa's for the day and early evening.  Cousin Steff, her son James and Heath were coming for beach time and dinner.  Cam thinks "Baby James is so cute!"
Seeing these two together reminds Jane of growing up with her younger cousins in the summers on the big Lake.  To this day, those cousins who are both younger and older are still all so close.  Even though Cam and James are 11 years apart, we're pretty confident these two will be good buddies.
 
Lake Michigan was a bit rough and a little chilly so swimming was not on Cam's agenda.  That didn't stop him from playing on the beach with Oma at their pretend bakery set up in front of the Cam Mobile.  We've added another accessory to Cam's beach ride- a beach umbrella for those really hot afternoons.
While grandma and grandson played, baby James (Oma's great-grandson) had a nice nap under another shaded area.  After soaking up the sun for a bit, we all headed up to the cottage for Steff's birthday dinner- steak and shrimp shish kabobs with veggies, potato salad and homemade applesauce.  And for dessert, Cam's favorite, a delicious chocolate cake from Ryke's with Country Dairy ice cream.

It seems even a little squirrel wanted in on all the delicious goodies and bravely made its way to the deck looking for some tasty treats!


Camology Quotes:
When Cam arrived for his swimming lesson, the Mary Free Bed Security Desk didn't 'have him on the list' and escorted him to the pool.  Cam's instructor was quite surprised and indicated it wouldn't happen again.  Cam thought it was quite funny and continued the story at home that evening by pretending while getting ready for bed and questioning his mom.

"What is your name?  Are you on the list?"
"I hope I'm on the list.  I am your mom."
"Oh yes, you are on the Everyday Life List- Permanent Stay!"