It's good to be HOME!

Hello and welcome back to my blog if you've been gone too!  I'm just back from Michigan and had a GREAT time there, but being gone all Summer has worn me out and I'm so ready to be home for a while!

I still have sooo many pictures to share from Europe and now I have a TON of pictures from Michigan to show you too!

I also have some SEPTEMBER SNEAKS TO SHOW YOU TOO!

I hope that gets you excited!  I'm soooo happy to be back in "A Kiss on the Chic" mode and I can't WAIT to get these kits in the DT hands and get ready for the KIT REVEAL ON AUGUST 31st!!

So, I think I'll show you LOTS of pictures from Michigan and then tomorrow I'll share more EUROPE FINDS and SEPT. SNEAKS!  Sound good?....

Well, I'll start by saying Victoria had an AWESOME time at SERVE with my brothers youth group and it really is a GREAT time for all the kids to get in the community and help others and learn more about SERVING!  It was so neat for Rebecca to also be at SERVE this year and get to hang out with my brother a couple days as well as the speaker, Joleen, and the Barnabus girls who go around to all the work sites and bring treats and motivation!  I can't wait for Rebecca to be old enough to do the SERVE project, I know she'll love it as much as Victoria has!  Now Victoria is going to want to tag along when it's Rebecca's turn!  lol...

So while they worked all week, Dawn and I and Ella and Isabella had some FUN!

 

Here's a picture Isabella took with my iPhone in the airplane to Michigan... I love it!

 

She was a little scared of this flight for some reason but as soon as we started taking pictures, she was having a GREAT time! (a photographer in our future???)

 

First things first, we had to go check out the beach by our cottage and it did NOT dissapoint!

 

 

They LOVED the beach and we went just about everyday!~

 

I have sooo many GREAT pictures but I'll try to keep this post from being a photo album!

 

This was our "peekaboo" view from our cottage and believe me, I looked at it MANY times!  I am a lover of water and I need to be by it as much as I can.  I can't explain it to my husband but there is something in my soul that is touched when I am near the water.

 

Dawn and Ella came over to the cottage one day to SCRAPBOOK, what else?? hehehe... This is a picture Isabella took of us without us knowing she had my camera!  Thus the look of surprise on my face... 

 

We're trying to get Ella into scrapbooking at an early age! lol...

 

I mean she's already very well advanced in other areas!  ;)- Holding a bottle HERSELF at 3 months??  Why not scrapbooking at 4 months??

 

Isabella had to get in the action too and wanted to hold Ella.  She LOVES Ella and wanted to get REALLY close to Ella ALL THE TIME! It was a little much for Ella, Dawn and myself but she's 4 and just so happy to have a little baby to "play" with...

 

We decided to take a walk down to the beach with Ella and Auntie Dawn...

 

but it was a little to windy for the baby.

The next day we went to the Farmers Market in the downtown and picked up some fruit and veggies and flowers...

 

oh, and a cookie!

 

But all Ella wanted to do was nap!

 

But Isabella picked out some pretty flowers for our cottage...

Then the next day Rebecca, Isabella and myself decided to rent bikes and have ride down by the lake and also through all the bike paths on Lakeshore Drive that are sooo beautiful!  This day was just PERFECT!

 

just LOVE the Burley, which holds all my STUFF and a kid too!  I think Ineed one of these, I just don't know how much longer Isabella can be in one???

 

We biked down to the "General Store", a GREAT little place for ice-cream

 

and Pronto Pups for corn-dogs and a "boat ride"

 

 

 

What FUN.  I think I'm hooked on bike riding now that I've done this 3 times this Summer!

Then at night we went into town with the SERVE team and enjoyed the downtown "Street Performers" and sidewalk sale! 

 

 

A very RARE occurance that they actually HUG eachother!  (this one was staged, after I saw the REAL hug happen, had to get THAT on camera for sure ;)-

 

So many GREAT pictures to share... we had such a GREAT time and know that we will be back again!  Here's just a few more from our wonderful time in Holland!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Had to go to the Dutch store for sure!

 

 

Watching the Sunset lots of nights was so nice!  We went out to the state beach a couple times to and have those pictures on a file from Ty I'll show another time...

And lastly, we took some pictures of all of "grandma's girls" for her Christmas card and here's one of my FAV's of the girls looking at baby ella:

 

It was a GREAT trip and the only thing better would have been for Daddy to be with us!  He couldn't miss more work after being going for 3 weeks in Europe but next time, he'll come for sure!

I thank all of you for praying for safetly for us and for letting me take off the whole Summer!  We had such a GREAT time this Summer and it really gave me a chance to spend it with my family and enjoy some really special memories we'll have FOREVER!

I'm excited to get back to "work" though and I can't WAIT to share more about the September Kits with you!

I will show you some SNEAKS tomorrow and start a fun RAK too!

Here's just a little tidbit of the 2nd box I got back from Europe and the other "finds" on my travels:

 

This is the "Fashion" paper that opens up to a pretty large piece.  I bought several different kinds of this paper as well...

 

O.k. ladies, this is VINTAGE FRENCH LACE!!  It was REALLY special and REALLY expensive BUT, I HAD TO HAVE IT FOR YOU!  It's very old and very intricate and you'll be seeing this in a kit VERY SOON!
 

And here's some fancy labels that I picked up in Venice, Italy for the kits!  Mostly the ones to the right as they are a beautiful scrolled label that I know will work PERFECT in a future kit!

There's MORE to show, but I'll save that for tomorrow as I'm affraid I have WAY too many pictures on this post!

Have a GREAT night and be sure to come back tomorrow to see some SNEAKS!

Hugs to all,

Laura

Comments

[Karen Dodson]

So glad you're back and that you and the girls had such a wonderful time! It looks amazing! I love the pics. The sneak peeks are amazing and I can't wait to see what you have in store for September. OK, well, I'm off to Google Holland, MI now!!!

[Jeanne K]

I'm so glad to hear you are home from your travels. I know you had a blast and I love all the pictures and can't wait to see more. Funny what you said about water, I am that way about mountains, not the hills here but the 14,000 footers in CO. It has been hotter than blazes this past week so not much scrapping done but The boys start school on the 24th so I will be alone for at least 3 hours a day.

[Theresa from Virginia]

Welcome back from your looooong vacation(s) - the pictures have all been fabulous, and I know you had a fantastic time. BUT I am glad you are back to work and getting ready to have some new glamorous kits for us!!!