Top of the Hill: Summer Sweet Summer {Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}

One week ago today our sweet Colleen walked across the stage at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus and received her Bachelor's degree. We are so proud of her and this accomplishment. When I think about all that it has taken for her to get to this point I am in awe of her dedication and perseverence.

That's Colleen in the blue high heels recieving her degree!

Granny and Papa joined us in the celebration and as always we are so grateful for their love and support. Grandparents play such a special role in the lives of their grandchildren and we are truly blessed to have them in our lives.

After the excitement of the day we managed to pack up the van with the 6 of us and our niece Lily and head for the cabin in Michingan Monday morning...ok it was almost afternoon but considering the busy weekend we still did good. We got a surprise when we went to put the carrier on top of the new van (thank you God for our new van) only to discover it would not fit. Thanks to the extra storage provided by stow and go and some streamlining of our packing we all fit comfortably. The drive up to northern Michigan was the worst on record. We were in heavy rainfall for most of the trip. My dear husband did an amazing job. It continued to rain for the next 24 hours pretty much non stop. Gary and the girls got out fishing Tuesday and caught some nice pan fish. By the next day the weather was beautiful but the river was high and muddy. It spite of the poor conditions Lily mangaged to catch a 28" pike. I think she smiled the rest of the week.

The boys and I spent our time chilling at the cabin and going into to town hiking around and picking up groceries and supplies. Because of the river conditions we did not get to take the trip up river with everyone which was disapointing. It was great to spend time with Grandpa Korte and enjoy his fish frys. Our trip home was uneventful...the weather was beautiful we made a quick stop at Cabela's in Dundee and were home by 5:30.