I have to catch up!

I know, it's been a crazy long time since my last update!!! Rather than go backwards, I think I'm going to focus on the past week and go from here! Sorry about the large gap in time that contained a wonderful week at my parents house, our 10th anniversary weekend, my 34th birthday, cherry picking, and more fun than I can remember!
We've had a great past week that included picking blueberries twice (once with Kate and Jack and once the girls and I picked with my parents...yummy!)! Tom and I had a wonderful birthday celebration dinner with the Bolt's (Kate's birthday and my birthday are this month) at six one six in grand rapids. Dan's parents and Tom's parents are best friends so they got together in Holland and watched all the kids. What a hoot!!
We bailed out on camping last weekend due to predicted bad weather and my girls fighting colds and fevers. We ended up enjoying a weekend in the Holland area, that couldn't have been more perfect! We hiked in Saugatuck (and took the chain ferry), picked blueberries, went to the beach, and I even took my dad out for his father's day breakfast! It was awesome!!
This week we've been enjoying a week at home, doing summer things. Yesterday was the annual kids day at Coast Guard Festival in Grand Haven. Tom's work volunteers at it each year. The kids LOVE it, especially the fire truck spraying the hose!! I've gotten smart in my years and bring a change of clothes!! During dinner last night we discovered quite by accident that Noah had lost a tooth. His first tooth. And when I say lost...I mean LOST....we have NO idea where it is. He must have swallowed it :( The child has no idea when or where it happened, but was quite excited when we discovered it. Ok, never heard of that before, but he left a note for the tooth fairy, who was quite understanding and left money anyway. My baby boy is growing up this summer...he rides a 2 wheel bike, now a lost tooth. Where does time go. Treasure every moment I say!! My motto for my 34th year is to: "Be Present" Every day, in all I do.

The yard

The mess from the storm is slowly getting cleaned up. They came to take out the fallen 'branch' as well as the rest of the tree. The tree experts labeled it "unsafe". I am happy that we were able to have it taken care of, but it was a bit sad to see such a big old tree taken down. We are now adjusting to the new look of our yard. FYI they will be back to grind down the stump soon! Next step will be to get the patio wall re built.

Happy 4th of July!

We had a wonderful 4th of July at home. Abby wanted to make a flag cake, so we did. We went to the beach, grilled out, even did a few little fireworks that the little boy next door brought over! My very LOUD kids do not like LOUD noises, so that was a bit of a problem!! I think holding a sparkler in your hand at any age instantly transports you back to 4th of Julys as a child. Is it the smell, the sparks on your hand...I hope you all had the chance to sparkle last week!

T-Ball

Last week was the last week of T-ball. 4 nights a week was a lot, but it sure was fun!! I never got sick of it!! The kids learned a lot, and had a blast. They were always so excited for their game! It was so fun to watch them learn! Thanks to everyone who made the trip to see them play: both of my parents (often driving both ways in one day!), Bill and Joan, even Laura, Ben and Amelia from Seattle!!

Air Zoo

Tom had last week "off" (his plant was shut down) so we made the most of it by doing as many free activities as we could find! It was a wonderful week! Monday we travelled to Kalamazoo to 'Air Zoo' which is a wonderful air museum that is normally very expensive. It's free for the summer (thanks for the tip Joan)! The kids loved it...even Tom rode a flight simulator!

Another great week!

We enjoyed the first official week of summer, and the first week of HOT temperatures!! The kids had an amazing time at Vacation Bible School this week, and I enjoyed having a few hours each morning to get things done :) Monday we braved the hot temps and picked strawberries. We met our friends the Robbins and the patch, and Tom even got home from a day of fishing in time to join us (the kids idea...not his!). I spent the next few days frantically making jam, pies, and even muffins YUMMY!! We even spent a little time at the beach, unfortunately we were not able to swim because of ecoli...ewww! We did do a lot of swimming at weekend two of the cottage!! Even I did a cannon ball :) When's the last time you did a cannon ball? Noah was amazed!!! We had an amazing time with the family and were so excited to spend time with Laura, Ben and darling baby Amelia! It was a priceless weekend. It is the 50th summer that Joan's family has been at the cottage. It is such a treasure to think of the history, as well as watch my kids amazingly perfect joy as they experience the 'magic' of that place.

The cottage!

Even with the messes at our house, we enjoyed a relaxing weekend at the cottage. My parents were even able to join us for the weekend. The kids had the time of their lives playing in the water ALL weekend!! It was amazing. We can't wait to head back next weekend when Laura, Ben, and Amelia will be there!!