Reunion Reflections

My entire family (with the exception of one nephew in the Army) got together last weekend. It was the first time in 10 years. The family has changed quite a bit and it was great to see everyone, catch up, and have tons of fun! We stayed at a hotel with a real "water park" that the kids couldn't get enough of--Anna had a blast! We had quite a busy weekend. There were activities planned mixed with lots of just good visiting times.

We headed to Michigan's Adventure one day. Matt and I were surprised that Anna had such fun on the rides! Thankfully, some of her cousins (Jake, Abbey, and Jenny) were willing to ride with her since she was too small to go by herself. She loved all of those rides!

The park also had tons of water rides. Anna was pretty tired by the time we headed over to the water part of the park, but after a little nap, she was set to get in the water. We had a hard time getting her out of there. (She went on more rides, so she was happy.)


We headed to Dumont Lake on Saturday with lots of food, beach toys, and 2 boats. Matt was in charge of grilling while the boats were pulling skiers and tubers. It was nice to have everyone together there. The kids had fun on (or behind) the boats or just playing in the water. It was a big day!
I got plenty of chances to hold baby Julia--my neice's daugher. This is me with Julia, Anna, and my nephew Jake.

The whole gang:It was great to see everyone again. Anna had so much fun with all her cousins. By the end of the weekend, she was picking up the phone in our room "talking" to Jake. She'll be talking about all of them for days! Maybe we won't wait another 10 years to do this again.

Family Reunion

My mom arrived from Arizona Monday night. Yesterday and today were largely spent running errands, baking goodies, and playing in preparation for our family reunion this weekend. (OK, the playing was just for fun!) With all the activity going on, I'll probably wait until Sunday night to post about our fun--something for you to look forward to! Have a good week.

Celebrating!

Highlights of our week (guess which ones Matt was doing):
*a visit to the Van Andel Museum downtown (complete with carousel ride)
*Hebrew
*a visit with Al and Renae (friends from my Wisconsin teaching days) who are on campus for Synod
*Hebrew
*lunch and a visit to Meijer Gardens with Renae
*Hebrew
*a trip to the library
*Hebrew
*a visit to Manhattan park (a new one for us)
*Hebrew
*taking Aunt Sue to the airport
*Hebrew
*Hebrew mid-term exam
*a trip to the Children's Museum with some new friends
*Rest
*running errands and going to the Farmers' Market
*Out for dinner to celebrate the fantastic job Matt did
--on his spring quarter classes
--on his 2 summer classes
--on his Hebrew mid-term exam!!!


Matt actually was able to do a lot of stuff with us this week, but he also put in a tons of hours on Hebrew. Now we get ready my family to come for our reunion. What a week!!

Happy Father's Day

Matt had a great father's day. He got to play guitar in church (something that he's really been missing and is doing more of this summer). I fixed some yummy meals (this picture doesn't make this dish look too appetizing, but our Chicken Colombo was delicious!) and got to do some of his (ok, Anna's) favorite father/daughter activities! Matt's a great Papi! Anna and I are so very blessed to have him in our lives!

Progress

We went to "Grandma's Yake" yesterday. I did manage to get Anna's bathing suit bottoms on before we went into the water--that's progress! Her cousins were playing next door, so we joined them. (Anna ended up wanting her bathing suit top on when she saw Aubrey with hers on!Sorry I didn't get pics of that.) Anna had fun splashing, walking around, playing with kids, and just being in the water. She actually got very brave after awhile and was in water up to her armpits. Matt was very close by!

Aquatic Tai Chi

Check out that form, that flexibility, that concentration! I'm pretty sure we have either a dancer or a martial artist (or both).

"Water Park"

Anna got this "water park" (I do know why she calls her sprinkler a water park--long story) for her birthday from Aunt Eva, Uncle Jon, Amanda, and Justin. With the weather being very warm and muggy, Wednesday was the perfect time to break it out.

She was a little timid at first, and didn't get too close to the water.

Once we showed her how fun it was to run through the water, it didn't take her too long to get soaked.

After all that play, she decided she wanted to get a drink. That was fun to watch!

Why, you may wonder, is she wearing her pajamas to play in the water? After her nap I asked if she wanted to play with her water park and she was all excited. After I changed her diaper and put her bathing suit bottoms on, she quite emphatically refused to put the top on. Her pj's were nearby. She grabbed them and insisted that she should wear those instead. Oh well.

Yeah, this is the girl who cried when I told her it was bath time later that night! Ah, the joys of being 2!

Croquet, Anyone?

Anna wanted to play "baseball" the other day. (Why she calls it baseball, I don't know.) I had set up the croquet game the other day so Troy and I could play, but Anna wasn't interested at all. This time, she hauled everything out and had me set the...what do you call those white things?...in this pattern:
Then she wanted to play with Papi.
Most of the time, Anna prefers to play without the mallet. She either tries to kick the ball or throws it--see that yellow streak toward the bottom right of the picture? It's not going anywhere near the right direction, but she sure loves playing "baseball"!

Rainy Weekend

We had several bad storms over the weekend (fortunately no tornadoes). With high winds and lots of rain, thankfully, we suffered little damage. Sunday evening there was a break in the storms and was rather mild out, so we headed outside to play. Anna wore shoes she could splash in this time! She had such a blast running through the puddles. You can see how deep some of them were.



This afternoon it started to rain just a little bit right after Anna got her bike out of the garage--not that she cared much. The pouty face was because she wanted to ride in the street and we told her she couldn't. We're so mean!

Festival

We're up and running with our camera again! Today we went downtown for the Festival of the Arts. The weather was really bad, so the crowds were a little thin. (It got up to 90 degrees with humidity--YUCK!!) We stopped for a little bite to eat first.

Then we headed to the kids' activity area. Anna got to decorate a hat--do you love our red faces?
Then we headed off to the painting area. This was a total kid-zone--no parents allowed in the painting area. I must admit we were a little anxious watching Anna be so independent! She took her work very seriously and loved every minute of it!


Unfortunately, we had a huge (the first of 2 while we were there) downpour right after painting time and her picture didn't make it through all that water. Anna talked about painting later in the day, but didn't really think anything about not bringing her picture home, but I was VERY disappointed.
Yes, like every time we take the bus downtown, it rained on our walk home. Anna had her raincoat on and found this huge puddle on the sidewalk on our way home. She spent about 5 minutes running around in it and splashing! It was probably her favorite activity of the day. She was soaked when we got home. (Yeah, this is the same girl who never wants to take a bath!)
We may head back downtown to take in a few more musical performances tomorrow morning. (Maybe if the crowd isn't too big Anna can paint again. It's actually for 4-8 year olds, but we didn't know that when we did it and they didn't object.)

Camera Issues

Well, so much for having the camera handy to capture some of our daily activities! We're having camera issues right now--hopefully for a short time! We've been busy with crafts, swings, outings to the park, bowling, lots of books, sand, gardens, making popsicles, and throwing in the air the "helicopters" that fall from the maple trees! I'll get pictures up soon.