Let's Go Fly a Kite

We are loving a beautiful day today. We watched Mary Poppins earlier and were inspired to go fly our kite. Someone in Ripon gave us this one before we left and this is the first time we've had it out. It was actually too windy for good kite-flying, but we had lots of fun. Anna took it upon herself to go chase the kite and give it a big heave up into the air every time it fell. She did a great job!




And what's a visit to the Calvin campus without a little playtime on the big cheese?

Ice Cream

Thursday night, our friend Hannah and her mom invited us to join them at Jersey Junction for some ice cream and a walk by Reed's Lake.

Anna chose watermelon sherbet (which Matt shared with her since she sometimes ends up eating about 2 bites worth of whatever we get her). Looks good, doesn't it?



It was a fun evening (even though we did miss the Elgersmas--our usual Jersey Junction/Reed's Lake buddies).

Hot!

Today's temps were in the high 90's. I'd have felt like I was back in California had it not been for the really high humidity, too! Matt was able to leave work a little early this afternoon (and didn't have any meetings tonight), so we headed out of town. We went to PJ Hoffmaster State Park in Muskegon. It was very comfortable there and the water temperature of Lake Michigan was around 72 degrees. We spent most of our time in the lake--although Anna still came home with a bucketful of sand in her hair! After a little ice cream treat at the local Whippi-Dip, we headed back home. Temps are supposed to be a little more bearable tomorrow. Yeah!

Father's Day

Since Sunday mornings are a bit hectic (and Anna doesn't even wake up until after Matt has gone to church), we celebrate Father's Day in the afternoon and evening. Anna was very proud to give her Papi a cool card and gift. She's got the best Papi in the world!



Matt did a little grilling for lunch today. He really wanted to try some brisket. He grilled it up yesterday, sliced it thinly and put some bbq sauce over it. Today he put some more sauce on, them heated it up on the grill. We put the meat on sandwiches and savored every bite! They were delicious!


Matt preached tonight in Wyoming (Michigan). Anna and I went along. We stopped at a little park on the way home, so Anna could work off some energy. We ended the evening eating popsicles while sitting on the front step outside (where we always eat popsicles). It was a wonderful day!

More Swimming

Yesterday, we went over to see "Grandma at the Lake". It was a beautiful afternoon and Anna couldn't wait to get in the water. The lake was a little cool, but she loved being in it and swimming.

Vacation--Part 5

Sorry--no photos for this one. We spent the last day of our vacation in Celeryville, Ohio. Matt preached the morning and evening services at the Willard CRC. I was amazed that for such a small community we played an awesome game of Dutch bingo there. We met people who knew friends from everywhere we'd ever lived. Several knew people in Ripon and Brookfield (where I grew up). And of course, doesn't everyone know someone from Grand Rapids? We talked to the pastor's wife (the pastor was at Synod) and found out her son lives two houses down from us. One of the members of the congregation is going to seminary next year, so there's another connection. We had a wonderful visit there, and were very blessed to spend time with them on our vacation. We drove all the way back to Grand Rapids after church. We had such a fabulous vacation that we think maybe we'll do this again some time!

Vacation--Part 4

On Saturday we went to the Cleveland Zoo. It's a really big zoo, so we spent a lot of time there. Anna loved seeing all the animals. Her favorite seemed to usually be whatever we saw last or talked about a lot.

Matt got some nectar to feed the lorikeets. They would drink right from the little cup in his hand. Anna was very interested in getting so close. (I thought they were kind of mean--when I tried feeding one of them, it bit me!)

Anna enjoyed using her binoculars to see the animals up close.

Vacation--Parts 2 & 3 b

Anna was beyond thrilled that several of our hotel stays were at places with pools. She was so excited to get in the pool and at first was very happy to be in the water as long as she was very close to Matt.



It didn't take her long, though, to become quite independent after she learned to "swim". She caught on quite quickly how to keep her balance and move and could go from one end of the pool to the other pretty fast. I think this was her favorite part of our whole trip!

Vacation--Part 3

After crossing the Rainbow Bridge back into the United States, we stopped for a few hours to see the Falls from this side. Spectacular!

Vacation--Part 2

We spent the next few days of our vacation at Niagara Falls. It was spectacular! This big pile of pictures is just a small portion of those we took. We were fascinated with every angle of the falls. We took a few tours--Maid of the Mist boat ride, walk to the rapids, walk behind the falls. Everything about our time there was fabulous. The weather was great and Anna did a really good job with all our sightseeing. (Can you tell we haven't been on vacation in a long time and are loving having some great family time?)








They shine colored lights on the falls at night. It was really fun to watch. Usually on weekends and holidays, I guess, they do fireworks, too. For some reason they did fireworks the first night we were there (Wednesday). We don't know if there was an occasion, but we certainly enjoyed them. (We splurged a little for a falls-view room. Money well spent!)