An Afternoon at the Zoo

Anna and I managed to talk Matt into taking the afternoon off (we're trading for some time on Saturday) and go to the zoo. We had a few hours together there. It was a beautiful day and even though several exhibits were under construction we got to see most of our favorites and play on the train. We had a great time!

"I Thought About It"

Now that the weather has warmed up a bit with some consistency, Anna's been begging to go swimming in her pool. I have been telling her that we need to think about that in the morning; then fill up the pool with water so that it gets warmed up by the sun and she can swim in the afternoon. Well, she seems to get only part of that. She's been asking me lately in the afternoon if she can go swimming. Her request is usually preceded by or followed with, "I thought about it." This afternoon, I gave in and we filled her pool with very cold water from the hose. Of course, she had a blast!

My bathing beauty taking a break from the cold water.
She was having such a great time that she decided to take a shower! Brrr!!

Farm Field Trip

This morning, Anna and I joined some of our fellow seminary moms and kids (our Soul Care and Care Kids group) for a field trip to a dairy farm just outside of Grand Rapids. It was a beautiful day and we learned a lot about dairy farms. Our tour guide showed us so many interesting aspects of farm life and dairy cows.
We played on the playground for a little while before our tour.
Then we headed in for a little snack--milk and cheese, of course!

There was a little hay bale maze the kids loved going through.
Then we took a little hay ride around the farm.
While we were on the hay ride, a new calf was born!
Anna standing (not too close) to the cows walking over to the milking area.
We got to feed warm water to some of the baby calves for their morning snack. This one was really thirsty!
We had just a few minutes after lunch for Anna to play in the corn box. After we got home I asked Anna what her favorite part of the farm was. At first she didn't really say anything. When I gave her suggestions: the hay ride, feeding the calves, seeing the cows get milked...she answered yes to everything! We had a great morning with our friends!

Spring

The trees around the seminary pond are in full blossom right now and are beautiful. Since Anna decided to wear a fancy dress yesterday, I asked if she'd cooperate and let me take some pictures of her by the trees. She happily agreed, so after running some of our errands we went over there. Matt was just getting out of class, so after we had some lunch he took these pictures. (I'm not sure what Anna was thinking cooperate for pictures means because she pretty much ran around while he was trying to take the pictures, but he did get some good ones.)

Spring Break

Last week, Matt had the week off from school. We'd been talking about getting away for a few days, but hadn't made any definite plans. Before we could decide on anything, one of Matt's seminary friends offered us the use of her family's cottage for the week. We happily accepted and Tuesday morning headed up north to Platte Lake (near Sleeping Bear Dunes).
This is the beautiful cottage right on the lake that we enjoyed.
The weather was a little cooler (and wetter) than we were anticipating/hoping for, but we'd stoke up the fire every day when we were inside and bundle up when we went out. We played lots of games, read lots of books, laughed a lot and enjoyed tons of GREAT family time!
On one of the rainy/snowy (yes, it snowed while we were there)days, we went to a little Children's Museum in Traverse City. It was quite small, but a great place to spend a couple of hours in the afternoon. It's focus was the Great Lakes. We enjoyed the water-themed activities, fish, and lighthouse.


This is a picture of Anna crawling around a "pond" with moving fish projected onto the floor at the museum. It was really cool, because when you stepped into it, water ripples would appear.
Anna's trying to catch snowflakes--see the ones in her hair?
Thursday morning we woke to a light dusting of snow on the ground. The sun came out later in the morning, so we headed out. We decided since we were so close, we'd better take advantage of the dry day and head to Sleeping Bear Dunes. Anna had such a great time climbing up the dunesand then running back down. It was still pretty cold and windy, so we didn't stay long.

Matt (and Anna) were able to do a little geocaching on our trip. This turned out to be a really nice activity for the week. We were able to stay warm and dry while we were driving around looking for "treasures" (Anna's take on geocaching), and still be able to get out of the car several times and look around to find the caches. Matt found 8 caches in 2 days.

Our last full day at the cottage was pretty nice--sunny and warmer. After we did a little driving around and exploring, we headed back to the cottage for dinner. We thought we'd better take advantage of the sunshine and play by the lake for awhile. Since two of Anna's favorite things are rocks and sticks, she had was having a blast!

Saturday after we cleaned up and packed up, we did a little more geocaching then headed toward home. We made a little stop in Manistee for awhile. It was a bit rainy, but Anna wanted to walk down by the river before we stopped for a snack and a little walk around town.

We had a fantastic time being away from home for awhile and together as a family. We're so thankful for our friends and their generosity in lending us the cottage for the week. It was refreshing to get away for awhile--it was hard to get back into the swing of things today! Matt's in the final weeks of his seminary experience. The next month and half will be incredibly busy, but it's nice to know we're near the end. We are trusting the Lord will lead us to our next new experience in ministry and we're really excited about that!

Happy Easter

Anna and Matt looked so nice dressed in their Easter finest.

My sister and her family joined us for the day after church. The youngest girls enjoyed an egg hunt in the backyard. The rest of the day was filled with food, laughs, games, and fun.

Christ the Lord is risen today! Alleluia!

More Birthday Celebrating

Yesterday, we had a lot of family over to celebrate Anna and her cousin Jenny's birthdays. I made another cake (with an added layer since we were serving more people).
The birthday girls: Jenny--turned 9 years old on the 27th and Anna--turned 4 years old on the 30th.

The girls got to open some presents. Littlest Pet Shop sets were the hit of the day!

This and That

We've had a very busy birthday week. The weather's been fabulous this week, so we've tried to be outside a lot to enjoy it! On Thursday, though, we decided it was time to go visit the Children's Museum again. It had been a couple of months since we'd been there.

Who's that kid with the long legs?
We were very excited that Daddy was able to join us. He finished a huge test and was pretty exhausted, but had enough energy to tag along.

Last night, our friends, the Elgersma's, called to see if we wanted to go to Jersey Junction with them. It was a great night for ice cream! Matt wasn't able to join us because he was at church, but it was great to catch up with them before they left on vacation.
Today was a busy day. Anna went to Meijer Garden this morning with Grandma and Aunt Jo while Matt and I got some things ready for her family birthday party tomorrow. My plan was to have her color some Easter eggs this afternoon, too, but washing windows with Daddy was way more exciting! Anna's such a great helper!