More Yellowstone

We spent our day "off" of driving...driving! We headed back to Yellowstone with the Greydanus'. It was a bit of a long day in the car (especially for the kids), but it was great seeing a different part of the park. Aaron was an excellent and knowledgeable tour guide.
Mammoth Hot Springs was our first stop.
Anna and Ari were pretty happy to be spending the day together.
Matt was very excited to see his first live bear in the wild!
The dads and kids on their way to another beautiful spot.
This was one of my favorite places in the park. One of our last stops for the day was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. It was really awesome!
We were really there! I know this looks like a photo-shopped picture, but it was just starting to rain and the flash on the camera made the photo turn out like this.
The whole gang posed for this pic before we headed home! What a fun day!

Still Driving and Seeing the Sights

After our night in Rapid City, SD, we drove over to see Mt. Rushmore. Matt and I hadn't been there for several years. Anna was excited to see the presidents' faces--and then was ready to leave! We walked along one trail around the monument, then headed out.

This was a common sight for us along our way. There was a motorcycle (or Harley) rally in Sturgous (not sure how to spell that or even where it is exactly). There were hundreds of motorcycles around!
Matt and I were really surprised that Anna didn't take a nap in the car until day 5 of driving! She was a trooper in the car. She was a little crowded, but she did really well. She really enjoyed her time OUT of the car!
The Grand Tetons was our destination after Mt. Rushmore. I LOVE the Grand Tetons! We've already planned a camping trip there sometime next year (maybe).

Our next stop was Yellowstone. We drove through quite a bit of the park (along one side) before we decided to stop to check out Old Faithful. We arrived about 20 minutes before it blew. It was pretty exciting. Anna thought it was awesome!

We drove out of the park after watching the geyser, then went all the way to Gallatin, Montana. We spent a couple of nights with the Greydanus family. Anna was happy to be out of the car and with friends.

The Badlands

We drove to the Badlands the next day. It was quite a warm day, but we were surrounded by such beauty!


We made a stop at Wall Drug before heading to another hotel for the night.
Yippee--free ice water!

Moving On

We headed north from Pella to swing by Worthington, Minnesota. We hadn't been there in years and thought it would probably be quite some time before we'd be able to go there again, so we decided to visit since we were so "close". Matt's got many relatives there. We stopped by Aunt Gladys' house. One of his uncles and a cousin were able to stop by as well. It was so nice to see them and visit for awhile.

One of our few hotel stops along the way gave us a chance to relax a little and get some good rest. After our visit to Worthington, we spent the night in Sioux Falls. The next morning we visited the falls before heading out.

Day One

We spent the night at Grandma's house. After a good night's sleep and a good breakfast, we headed out...

..after one last stop to make a delivery to Amanda and Aunt Eva.

Our car was crowded, but we managed just fine. Anna was pretty comfy with many of her favorites around her. We were off! First stop--visiting friends in Pella, Iowa.
Anna had a great time with Courtney and Caleb. Our first night there Anna was treated by Courtney to a little manicure. Her first nail polish experience! Caleb's nail polish experience--better left for him to tell.
Visiting the Jaarsma bakery was a must! Yummy!!
Anna's dutch roots coming out!
The Nikkels took us on a little tour of downtown Pella.
And to Red Rock Lake.

We had dinner with Cindy's folks and Bryan's dad (just the adults). It was so fun to see them again and catch up a little. After we ate, we went back to Bryan and Cindy's house to play with the kids a bit. It was so wonderful and special to see old friends again!

Packing Up

Packing up our stuff was an overwhelming experience (on top of the overwhelming task of sorting, doing some of our own packing, and saying good-bye to friends)! Our packers were very nice and seemed very good at what they were doing, but it was a little disconcerting to have several men in our home dumping our stuff in wrappers and then boxes--very quickly!


It was a very hot day, and everyone was a little tired. Anna didn't want her picture taken next to the truck. I think she didn't want to lose her comfy spot on Kelly's lap.
We decided we better take one last picture of Kelly, Abbey, Jenny, and Anna by Calvin's big cheese before we leave town. Quite a change from when we moved here almost exactly three years ago.

Surprisingly, we all the stress we'd endured the past several months with getting ready to move, saying good-bye to friends, and being nowhere near having a regular/normal schedule, we only had one melt-down on packing day. Anna was quite distraught that she couldn't ride her scooter to Calvin. It had already been packed in the truck and the truck was gone. Moving is difficult!
After we cleaned up a bit, we took one final family photo in front of our house...
...and again headed to Calvin--the seminary this time--to take another photo. Again quite a difference, in so many ways, from the one taken three years ago. After dinner with our packing crew (family) we headed to Matt's mom's house for the night.

Spending Time with Good Friends and Family

Now that we've safely arrived in Bellevue, it's time to catch up! I've been looking for a large chunk of time to get all caught up with blogging all at once, but finally decided to take advantage of smaller bits of time and catching up slowly.
Before we left Michigan, we made some time to enjoy the company of some very special friends and family. I don't have pictures of all our outings, but they all hold a special place in our hearts.
Our seminary friendships are so very dear to us. They have been very intense friendships because we'd been together for such a brief amount of time and because we all share experiences of going through seminary together. We were so blessed to be able to spend an evening with some fellow seminarians and their families. It was wonderful to see each other again and share some of the joys and struggles we've faced going through seminary. We had a wonderful evening! We treasure these friendships!
Early in the evening during our get-together, Anna found a little kitten. She was so thrilled that it loved following the little string she was pulling. If Matt weren't allergic to cats, I think she'd be begging for one!

My sister, her daughters, and later her husband helped us with a lot of our packing, sorting, cleaning during our last week in GR. We decided to take a break and have some fun together before we left. A trip to Craig's Cruisers was just the thing! Anna loved it there! She's not much for miniature golfing (she sort of hits the ball once, then picks it up and drops it in the hole), but she loved the go-karts (Daddy drove), the water boats (again riding with Daddy), and the frog hopper (which really surprised me!). We loved having some fun hang-out time together with family.
We also spent some time at Grandma's lake with Grandma, Aunt JoJo and Uncle David. Anna loves being by and in the water! It was a nice break from the heat and from packing to spend time there with family!
Next up--the road trip!

I'll Catch Up Soon

I know I'm a little behind on blogposts, but we've been really busy with getting a few last minute fun things in, the final packing, having movers come, saying good-bye, and heading out. For now, we're on our way to Bellevue! This is the vacation part of the move--YIPPEE!!!!! So, we're doing well and I'll try to catch up soon!