Life as a Journey

Friday, July 6, 2007

Need some advice....

Just a quick post to beg for some advice:

Ryan's friend just dropped off 3 HUGE bags of salmon. There has to be at least 50-60 pieces of fish in the bags- no lie! The only way we know how to cook salmon is to put it in tinfoil on the grill with veggies in the foil with it. That might get old with all of that salmon. So, I need anyone who reads this to leave me a comment on another great way to cook/eat salmon! Consider it a challenge. Thanks- and some of you who are reading this will probably be invited over for a salmon dinner in the near future. :-)

Lynette- I know you are a pro, so I expect a few good ideas from you! "-)

A Quiet Day

We have had a laid-back relaxed day so far. We got up when someone called (wrong number of course) at 7:42 this morning. But it was enough to wake up the kids. We got dressed, ate breakfast and headed to downtown Zeeland to the Friday Farmer's Market they have. We got some fresh fruit (cantaloupe and blueberries) and some fresh veggies (squash, zuchini, green beans, cucumbers). We then headed to the park to play and then to Subway for a free lunch. You can't beat free entertainment! When the kids signed up for the summer library program, they each got a coupon for a free kid's meal at Subway which was worth signing up for. The boys went to the Boeve's when we left Subway to play, and I brought Sis home for her nap. I took a little snooze myself b/c I haven't been feeling the greatest for the past 2 days. I think I am on the road to recovery, but with a quiet house, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to snooze. My mom called and Ryan stopped by, so I didn't get to sleep long. We are heading to the Boeves tonight for dinner- Lisa took brauts to the cottage and we never ate them, so we will tonight. Yum! I have had my fill of burgers and hot dogs for the season, but haven't had a single braut all summer. (I am sure I am not spelling that correctly, but it dawned on me that I must not know how to spell that word.) Hope all of you have an enjoyable weekend!

Thursday, July 5, 2007

The 4th of July

Spot and Sis- sis enjoyed her popsicle but was a mess when she was done.

Sis and Dinky- Dinky was the obsession of the kids. She was our next door neighbor's at the cottage- a chiuaua/rat terrior mix- tiny little thing.

Sis, Ryan and Dink

The other obsessions- Tate and Charlie. THese boys are our next door neighbors at the cottage. Tate is going into 7th grade and Charlie is 15. They are SOOO super nice to the kids and play with them constantly. Cobe is always thrilled when they are there at the same time as us. They played with the kids pretty much the whole time we were there.

The Bisk and the Dink

We had a great July 4th at the cottage. We went up Tuesday night when Ryan got home from work. All the neighbors were out and there were several hours of fireworks Tues. night. We all stayed up until around 11:30 watching them. Wednesday was great too. The Boeves headed up and everyone played all afternoon. We made a fire after dinner and hung out watching more fireworks. Those lasted until about 11:30 as well, then Ryan and the kids slept out in the front yard in the tent. We had great weather the whole time we were there, great food and great company. We headed home and got here a little while ago. The boys went over to the Boeves, Ryan is vacuuming the car, and I am getting ready to throw sis in the tub. Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday!!!!

Not much planned for the weekend. Ryan works all weekend including everyday next week for training, and the boys are both in camps next week- Brooks goes to gymnastics for 2 weeks and Cobe goes to soccer camp next week and science camp the week after that. Summer is FLYING by!

Monday, July 2, 2007

2 posts in one day- making up for lost time!!!!!

Okay, I guess since I haven't blogged in a week, I need to feed my addiction and blog 2 x's today! After returning home from NC, we have had a busy week. We left NC around 1:30pm and made it home at 2:45am. The trip home was MUCH more UNeventful so thank you for your prayers. No throw ups and everyone was in good spirits. We hit a 30 minute t-jam around DC that slowed us down, but it was smooth sailing after that. We got home and slept for awhile. I hit Meijer's for groceries, then we hit the DeWitts pool for the afternoon. It was a perfect day for the pool- one of the hot ones. Wednesday, Ryan headed back to work and he had to work Thursday as well. I took the kids to the library Wed. morning and ran some errands downtown. I can't remember what we did in the afternoon. The Boeve girls came over in the evening so Chad/Lisa could go out for their anniversary to dinner. Thursday morning I ran Cobe to the Dr. for his chicken pox booster, then we went for "coffee time" at Mary Jo's. Brooks wanted to stay with Braelyn there and play, so MJ kept him and let him hang out with them at Braelyn's swim lesson then took them to McD's for lunch. Cobe went to his friend Jaxson's house until 7:30 that night and Sadie slept all afternoon so I had quite a bit of free time. Of course I had no computer, so I had to read. :-) We got a call to show our house after I had all that free time and could have been straightening up, but didn't know I needed to. So Ryan and I cleaned that night. We left the house bright and early Friday a.m., ran some errands, and then met Tina and her boys at the park for lunch. Ryan met us there after he golfed that morning and Lisa and Tonya and their kids met us there after Bible school, so the kids had a great time playing. Friday night we went to the Bekins party in Grandville, which was a good time, then headed to the cottage after the party. I pretty much just lounged and played with Sadie at the cottage while Ryan and Cobe worked their butts off. Ryan mowed, power washed and he and Cobe got 7 wheelbarrows full of weeds out of the lake. A realtor showed our cottage today. We busted home late that afternoon to go to the Overbeeks party, which was another great time. We left that party early, because Ryan had a retirement party to go to for some cops at work. I took Sadie over to MJ's to spend the night so we wouldn't have to get up so early Sun. morning to take her over there while we went to the Buick Open. We had a great day at the golf tournament... for as long as the kids lasted. We were the only 1st timers who were naive enough to think it was a good idea to take 4 kids to a pro golf tournament. Pretty much there weren't any other kids in sight due to the fact you had to be ABSOLUTELY quiet 95 % of the time!!!!! DUH!!!! We were geeked to go and thought how much the kids would enjoy seeing the famous golfers. We didn't give much thought to the fact that hours of being quiet is not in a kid's nature. They actually did great, and we had driven two cars (Onstotts went too), so Julie and I decided after 2 hours that we would take the kids home in one car and let the guys stay and have a peaceful rest of the day since it was their father's day gift. They were VERY thankful. Julie and I stopped at a K-Mart, bought the 4 kids bathing suits, and headed to Rockford for swimming at her mom's lake. So we ended up having a great end to our day as well. Jason and Ryan stayed at the tournament and got to see all the golfers they wanted to, and actually met, talked to and shook hands with Kid Rock who was there following around John Daly in a golf cart. So they were thrilled!

Needless to say, I felt the need to stay home today as did the kids. We had a lazy morning, went to Cityside for me to check email and blogs, and then headed home. Brooksie got a new bike from his grandparents and had only gotten to ride it a little since we haven't been home, so he was begging to stay home today and ride it. So the neighbor kids were out in full force, so they had a good day playing. We headed to Knollwood to swim around 3, but it got a little chilly, so they didn't last long in the pool and ended up spending more time at the playground instead. Lisa and I walked tonight and all the kids played outside. WHEW! That is the recap of our week. We head to our cottage tomorrow night after Ryan gets off work for 4th of July festivities with the Boeves. We are taking a tent to pop in the front yard so we can watch the fireworks from the tent- the kids are excited!!!! So probably won't post again until after we get back Thurs. night, but don't worry, I'll be back! :-)

FINALLY!!!!!

Ryan jumping off the boathouse at my parents' lake house.

Cobe contemplating jumping. Poor thing- he wanted to jump so bad but never got up the nerve. He forced himself to stand there for literally hours, and would never take the plunge. It is high, but hopefully he'll do it when we go back in 3 weeks.

Sis enjoying the water with her Da.

The cousins playing in a field at the rehearsal dinner. They all had a blast together.

As promised, although a week late, here are our pictures from our recent trip to NC. We had such a great time. I have been miserable without my computer for the week we have been home, but it did teach me that I am too addicted to blogging and checking blogs. Does that mean I will stop? No way! I think it is a harmless addiction. :-) We really appreciate a friend of Ryan's from work making our computer better than ever- no problems now!!!Enjoy the pics and I'll post a lengthier post soon- we have been SO busy since coming home with such fun stuff that I want to post about that later.