Vacation is Ending

We have had such a great vacation! The wedding festivities were a blast. We enjoyed the girls' luncheon on Friday- yummy Italian food, great company, and a really neat restaurant. I'll have to post pics later, but Sadie decided to climb in the fountain with her dress on, so that was the highlight of the lunch. Friday night we went to Keith's mom's house in Bahama, NC and had a great time. She had it catered by a barbeque place and had a huge lawn with sheep and ponies. The kids had a great big field to play in so all 15 kids played ball all night. It was such a fun night. Saturday morning the boys, my mom and I went to Durham to the hotel where all my relatives were staying so the boys could swim with all the kids. They swam for awhile and then we went back to mom's to rest/change for the wedding. The wedding was perfect! I'll post pics later of that too, but my cousin Elizabeth was beautiful. It was an outdoor wedding and the reception was at the same inn as the wedding. Once again, the kids all played ball the whole night in a field beside the inn. It was a great weekend. We left the wedding Sat. night and headed back to the lake. Jeff, Michele, Miles, Brent and my cousin Holly all came today and are still here. Holly took 3 of her 4 kids to camp so she is here by herself until tomorrow. We are sadly heading home tomorrow and driving through the night. We have had such a great time with family and friends and look forward to coming again in July!!!! I have tons of pics to post when I get home so check in Wed. or Thurs. for a lengthy picture post.

A MUCH better day

AAAHHHHHHH! That is the sound of relaxation! Now that we have recovered from our travels, things are going great. We were all worthless yesterday. Ryan and I just lounged all day and never hardly made it outside. It was a beautiful day, but we were pooped. This morning he hit the golf course and the rest of us have been out on the lake all day swimming and boating. Mom and I just came in to grab lunch and put Sadie down for a nap. She seems fine, so I don't know if I can attribute her puking to car sickness or not. A doctor owns the house beside my parents (Hey Pete!) so I am going to walk over and ask him if it would be safe to give Sadie Dramimine as well so we don't have a reoccurence on the way home. Just a short post before heading back outside to play some more.

Why Can't We Ever Have a Smooth Journey????

Well, we made it to NC safely, and for that, I am thankful. However, what usually takes us 12-13 hours took us almost 15. Ryan and I were both so tired that we could not keep our eyes open. I felt horrible yesterday afternoon- headache, stomach ache, weak, achy, so I was not looking forward to the trip anyway. Everyone else seemed to be fine. That is until Sadie started throwing up at 1:30 a.m. all over everything in the car. I had just started driving b/c Ryan couldn't make it anymore. We of course had to stop for at least 30 min. to clean her up and the mess. My mom is washing the car seat and all of her blankets, pjs, dollies, etc. that got hit by the throw up and my dad just bleached the car seat straps and base. YUCK!!! We then stopped at least 3 more times at rest stops for Ryan and I to sleep. We could not for the life of us stay awake. Sadie was fine after she stopped hurling and is back to her old self. I don't know yet if she is sick, or if she was just car sick. Brooks ALWAYS gets car sick, so I gave him Dramimine before we left, and he handled the trip like a champ this time. This was Sissy's 1st time ever throwing up in her life, so I guess only time will tell if she is sick or was car sick. She downed a donut hole and a sausage biscuit when we got here, had a bath and is back in the sack for what I assume will be a L-O-N-G nap. So she seems to be fine now. Let's hope! I hope no one else gets this mess. I am off now to shower and nap myself. Mom is already on kid duty- FREEDOM for me! She got the boys some gifts so Cobe is fast at play with his new Pokemon game for his Gameboy and Brooks is outside with her squirting his new water gun. They also both got lots of new books and Lake Gaston t-shirts which are really cute! They got the DVD Happy Feet as well which they will probably watch in a little while. Oh, and it rained on us most of the trip which made for great driving too! It is starting to sprinkle here now so we must have brought it with us. Hopefully I'll post again when everyone is rested and enjoying the sunshine! :-) Thanks for your prayers for safe travel- they worked. Next time I"ll have to remember to include a request for no throw up on our travels because I don't think we have ever had a puke-free car trip.

Big Travel Day

Tomorrow evening we begin our 12-13 hour trek to NC. The kids are pumped! Ryan has to work tomorrow and then we will leave when he gets home. I have cleaned the house in case there is a showing while we are gone, but still have to vacuum. I have packed the 3 kids, but need to finish packing for myself. I don't think Ryan has started. I am sure I will post some while on vacation, but probably won't mess with posting pictures until we return. I hope to get some good ones at the wedding and of all my cousins and relatives. We'll return the next Tuesday b/c Ryan has to work on Wed. and Thurs. of next week. And we'll have a super busy weekend that weekend we return. We have a party to go to Fri. and Sat. night then the Buick Open on Sunday. It will be nice to have a few days of down time before that busy weekend. I'll check in soon from the big town of Littleton, North Carolina. Please pray for safe travel for us. Thanks.

Happy Father's Day!!!!

A picture of Ryan with his 3 sweethearts before church this morning. They surprised him with a new release DVD called Breach, a big bag of gummy bears, some Red Bull and his favorite chocolate candy as well. I gave him my surprise yesterday.... tickets to the Buick Open!!!! We get to go see Tiger Woods in the final round!!!! We are taking the boys and going with the Onstotts. The guys were super excited with their suprise, as were the kids. It should be a great experience. We are going on July 1st. Happy Father's Day to my wonderful father, Bill Walker, who we miss very much and can't wait to see in 3 sleeps!!!!!! Hope you are having/had a great day today dad!!!!! And Happy Father's Day to Jim Huizenga as well, my father-in-law!!! We get to spend the evening with him out on his boat so the kids are pumped to go there in a little while!

And Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband who is an excellent father to our 3 children!!! He is such an awesome dad and spends so much time with our kids. He truly is such a hands-on dad- even though our kids love him to pieces, they probably can't comprehend yet how blessed they are to have him as their dad, but they will understand one day that their daddy is the best!!!! We love you honey!!!!

And to any other dads who happen to read this- we wish you a great day!

A Day at the Lake with the Onstotts and Everses

We had such a fun day in Rockford at Julie's mom's house. The weather was perfect. We cooked burgers when we got there and then the rest of the afternoon was spent swimming, on the dock, on the boat or tubing. Everyone had a blast! We headed back home around 4:45 for me to get ready to go out with Lisa. We hit the Olive Garden in Grandville for a yummy dinner. We both got cheese stuffed ravioli with grilled shrimp in a garlic sauce. Dee-lish!!! My stomach will be paying for it though- it was rich! We hit the mall after that for Lisa to pick up some gifts she needed. We didn't leave enough time for shopping b/c all the stores closed at 9:00 so I actually left without buying a single thing. Unusual for me!!!! Below are some pictures from our day at the lake. Ryan and Sadie hanging out in the middle of the lake. We took the pontoon boat out to the middle for everyone to swim.
The boys coming in to the dock after tubing (Cobe and Jake).
Sadie, Kendall and Ella all had fun together playing (after Sadie stopped hitting Kendall!!!)
Miss Pearly, Julie and Sadie
Cobe and Ryan are on one tube and Cole is on the other. Rob was with him until he tried to get tricky and fell off!

Julie lathering up Sadie with sunscreen.
Lovey (Kendall)- isn't she adorable????
Sadie loving the boat ride.
Missy, Kendall and Cameron
Cameron, Daisy, Julie and Sadie

Jake and Cobe about to go down the water slide.
Hanging out on the dock.
Brooks going for a swim.
Ella and Brooks enjoying the water.
How many kids can you fit in a kiddie pool?????

Beach Day

We headed to the beach this morning with the Boeves. We went around 9:30 and stayed until 11:30. It was good timing because it didn't get crowded until we left. Sadie fell asleep on the way home and we all ate lunch and then the boys and I headed back out to the pool to swim. We needed cooling off from the beach. We stayed there until 3:00. Ryan was going to bring Sadie when she woke up, but she never woke up, so we finally came home. She woke up about 5 minutes after we got home. We are now just relaxing at home. Tomorrow will be a fun day- we are going to Julie's mom's house in Rockford for the day (she lives on a lake) with the Onstotts and Everses. She has a really nice house with a dock and a water slide so I know the kids will have a blast. We'll head home in time for me to go out to dinner with Lisa and shopping in Grandville. I'm sure I'll do another picture post sometime with pics from tomorrow. Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

Pictures from Today

Jake, Cobe, Brooks and Justin with their popsicles.The kids played outside all afternoon after watching their movie. They had fun in the pool.

Cobe in action at his game tonight. He missed this ball, and hit the next one.
Sadie and her usual dirty self. She took off running and fell down in the mulch.

More Pictures from Today

Cobe playing 3rd base at his game tonight. He played pitcher one inning and had a great catch. He hit pretty well tonight as well.
Sadie and Regan on the playground.
Cobe batting- he got to 1st with this hit.
Josee tormenting Brooks. He acts like she is bothering him, but he LOVES the attention she gives him. We hear a lot about Josee at our house from Brooks.
Brooks got so hot, he had t take off his shirt. Of course he had to dress just like Cobe for the game in Cobe's old uniform. I told him he would be hot, but at the time, he didn't care.

And More Pictures from Today

Sadie wanted to kiss Josh at Old Mill. He was hip to the idea for awhile.
Here she is puckering up to plant one on him!!!!!
Sadie and her Aunt Jen
Brooks, Justin, Chase, Cobe and Jake at OldMill after Justin's t-ball game and Cobe's baseball game.

Snosher buns cutie pie self!!!!!

Mid-day Post

Sadie drinking her morning yogurt.
I tried to get Sadie to pose with her ponytail, but this is what I got.
Sadie pointing out her pigtail!
I had to trick Brooks to get this semi-smile.
And for the closing picture, Brooks with his favorite pose.

We have had a relaxing day so far. We got up and Justin and Jake came over around 8:00. They played for a little while, and we left and went to Mary Jo's for "coffee time." The kids all played, and Selah and Braelyn and the Hains were there. We left and stopped by Cityside to pick up some stuff for Gina Dobbin and then went to her house to drop it off. Now we are back home. The kids ate lunch, Sadie went down for her nap, and the boys went down in the basement to watch a movie. We are staying cool inside. When the movie is done, the boys are heading outside to play in the sprinkler/pools. Cobe has a baseball game tonight, and I do NOT look forward to being outside in this heat to watch it. Yuck!

Holding myself accountable

Okay, another no picture post. After taking the kids' pictures last night at the mall, my batteries went dead, and I totally forgot to recharge them today. I'll have to do that as soon as I log off so I can take some tomorrow. I'll have my nephews here all day (Justin and Jake) while Jen works so I am sure I'll get some good shots of the boys and their cousins. We are going to just have a stay at home day which will be soooo nice after running around everyday lately. I got a lot accomplished today though. I ran to so many stores this afternoon- Outpost for Sis some new crocs, Holland Chamber of Commerce for Jim some Hollan Dollars for Father's Day, Target for Ryan's Father's Day "stuff" (he might be reading this so I can't say what it is), a place for my dad's Father's Day "stuff" (he might read this too), Home Depot for a gift card for my cousin's wedding, Meijer's for burgers and jello ingredients for our cookout for Sunday. It didn't take all that long to go all those places, but I had all 3 kids with me so it was a lot of buckling and unbuckling and in and out. I am very blessed to have a husband who is home A LOT and I usually never have to take my kids on errands which I love, but they were good today and seemed to enjoy the running around.

Lisa and I just walked a few miles and I am now heading down to the basement to do pilates. So that is what I am holding myself accountable for. I just get a little frustrated because I feel like I been exercising soooo much since school got out, but the pounds aren't really dropping off. I am eating better too, so I am sure they are just waiting to fall off all at once?????? Ha! Oh well, it still helps me to feel better about myself, right Kimberly????? :-) I'll post some pics of the kids at play in the yard tomorrow night. If anyone wants to stop over tomorrow for a visit, we'll be outside enjoying the beautiful weather we've been having.

The Kids on the Carousel

And eating their grub at the food court...

I am utterly and completely exhausted. I stayed up way too late last night, and then tried to fit in way too much physical activity today, so tonight I am paying for it. The kids and I took off this morning on our bikes. We went to the bakery and met up by surprise with Lynette and her kids and Meri Carpenter and her kids. We hung out for awhile and ate donuts before heading to Lawrence St. park again. We didn't stay there very long and we biked home so Sadie could nap. Ryan still was in Grand Haven for court, so after Sadie woke up, we went to Melissa's to swim. She had called to invite us while we were gone biking. Julie and her kids and Marijo and her kids went as well, so they all had a blast swimming. Brooks got so adventurous and was jumping off of the diving board. I couldn't believe it. He usually sticks really close to his float and me, but all the other kids were doing it so he did too. Sadie went off the diving board too a few times. We stayed there until almost 4, came home and changed, and headed to Grandville to the mall. Ryan had gotten home a little before us, so it worked out nice that he got paid over 6 hours of overtime today! We picked up the gift cert. for Josh and ate at the food court. This is where my exhaustion hit me. Ryan went on the carousel with the kids, and I felt like I could collapse!!!!! So now we are home and Sadie is screaming and Brooks is whining and I am ready for bed! No pilates tonight! :-)

Cottage Recap

We got back from the cottage tonight around dinner time. The kids were filthy so they went right in the bathtub. Then Cobe went to Mark's, Brooks played with the neigbors, and Sadie and I strolled to Tina's for awhile. Ryan had to run pick up his police car b/c he has court in the a.m. I think we will probably go out on a bike trip in the morning. We may head to the Grandville mall tomorrow night. We need to pick up a gift certificate for Josh's birthday for Build-a-Bear so Ryan said he wouldn't mind going to the carousel with the kids. I'll take my camera and get some good shots. I actually took my camera to the cottage, but for some reason, never took any pictures. I am getting lame now that I am on vacation from work I guess. I can accomplish so much more in my day when I have to be at work, than when I have all the time in the world.

The cottage was so nice. Ryan worked his butt off the first day- mowing, raking, cleaning out seaweed, etc. but I relaxed. :-) Today we all just hung out and had some good family time. We had perfect weather.

Tomorrow I think I'll bike the kids to the bakery in the morning for donuts. Then we may head to the park to play for awhile while we are out. I am sure we'll come home in time for lunch and for Sadie to nap, then head to Grandville when she wakes up. Wednesday I have a pool day planned at Knollwood with a couple of friends. Lisa Medendorp called today to go to the beach, but we were at the cottage, so she mentioned maybe Thursday going there. So I will probably leave Thurs. open for that. Cobe has his last baseball game Thursday night as well. He actually has one more next week, but we'll be in NC so he'll miss it. Ryan is off again for the weekend, so I don't know what we'll come up with to do. Sunday we are going to hang out at his parents condo for father's day. They have an electric pontoon boat on the little lake at their condos, so the kids enjoy going for rides. We are going to grill out and also celebrate Josh's birthday that same night. Because on Tuesday, we leave for NC for a week. My 1st cousin, Elizabeth, is getting married on June 23 in Durham, so we'll be at the lake for 2 days, then head to Raleigh to stay the weekend for the all of the wedding festivities. We'll go back to the lake on Sunday until we leave most likely Monday night to drive back. A lot of driving and going in a short week. That part won't be fun, but seeing all of my extended family will be. I have relatives in S.C. and Mississippi as well as NC and Brent from CA all will be there. We all grew up being so close together and now everyone is so spread out that we only get together for weddings and funerals. Thank goodness this is a wedding!!!! I got the boys cute new outfits for the wedding and myself a new sundress and wedge sandals, so at least the hard part is over with. Other than than wedding clothes, I"ll just have to throw in a few pairs of shorts, a bathing suits and a couple of t-shirts so packing is never an issue when we go on vacation there. A whole lotta relaxing is all we do!

Well, I borrowed a Pilates DVD from Lisa (Medendorp) and I still have to fit that in tonight. I did it yesterday and Sat. and it KICKED my butt!!!!! I always thought Pilates were for girly girls who didn't like to exercise. Boy was I wrong!!! I can feel it in my whole body. I just wanted to borrow it to see if I would enjoy doing it before I bought one. I can honestly say that I haven't enjoyed doing it, but we'll see if I notice any difference in my physique, then maybe I'll buy one. And if my stomach/ab muscles turn out half as kickin' as hers, then all the pain will be worth it!!!! You go Lisa!!!!!!! :-) The last thing I want to do at 10:30 at night, but I committed, so off I go.

Quick Post

We are heading to the cottage in a little while. Ryan wanted to take the boys to the ball field to practice before we left and Sadie is napping. So we'll head there after lunch sometime. Even though I am able to access this page, I am not able to access my email, so if any of you are emailing me, don't think I am ignoring you. I don't think that has to do with my computer problems- sometimes my work email isn't the easiest to access from home. Hopefully all kinks will be worked out soon.

Frustrated!

I am so frustrated!!!! I have not been able to blog because of STUPID computer problems. I fixed them for the meanwhile, so if I am missing for awhile, it is because I can't log on!!!!

We have had some FUN days since I have last posted. Just hanging out but spending great time together with the kids. Ryan has been gone, so we have been soloing it. Today we left the house at 3:00 for a bike ride and didn't get home until 7:30. We biked to Capt. Sundae's, Eco-Reef, the Bakery, Lawrence St. Park, Burger King and then to the Hains' for awhile. The kids had blast and so did I. You can't beat great exercise and cheap fun. We met Lisa and her girls for the first part of the trip, then they left after the park and went home. This morning, we went to Aliyah's dance recital- what a hoot!!! Ella was in it too. Cute girls!!!! The boys actually enjoyed it. I thought I would have to make them go, but they wanted to and really enjoyed watching. I left Sadie home with a babysitter because I didn't know how long she would be able to sit and watch quietly.

Yesterday we tried going swimming at Knollwood with Lynette and her kids, Kendra and her kids and Lisa and her kids, but the weather was horrible for swimming. Way too chilly and breezy. The kids attempted to get in, but did not last long at all. They ended up spending time on the playground/basketball court and had fun, just not what we had in mind. We'll try it another day girls when it is warmer!!!! Last night Cobe and I ran a few places and hung out together. We had such a nice night. It had been so long since just he and I had been together. My little boy is growing up and always wants to be with his friends, so I was thrilled to have some quality time together. Of course, I spent money on him that I didn't have, but oh well- I'll chalk it up to bonding time!!! :-)

I got my hair highlighted and cut Thursday night and I absolutely love it. The best part about the whole thing.... it was FREE for me and a gift from a great friend!!!! Lisa (Medendorp) surprised me by foiling and cutting my hair and by giving me a great big bottle of Blonde Glam shampoo. I was thrilled. What a great friend she is! Thanks Lisa!!!!!! Thursday during the day, we hit the Knollwood pool as well. Cobe had had Chase and Jaxson spend the night Wed. night, we took them. It was still way windy, but very warm so the day was much more condusive to swimming. Emily met us there and got a work-out. She chased floats and umbrellas that decided to fly across the fence into the field. We have met a few families that already live in our new neighborhood and everyone seems nice. There are a TON more kids than I thought in there. Last year, there just seemed to be a few, but there are a lot that are around Sadie's age. Must be much younger couples than Ryan and me!

Wednesday night we met Ryan's parents at Russ' for dinner. Chase went with us because we had already picked him up to spend the night. Cobe had swim lessons all week and I was so proud of how far he progressed. He can swim, but always thinks he has to hold his nose. So he got over that this week and is diving in and swimming the length of the pool. I hope he doesn't regress and go back to holding his nose. I can't remember what we did Wednesday morning before he had lessons- way too long ago I guess to hold in my memory.

I haven't been taking any pictures since I knew I couldn't blog, so now that I am "back on" for awhile, I'll have to take some. I thought about taking some of the kids freezing at the pool, at Aliyah's dance recital, on our bike ride today, but honestly knew I couldn't post them, so I thought "why bother?" I'll have to change my attitude about that. We are most likely heading up to our cottage tomorrow. Ryan is off Sun., Mon, and Tues, and we are in need of some family time with him after him being gone all week. I doubt we'll stay all 3 days, but I am sure we'll go for part of it. So I'll check in again when we get home. Adios!

Back in the Blogging World

Sadie shuttin 'er down on the way to the cottage.
On the way home, she was much happier with her first Bud :-)
Tough guy Brooks.
Jake, Ryan and Cobe playing football.
Sis finding entertainment climbing in and out of the toy box.

Well, I am glad to be posting again, however, the computer still needs some work to get it in tip-top shape. I didn't realize that I would go into withdrawals not having a computer. It is sort of like a cell phone- you don't realize that you need one so much until you get one, then you don't know what you would do without it.

Anyway, we had a fun weekend. Friday night we hung out with Julie, Jason, Pam Doan and the Agars. All the kids stayed outside until 10:30 or so playing flashlight tag and the adults just hung out. It was a great kick-off to summer break. Saturday morning Cobe went to Crazy Bounce to Justin's party and the we took Jake Onstott with us and headed up to the cottage for the rest of the weekend. We had about 3 hour of nice weather TOTAL the whole time we were there. I am glad we went because the grass was up to Ryan's knees. He had just gotten it mowed and it started to rain. We were inside most of the weekend. We headed back Sunday early afternoon to go to Jen's for a cook-out for Justin and Chad's birthday. Yesterday, we got up, went on a walk, and then headed to Cobe's school. We played on the playground and "played" baseball for awhile. The kids complained to Ryan that mom can't pitch, but I thought I did pretty well! We looked at the posted class lists and Cobe has.... Mrs. Lauritzen for 2nd grade!!!!!! YAY for us!!!!! Em, if you are reading this- he is thrilled!!!! He has several of his best friends in his class as well, so I am sure they'll all have a great year with a phenomenal teacher. We left New Groningen and came home and Cobe had swim lessons. And then... my summer vacation started off great- all 3 kids napped the entire afternoon. They woke up just in time for dinner. I couldn't believe my great fortune. Cobe hasn't napped in 4 years! He must have been exhausted. He did freeze during his swim lesson because the temp had dropped quite a bit, so it must have drained him. I would like a repeat performance of yesterday's afternoon all summer long.

Today Cobe has another lesson and a baseball game tonight. Ryan left around 7 this morning heading to Gaylord, MI for a golf tournament and will be home on Thursday afternoon. Then he works Friday and leaves for a Tigers game on Saturday. We won't see much of him this week. So, we will just be hanging out in this chilly weather we are having. I don't understand how it can be freezing today, and then be 89 and miserable on Thursday, but that is the predicted forecast. Cobe will have to freeze again today in the pool!

Enjoy your week- we are sure enjoying our free time and having no real schedule so far!