The Last 2 Days

Yesterday, I took Cobe to his last day of science camp. They went on a field trip to DeGraaf Nature Center to net some stuff. He caught 2 frogs, some water bugs and a minnow, so he ended the week on a good note. :-) After dropping him off, I ran to the Zeeland Farmer's Market to get some fruit and vegetables. I actually saw Lynette downtown and we were NOT at the bakery! Imagine that! Julie was watching Sadie and Brooks so I took full advantage of not having any kids and ran a few errands while I was out. I picked up Sadie, Brooks and Ella, and we spent an hour or so at Ryan's grandparents house. I went to pick up Cobe and Jake from camp and took all 5 kids to McD's for lunch and to play. They all had a blast. It started to get pretty crowded, so we left and came back home for the rest of the day. The kids all played outside and Julie and I hung out chatting in the driveway. I ran to Wal-Mart after Ryan got home to get him his stash of food to eat while we are gone next week and the next. We tried to watch the last movie that I had rented from the library, but we both fell asleep, so I had to return it today unwatched. I hate when I do that. It was only a buck, but still, it feels like wasted money. We watched maybe 2/3 of it before falling asleep.

Today turned out to be a great pool day. It seemed so chilly at my house, but we trucked it on over to Knollwood around 1:00. Lisa and her girls met us there, and Cobe took his friend Mark. It was warmer over there it seemed and we stayed until after 4:00. So of course I now have sleeping, pooped out kids. Sadie has been sleeping since we got home (almost 3 hours now) and Brooks cashed out a couple of hours ago as well. Cobe went to Mark's and he ate dinner over there. I cooked dinner, took a shower, caught up on mail, cleaned a bit and now I am feeling the exhaustion set in as well.

Ryan's grandpa is singing at the early service tomorrow at church, so we will go to that service instead of our usual later one. I coerced Lisa into watching the kids so we could enjoy the service without interruptions. It is the more formal service and not very conducive to kids.

We leave for my mom and dad's in 4 sleeps!!!!!! Lisa, me and our 5 kids in a van bound for NC! We did it last year and it went very well. Sadie is the one I worry about this year. Usually, Ryan and I drive through the night so the kids can sleep, but Lisa and I are going in the daylight for safety reasons, so I worry we might boot Sis out at some point. She can be so loud and so shrill when bored. We are staying 10 or 11 sleeps- I am so excited. We may actually drive into Raleigh for the first day to shop, then we'll head to the lake for the rest of the trip. My parents bought a water trampoline, and the neighbors across the street from them just put a pool in their backyard, so we'll have 2 new treats there in addition to all the other ones we always have.
I hear Sadie crying after her marathon nap (she had already slept 2 hours before going to the pool), so I need to run get her. Hope everyone enjoys a peaceful Sunday!

Looks Can Be Deceiving!

From the looks of these pictures, you are going to think we had a really nice day at Pier Cove. It was not the best beach day by far!!!! The wind gusts were so strong that there was literally a sand storm on the beach. We were getting whipped by the sand and it stung. The boys had fun because they stayed in the water and therefore avoided millions of pieces of sand blowing in their eyes, ears, hair , etc. Sadie, poor thing, got on a towel and had me cover her up and she stayed there the entire time. She played for about 5 minutes (the few pictures I took), and then realized how miserable it was. She was perfectly content to be under the towel, and she didn't make a peep under there, but how fun is that???? We stayed about an hour or so since we had packed up to go, but then headed home. I should have had a clue when we were the only people on the beach that something wasn't right!!!!This was cool- right when we got there, a Coast Guard helicopter flew right over us. The guys in the copter waved to us and the boys really got a kick out of that. You can hardly see it in the picture because it had already flown by when I thought to get out my camera. The copter is the speck over the trees.
The guys built a dam blocking the creek water making the "pool" bigger.
This is where the creek flows out of the woods into the big lake. Last time we were there, the kids had just as much fun catching frogs here as they did playing in the water.
Proof that little Sadie was under her towels the whole time. She kept saying "hide, hide" if I would lift the towel up to peek in on her. She liked it under there- much better than the alternative.

She couldn't even open her eyes the sand was blowing so badly. Hopefully we'll pick a better beach day another time!

Digging in the sand

Another little digger

And yet another

Ryan helping the boys build a dam in the creek.

The waves were huge, the water cold, and the current strong, so the boys chose to swim near the shore and play in the creek.

LOL!!!!

Meet Squidwerd! Haha This is Cobe dressed like a giant squid. Don't tell me you can't tell he is a squid!!!!!! He had a sea creature parade at science camp today and they sent a note home Tuesday that he had to come in costume as a squid. I am the least creative person you'll meet, so I was stumped. Kristen and Lynette suggested the pink shirt with stuffed panty hose. So, that is what we went with. Of course our neighbor Jason thought the "tentacles" hanging off were something else. I won't say what. :-)
A rare moment captured of Sadie. She is ALWAYS on the go. She sleeps great when you put her to bed and loves to be there, but she has never been the type of kid who will fall asleep in your arms. She is too busy and active. The other night she was so whipped that she fell right to sleep on Ryan's chest. So of course he savored the moment and let her sleep on him awhile.

Today was Brooks' last day of gymnastics. He had so much fun. He got a ribbon and certificate today so he thought he was hot stuff! Ryan and I went to watch and Ryan even had to do the chicken dance at the end of the class with him. We met Julie Snyder and Jack at the bakery before class for a last day celebration. (I am sick of the running around, so I am glad it is done!) Cobe has one more day of science camp.

Ryan is off to court right now, and when he gets home, we are going to head to Pier Cove again this afternoon. The boys can't wait to take their dad and show him the cool beach and creek! Hopefully I'll have some good pics to share upon our return.

Wednesday Fun

Today ended up being so much more fun than originally planned. I ran around like a mad woman this morning due to poor planning on my part. I picked up Luke and Jake, took Cobe and Jake to Hope College to camp, took Brooks and Luke to the bakery to meet Lynette and Kristen. Then we all went to the park. But meanwhile, I didn't take Sadie with me to play with Presley, so I had to leave and run Brooks and Luke to gymnastics and home to pick up Sadie and head back to the park. Ryan had already put Sadie down for a nap, so he got her up so I could meet the gals at the park. Whew! They had fun playing and we headed home. Brooks went to Luke's again after gymnastics, had lunch and played. Sadie and I walked down there to hang out because we were bored. After awhile, Julie called and wanted her kids and niece and nephew to go to the pool, so we all packed up and went to Knollwood to swim. I called Tina and Lynette and they met us there as well. It was a fun afternoon!!!! The kids all had fun in the pool and at the playground. Now Ryan is grilling salmon again and I am starving-- off to eat!

Check out my Slide Show!

I learned how to make a slide show! I know it is nothing fancy, but I'll tweak it and learn more as I go on I am sure. I haven't played with all of the options that I can do, so I look forward to getting better at all of the blogger options. I don't know why those numbers appear under the pictures, but for now, they are staying b/c I am tired of trying to figure them out. Enjoy!

The rusty camera reappears

I only took some random Sadie shots today b/c I haven't done a picture post in way too long. The boys weren't really around much. After gymnastics, Tina took Brooks to McD's with them for lunch and back to her house to play all afternoon with Luke. Cobe got home from Science Camp and went straight to Onstotts' to play and eat lunch. So Lisa came over and we took a walk with Sadie. A relaxing day. Now Brooks is asleep in the basement, Cobe is on the front porch trading Pokemon with some neighbor boys, and Sadie is begging for me to come outside. Gotta run!



Sadie was done with pictures at this point as you can plainly see!!!!! :-)