September wrap up!

So September has been a busy month!  Nothing too major or unexpected, but as school and all the "school year" activities begin again, the pace of life just seems to go up to the next level!  Since that usually means fewer blog posts, here are a few of the highlights of a fun, enjoyable month!

We spent many afternoons at the beach!  Since moving to the area almost 10 years ago, Steve and I have found that fall brings some of the best beach weather of the year!  And it's generally not as crowded at the beach to make it even better!  All three kids love the water, and it is enjoyable to take advantage of living so close to great beaches!

One more from the beach!  This time it was later in the afternoon and we intended to just go for a walk by the water and let the kids play at the playground!  All three ended up in the water!

 

Shane is playing soccer!  His team name is the Vikings, and they are doing very well!  After last year's experience, we are grateful for a coach who shows up and plans practices so that the kids can actually learn a thing or two!  Shane is enjoying playing and enjoying the boys on his team!  Also this fall Faith is taking ballet, and she is also dancing in the Nutcracker!  She is loving dance, and we see little glimpses of her role as a snowflake in the Nutcracker as she dances around the house!

 

With school in full swing again, our homeschool co-op also started up!  This year in addition to the class days twice a month, there are field trips on the other two Fridays.  Our first field trip was to a farm (the same farm the kids go to for farm camp each summer!) to do some apple picking.  And of course see the animals too!  Olivia was a huge fan of the piglets!!

 

Here is Shane in the apple orchard.  He ate three apples before we even left the farm!

 

A few other cute pics that I couldn't resist posting!

 

Trip to the Big House!

Last Saturday we spent the day at the Big House!  What a thrill it was for me to share with Faith and Shane something that was part of my childhood and something that in general I just love!  Thankfully the forecasted rain held off, and it was a fun-filled day of football! 

 

Before heading to the stadium we had a tailgate picnic in the lumberyard parking lot!  Couldn't resist having our picture taken in front of this party bus painted to look like a Michigan helmet!

 

The next stop was the band practice facility.  We were able to see the band come out and line up and go through their final check by the drum major.  They then stepped (seemingly all at once!!) from the sidewalk and onto the street to march toward the stadium!  What an incredible sight!  The pageantry of it all is indescribable!

 

After marching behind the band to the stadium, we finally were inside the gates and ready to head inside the Big House!!

 

Shane and Grandpa at the game!  Sitting with 106,000 other loud, excited, cheering Michigan fans!

 

Go Blue!  What an incredibly fun day!  And it sure helped too that Michigan played well and won big!  Hail to the Victors!

Michigan Trip - Part 2

Here are some of the other highlights from the trip...almost every day the kids rode bikes around the yard and on the driveway.  Faith and Aunt Betsy even ventured out on the street for a ride around the 'hood!

 

When we first arrived in Michigan, the weather was hot and humid.  While this makes great weather for going to the pool, unfortunately it also is prime thunderstorm weather!  I love a good thunderstorm and always hope to have one while we are there!  The first day we went to the pool the sky started looking darker as we got closer to the pool, and sure enough it arrived just as we did!  We tried to wait it out by having lunch.  Sadly, we ended up having to go home without swimming as it was a long storm!  The next day we tried again!  This time the kids were in the pool for about an hour and 15 minutes before we were told that yet another thunderstorm was on the way and the pool was closing!  But the time was well spent as Shane discovered the joy of jumping off the diving board!

 

Olivia loved the kids area, but of course she too wanted to swim in the big pool with the older kids!  She kept saying "beach! beach!" as she thought that since she was swimming we must be at the beach!  It was pretty adorable!

 

Another adventure was visiting the John Ball Zoo!  While the kids had fun feeding the birds, petting goats, and visiting all the animals they have seen in the past, a highlight was viewing the new tiger exhibit!  Those cats were huge and very impressive (and scary!!).

 

Olivia and Grandma walking together at Grandma's zoo!

 

The Children's Museum is also another place on the "must visit" list!  Faith enjoyed performing for us and the other guests a rendition of "Row Row Row Your Boat".

 

Olivia had a ton of fun, especially pretending to withdraw money from the bank!!

 

 

Faith waited patiently to pay for her groceries.

Trip to Michigan - Part 1!

We are back home from another fun trip to Michigan.  Over the 9 days that we were there we went on many adventures - some the same as in years past and others brand new!  One of the places that we always like to visit is the Fredrick Meijer Gardens.  We even went twice on this trip to see different parts.  The first time all three kids went, and they played in the Great Lakes with the boats, walked through the children's garden, and went on a hunt in the sensory garden. 

 

The obligatory picture in front of the children's garden entrance.  This was the first picture with all three kids as last summer Olivia did not make the trek to the gardens!

 

Olivia loved the tree house in the children's garden as she ran through the entire tree house!  She did stop for about 30 seconds to have a quick tea party with Aunt Betsy!

 

The second trip to the gardens was just for the older two kids, and we visited a section of the gardens I have never seen before - the sculpture park.  I was amazed at the number of sculptures there as well as the variety of the art!  In the picture above the kids are sitting next to Fred and Lena Meijer for whom the gardens are named. 

 

The featured sculpture of the gardens is the DiVinci horse.  Originally designed and created in clay by DiVinci himself, the large sculpture that he intended to create never happened because a war depleted the money of the duke who was funding the project.  Also, the clay model was destroyed, and it wasn't until about 50 years ago that the drawings of the horse were discovered.  Fred Meijer paid an American artist to create the sculpture from DiVInci's plans; two horses were made.  One is here in the gardens, and the other is in Milan, the original place DiVinci and the duke planed for it to be.  It is a massive piece of art as you can see how the size compares to the two kids!!

 

We took a tram ride around the sculpture park to see many of the sculptures as well as hear the descriptions of them and any history surrounding them.  It was a very interesting ride!  Faith just loved it!  She definitely has an interest in the arts!

 

This was one of the kids' favorite sculptures!  It's called Mad Mom!!  So we were all trying to look mad as we posed by it!  When asked the kids did say that their mom does get mad at times!  We look forward to visiting in the winter to see the Christmas trees from around the world.