A Weekend Visit from Dave

This past weekend my brother flew in from New York city to spend some time with us! Due to an unfortunate delay he didn't arrive until 6pm Friday night, but we still fit everything we wanted to do in to the time he had here. We fit in a variety of activities including seeing the new cottage, a visit to the gardens to see lots of Chihuly's glass art, a visit to the beach and visiting with other family. While he was here Dave went to his 20 year high school reunion, which he begrudgingly agreed to attend, but ended up having a fantastic time at (he had no idea about the reunion when we decided on having him visit this particular weekend)! Dave surprised the boys with gifts from New York while he was here too- a stuffed taxi for Matthew and a replica of the Empire State building for Joshua that came complete with an ape to hang on the top of it! One of the highlights from the weekend was heading out to the beach and stopping for dinner, yes I said dinner, at Captain Sundae; we all had sundaes for dinner which Joshua was beyond excited about, but ironically he didn't even finish his "dinner"! It was a whirlwind of a weekend, but we had a ton of fun and are thankful that we were able to spend time with Dave!

Camping at Cran Hill Ranch

8 campsites at Cran Hill Ranch + 38 people + lots of activities = a fun filled Koorndyk family camping trip! We arrived on Wednesday night and left late Sunday morning so we were able to pack quite a bit into our trip. Our days consisted of visiting with family, kids playing on the playground that was right across from our campsites, playing at the beach and in the lake, visiting the animals, eating, nightly visits to the barn store for ice cream and relaxing around the nightly campfire. Cran Hill is notorious for all their great kids activities. This year Joshua got to ride a horse and tie dye a T-shirt both which he enjoyed. If you ask him his favorite part was playing with his cousins and second cousins all day long. The weather was delightful for almost the entire time we were there, just a lot of rain overnight Friday which made for lots of puddles and mud Saturday morning (and a dirty walk around leading the horse for Cory during Joshua's pony ride); the littlest boys didn't seem to mind the puddles the rain left behind as they played and splashed away in them! Another highlight for our city boys was visiting the animals at the campground; Joshua loves animals and adored the donkey and the goats that would come right up to the fence so he could feed them grass. Matthew tried to feed the animals, but once they got right up to him he got so excited he ran away laughing shrieking with delight. It was fun, but after 4 nights I think we were all ready to be back in our own beds and rooms where we sleep a bit more soundly. Looking forward to another Koorndyk camping trip next summer!


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Mmmm good!

I was finally brave enough to try baking with both of the boys. Since Matthew was born, baking has occurred during nap times so just Joshua and I can bake together. Being that Matthew is 16 months old, just around the same time I started baking with Joshua, I figured it was time to let Matthew help too. Joshua wasn't exactly thrilled about having another helper in the kitchen at first, but he got over it quickly. Besides pouring ingredients in and mixing, Matthew learned the finer points to baking . . . licking the beaters after the mixing is completed! It's a bit busier with baking with both boys, but they sure had fun helping!

Future Skiers, or so we hope!

Sunday night we met Cory's parents, his brother and family and his sister and family (minus Paul who had to work) at Gun Lake for a night of water fun. I think I failed to mention that recently Cory's parents along with Shawn and Erin bought a bigger boat that had more pulling power. Just had to try out the EZ SKI behind the new (to them) boat. Each of the cousins,ranging in age from 3 to 8, was brave enough to try the EZ SKI trainer! It has it's name for a reason folks, the thing is so easy for kids to ride. The kids thought they were so cool while skiing and I think all or almost all of them were "skiing" with one hand at some point! A few crazy kids "skied" backwards too. Now let's hope this really will help train them and we get some skiers out of the group in a few years.

Joshua showing off his skills!

Owen


Nicholas

Gabrielle (she stood up the entire time!)

Allison

Sam

A Quick Visit to the Lake

Last week we found a steal of a deal on a EZ SKI Trainer - basically it's a kid's ski skimmer with a tube around it. These things usually cost around $170, but we found it on clearance at Gander Mountain for $42.50!!! Joshua said he would try it so we headed out to the lake last night. My aunt suggested pulling it behind the jet ski which worked perfectly and meant my uncle didn't have to un -tarp or re-tarp a boat which was nice. Once Joshua was comfortable sitting on the EZ SKI he was brave enough to stand up and just moments later the child was standing up and holding on with just one hand! The nut even "skied" backwards which was quite funny! He really enjoyed being out there on his own "skiing" which surprised us all (typically he is not one to take risks)! He was very proud of himself, as were we! He kept saying, "I did awesome! I'm the first one of all the cousins to ski!" He also spent a good portion of the night jumping off the dock without his life jacket on. At one point he asked to be thrown in the water so my uncle Steve swung him and threw him in (wearing his life jacket); we weren't sure what his reaction was going to be, but the kid came up smiling and laughing asking to be thrown in again. Can't say it enough . . . those swimming lessons surely paid off! Even Matthew got in on the action swimming and trying to jump off the dock like his big brother! Both boys were tickled at the opportunity to feed the ducks that were hanging around too. Joshua was in the water feeding the ducks until they got feisty and came right up to him and stole the bread out of his hand, so we went back to feeding them from the dock! One of Matthew's favorite things is ducks for some odd reason and whenever he sees one he says, "guck, guck" so he was so excited. However, he was pretty perturbed that Joshua was throwing food to the ducks instead of giving it to him! What a fun night!

"Skiing" backwards!

Matthew thought it was funny to dump water on his belly!


Matthew shows aunt Cher how silly he is!

Ready, set . . .

. . . throw!

SPLASH!

Feeding the ducks.

A Day at Dumont Lake

My cousin Missy (technically she's Cory's cousin, but I'm claiming her as mine) invited the boys and I to Dumont Lake Park to spend the day with her, her children and her nieces and nephew. We arrived at around 10:30am to find we had the park to ourselves, yipee! Joshua couldn't believe that the whole beach, swimming area, playground, and sandbox were ours alone to play on! Missy and the kids joined us shortly after we arrived which Joshua loved because it meant kids to play with instead of just mom and Matthew. Around noon other people began coming, but there weren't very many people and we were all quite spread out. The kids had a fabulous time together and so did Missy and I! It was the perfect way to spend a 90 degree day. This is definitely a hidden gem of a place and one we will surely be returning to many times in the future.

Enjoying the beach and swimming area that we had all to ourselves!

Matthew was so excited about the hole Missy was digging for Matea and him to play in!

Joshua and his 2nd cousins building a castle/fort all together.

Everyone got in on the fun, even the two little ones!

Wading through the warm, shallow water with Missy.

A morning at the gardens

We were home this weekend with no plans so I suggested we go to Meijer Gardens for the morning. Joshua was all for it as he wanted to see more of Chihuly's works of art scattered around the gardens (the last time we were there they were still setting many of the displays up). Cory hadn't been to the gardens in quite some time so off we went. For Matthew this was like a new experience, even though he's been to the gardens several times he wasn't able to walk those times so Saturday was a new experience for him! We spent most of our time in the children's garden for very obvious reasons and the boys had a great time! It was a fun morning filled with sunshine, observing the many wonders of God's creation and family time!

Chihuly's works among the vegetation in the Tropical Garden.

Chihuly is one talented artist! He creates some amazing and beautiful works of art with glass.

One of Joshua's favorite Chihuly pieces - he said it looked like rock candy!

Matthew entering the children's garden for the first time on his own two feet!

He loved the mouse sculpture!

Brothers banging on the drums together!

Trying out an old toy in the log cabin.

Playing in the sandbox is a must when in the children's garden.

Building a beaver dam.

Joshua's beaver dam. He is hiding a stuffed beaver down in it for the next children to find.

Playing in "The Great Lakes".

Getting wet!

Matthew liked to chuck the boats over the waterfall.

Playing in the fountain.

A day at the cottage

My uncle and aunt had us out to the cottage for a day of water-filled fun on Sunday. The weather was perfect for boating, skiing, knee boarding, jet skiing and of course swimming! Cory, Phil, my uncle Steve and I skied. Phil somehow talked Cory and I into knee boarding which we'd never done. Phil makes it look so easy that we both tried it and succeeded, but I didn't find it to be very easy to get up on my knees on the board quickly. Joshua had a blast riding in the boat during all the water activities and watching everyone. Both boys enjoyed playing in the water by the cottage and neither showed any fear - Joshua was jumping off the end of the dock and Matthew was bravely walking around in the shallow end (he fell quite a few times putting his face in the water, never cried, just got back up and walked around again). We ended the day taking a ride on the pontoon boat and stopping in a deeper part of the lake to swim. We sat in disbelief as Joshua did running jumps off of the boat over and over (with his life jacket on of course as we were in 20ft deep water)! It was a fantastic day spending time with family and "playing" all day long! Thanks Uncle Steve and Aunt Cher!

Joshua wanted everyone to get wet.

Playing on the dock.

Jumping off the dock!



SPLASH!



Cory knee boarding.

Cory knee boarding backwards.

Phil knee boarding.

Cory and Joshua taking a ride on the Jet Ski.

Matthew taking a walk down the dock with Uncle Phil.

Steve, Rachel, Joshua and Cher on the pontoon boat.

King of the world, or perhaps just the pontoon boat.

Monkey saw so he had to copy.

Floating in the deep water.

Happy boy floating in his life jacket!

Jumping off the float into the deep water.

Matthew and Uncle Phil hanging out on the float.

Swimming in the deep water.

Joshua was thrilled that Rachel went swimming too!

On the way back to the cottage after a nice swim!

Videos:

Joshua running and jumping off the pontoon boat!

Phil kneeboarding

Joshua jumping off the end of the dock.