We Have a Soccer Player In the House

Joshua expressed an interest in playing soccer on a team at the end of last winter.  I thought it was perfect timing as I could just sign him up for the spring.....little did I know how AYSO is played in our little township.  As I now know you have to sign you kid up in MAY to play both fall and spring (Joshua was put on a waiting list with a couple dozen other kids for last spring in the case there was an opening - never happened).  We made sure to drop off his registration and payment in May, but had to wait until August to find out his team and actually get to practice!  He is in the U8 division, practices once a week and has a game bright and early on Saturday mornings.  He is not a soccer star, but is definitely learning some good skills as both a soccer player and a team member and he really enjoys it....oh and he thinks he rocks at soccer (which is so precious and innocent that we hope it lasts a while longer).  We are proud he is trying his best and learning!  Here's to the start of Joshua's soccer career and the start of me being a soccer mom (minus the minivan).

 Joshua ready for action (#2).



Go Joshua, GO!

Mommy and Matthew Days Begin!

These are the days I have been waiting for ever since I had Matthew....odd you might think.  I really dislike the infant stage and while being with a toddler is fun, they can't hold much of a conversation or appreciate much.  Matthew is finally at the age where I can take him places and do things with him and he understands and enjoys the experience!  Now that Joshua is in school full time Matthew and I have lots of time to hang out, play, read and do fun things together just like I did with Joshua at this same age; only now Matthew gets my undivided attention which is something new for him and I think he is groovin' on it.  One Friday morning we had no plans so we decided to go explore a new place called Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park.  A husband and wife had exotic and unusual animals that they kept on their property, but recently decided to create a park so the public could enjoy the animals too.  It's quite small as of yet (part of it you walk around and a larger part you go on a tractor ride for), but they have plans to expand by next spring when they reopen after the winter.  I love that this park has unusual animals in it that you can get fairly close to that otherwise kids would only see in books.  I really like that this park is so clean and well-maintained (could be cause it's new).  I also appreciated the friendly staff.  We spent the morning there and I decided Joshua, our little animal lover, needs to come with us the next time so he can enjoy it and appreciate it too.

Matthew getting close to the Wallaby.

 Apparently Guinea Pigs are relatives of these funny looking creatures.

 A Ring-Tailed Lemur.

A Fennec Fox.

You can pet a baby zebra here!  He was amazingly soft and his nose felt like velvet.

A huge 80 year old tortoise.  A staff member was letting kids sit on the tortoise, but Matthew had NO interest.

Alligators!

Ostriches

Wildabeast

Joshua's First Day of 1st Grade!

Not exactly sure where the summer went, but we were up bright and early the morning after Labor Day for the first day of 1st grade.  Again, no tears were shed by either of us as Joshua gladly donned his backpack and headed off for the bus stop.  He didn't really even want to take time out to have his pictures taken, but that wasn't an option.  I wasn't sure if he really understood what it meant that he was going to be at school all day, every day, but he seems to have adjusted fairly well (after a few night-time meltdowns that first week); he is bummed to be missing out on things Matthew and I get to do together, but he is enjoying school.  We look forward to another year of growth for Joshua!

And just like that our first grader is off!

Labor Day Weekend

For an extended Labor day weekend we headed out to Muskegon Channel Park to join Cory's parents and sister's family.  We enjoy the placement of this campground being right on the channel between Lake Michigan and Muskegon Lake.  As soon as we arrived we were quickly reminded about why we don't like this campground.....the dirty sand (and I use the term sand loosely as it looks like sand but the kids are black from playing in it) surrounding the campsites.  Needless to say there were frequents washings of kids outside and inside the trailer throughout the day and the vacuum got a workout that weekend.  The weather was decent, hot most of the time with a cool down by the last day we were there.  We were able to swim in both lakes and play on both beaches!  The dunes were right across the street from our campsite so the kids ran on them several times and even played there one afternoon after I was sick of the dirty sand elsewhere.  I still think the highlight for the kids is playing with their cousins!  Another nice, relaxing camping trip to end summer with.  Warning, picture overload below!

 The Lake Express Ferry traveled through the channel daily.

View of the front of the ferry.

The back of the ferry.

Watching a fishing boat come back in with piles of fish in it!

Cousins: Allison, Joshua, Gabrielle and Matthew

Sam and Matthew building sand creations with grandpa on the beach.

Gabrielle and Joshua spent tons of time hauling rocks from one area of the beach to another.

Taking a break from hauling rocks.

 The family playing on our own private little area of the beach.



Sand monster!

Happy beach boy!

Daddy makes for a nice seat in the water.

Where is Matthew?

Blowing a "wisher" (what our boys call dandelions).

Checking out the water temperature.

Running down the beach is always fun!  Matthew went pants-less to avoid getting his clothes totally soaked.

Run!

One fall and he was soaked!  Guess we should have taken his shirt off to begin with too.

Swimming in the big lake.

Riding the waves with a little help from dad.

Surfing!

Building a "pool" at the edge of the big lake.

Riding the waves on grandma's raft was a hit once Matthew realized it was fun and not scary.

Water boy!

Looking at all the sailboats on the lake.

Spin me dad!

Matthew ate a lot of sand running down the dunes since his little legs were moving to fast to carry him.

Nicholas, Owen and Joshua making a run down the dune.

Go Matthew, go!

 Allison helping Matthew run down a dune.



The cousins in age order (minus Aiden who was not there for the picture).

Our little beach boys.

Camping at the lake

A few weekends ago we went camping at Gun Lake with Cory's parents.  We had a nice, relaxing time!  The weather wasn't spectacular, but pretty decent.  We took his parent's boat out for a ride one day and took people tubing and knee boarding the next.  Shawn and Aiden came out to visit a couple of times during the weekend too.  The only downside to the whole weekend was a thunderstorm that rolled in at 2pm Saturday (yes, right during Matthew's nap) that knocked the power out.  We were without power for several hours; thankfully our lights can run off the battery and our refrigerator/freezer kicked over to running on propane. It was getting to be time to get the kids cleaned up and in bed and the power finally came back on; hallelujah is all I can say as I was not looking forward to having no air conditioning in a tin box.  Overall another nice summer weekend!

 Matthew, Grandma and Aiden blowing bubbles.

 Cory's dad taking a ride on the tube.



 Cory's mom trying to ride sitting on the tube.

 Apparently it's a bit more of a challenge to sit and get back in the wake.

 Shawn at the beginning of his tube ride.

 Apparently the ride was a bit too slow for his taste.

 Time for a real ride Shawn!

 Cory likes to ride the tube with his feet sticking up in the air it seems - we found that a bit silly.

That's better!