Strawberry Picking

Saturday morning we went out to Beard's Produce to pick strawberries. Joshua, and of course Matthew, have never been strawberry picking before so this was a great new experience for them. It was a bit muddy and sandy in the field and with the heat and humidity the job of picking was a bit dirtier than normal so it wasn't exactly an ideal situation for our clean-freak Joshua, but he did manage to pick a few berries. Matthew actually understood the concept of picking the berries and happily picked away until he figured out that he could just as easily pop the berries in his mouth and enjoy all the sweet rewards of his hard work! I think we'll be making this an annual summer tradition for many years to come!

Putting the berries in the container.

Matthew enjoyed picking the strawberries!

Joshua inspects a berry before putting it in his container.

Found a good one!

Putting them in our big container . . .

. . . until he figures out they can go in his mouth!

Picking away.

Uncle Shawn carried both the little boys back to the cars when we were done.

The boys and our freshly picked, sweet strawberries!

Good ol' sprinkler fun

The humidity set in at the end of last week so to beat the heat we got out the old school sprinkler for Joshua and his friends to run through. Matthew even got in on some of the fun. It was a great way to spend a night having fun and cooling down. Icy cold treats rounded out the night.

Festival

We made our annual trek downtown to Festival Saturday morning so Joshua could enjoy the kid's activities and we could all enjoy the food. First we visited the MI Chip tent again and had the ID kits done for each of our kids (last year Matthew was too little for this) so I can now keep them both in one safe place that I will remember if, God-forbid, there should be a day they are needed. Again this year Joshua opted to work at the glue-in but not the paint-in to create a masterpiece. He also enjoyed the activity/craft area that the Children's Museum had going - he made a headband of sorts. Amazingly this year we talked him into getting his hand painted and then we also had Matthew's face painted which he didn't seem to mind at all. Treats were for sure in order, but oddly Joshua didn't want any kind of ice cream treat, instead he went for the cotton candy; I on the other hand feasted on a chocolate waffle sundae and shared it with Matthew who seemed to enjoy it too. Getting a watermelon painted on his hand.

Getting a shooting star painted on his cheek. (He did really well sitting still even though it looks like I've got him in a headlock - I was just holding his head as still as possible and that is no easy task with this child!)

The finished product!

Yummmmm, ice cream!

Hanging out enjoying our treats downtown.

Too much Festival . . .

Watching God's handy work

About a month ago we watched some robins who would fly out in the woods behind our house and gather sticks and brush and then fly under our deck. We figured they were building a nest. Sure enough, we were right! A week or so after the nest was built we could see four blue eggs peacefully laying in it. We've been watching the eggs ever since discovering them and were excited to find that 3 of them (we think, but it's hard to tell) had hatched by the time we came home from camping on Monday - oh and boy are they ugly little things! It's hard to see the babies when you have to look in between deck boards to catch a glimpse, so today Joshua and I got the ladder out and took a better look at the baby robins, being careful not to disturb them or tick their momma off (she's always nearby keeping a watchful on on her little ones). From what I've found through looking on the internet, it seems that the birds will be in there nest about another week before they will to learn to fly and leave. It's been such a fun and amazing process to watch from the very beginning - Joshua is very curious about the babies and has to "check" on them several times a day. What a great opportunity to teach Joshua about the wonders of God's creation and how God has His hand in every little detail!

The baby birds just 2 days old.

5 days old.

The momma taking care of her babies.



I took a video so Joshua would be better able to see how even though the birds are tiny they are alive and moving.

Holiday Weekend

Friday afternoon we left with our new trailer in tow and headed over to Holland State Park, the Macatawa section. Set-up was so much less thanks to the new, fully-enclosed trailer! Our sites were great and upon parking I noticed that our camping neighbors were non-other than my former boss/principal and one of his daughters and family. We spent the weekend going to the beach, playing in the sand, playing in the water, hiking (the overlook along the trail is amazing), watching boats, eating ice cream, roasting marshmallows, sitting by a fire and just plain relaxing! The weather was gorgeous and the company was wonderful (Shawn, Erin, Owen and Aiden along with Stella)! Cory's parents and my dad came and visited Sunday afternoon/evening too which was nice. For the most part the boys slept great all weekend, except for a little outburst of crying at 2am one morning from Matthew. Early Monday morning around 5:45am the thunderstorms started to roll in, but thankfully the boys slept through it (could have something to do with the Benedryl we gave them before bed that night). Once the rain stopped around 8:30-9am we packed up and left. We had a great time and look forward to going back to this park as we had plenty to do! Matthew exploring the campsite with help from daddy.

Joshua adores Stella and was so glad she came along for the weekend!


Snack time!

One of Matthew's favorite things to do . . . EAT!

Matthew's first time at the beach!

Matthew and Aiden playing on the shore of Lake Macatawa.

Owen and Joshua loved playing in the water!

Took a few minutes, but once he was used to it Matthew loved playing in the sand and water.

Enjoying Lake Macatawa.

Joshua and Aiden.

Matthew trying out the water.

Hiking up to the outlook.

Matthew had a great seat for the hike.

The view of Lake Macatawa from the overlook.

Family photo with Lake Michigan in the background.

Family photo, complete with Stella.

Playing on the shore of Lake Michigan.

Little beach bum.

The big beach bum.

Matthew and Daddy in Lake Michigan.

Feeling the freezing cold water of Lake Michigan!

A couple of crazy beach bums.

Playing outside during Matthew's nap time.

Eating dinner with Papa.

Watching the dinner ferry go down the channel.

Matthew liked watching the boats.

The big boys really enjoyed watching the boats.

Playing in the sand.

Digging for treasure.

Watching the boats go through the channel.

Playing together.

Sand angel.

Chillin' in the stroller on the beach.