Playing with Auntie Karen and Cousin Olivia

My Sister/Auntie Karen and Baby Olivia came into town to play with us for a few days. We visited the Children's Garden at Meijer Gardens and the Grand Rapids Children's Museum. All of the kiddos had a great time - I think the adults did too :-)

Playing in the water and missing some teeth :-)

Livy just wanted IN

Please stop taking pictures, mom!
Simon was in heaven with all these balls to play with

I think this is the furthest up she has ever gotten the bubble to go

They both LOVED the light table

Yes, he's cute, but one Simon is enough, thank you

Three crazy cousins

Trip to Canada

We made the long drive to visit Joel's sisters and their families in Ontario this weekend. Anna had great fun playing with her cousins. And we all had a great time swimming in their pool and playing on their trampoline. We also got to visit Niagara Falls, which as Anna says is "way taller than me".

Joel HAD to have a pic of the kids eating their first TimBits at Tim Horton's on the way there Playing in the pool

The girls made up a game called "angry sea monster" - no further explanation necessary :-)

Si was less than thrilled with the trampoline
Cousins showing off their hooded cover-ups - they were convinced that we couldn't tell who was who when they all had their hoods up
Niagara Falls The kids had their picture taken with this "Mountie" too, but I think the one of Joel is funnier
Crazy girl cousins, showing off their jewelry

Sprinkler fun...kind of...

It was HOT today, so we got out some different sprinklers for the kids to cool off. Simon was not impressed with either of them - he likes to splash in the water, but prefers not to be sprayed. Anna mostly had fun tormenting her brother :-)

And so, it begins...
We did get a few smiles out of him
Here we go again...

Me and my girl

Anna and I did this at one those little photo booths at the mall today. Awwwww......

The 4th of July

We went to our town's annual 4th of July parade again this year. The kids both had a really good time. I think the pictures tell more about it than my writing about it.

Enjoying a yummy elephant ear

She spent much of the parade this way

One of Joel's favorite parts of the parade :-)

Strawberries

We realized recently that we are almost out of the jam we made last year, so off we went today to pick some strawberries to make some more. Anna was very helpful...until she realized that she could eat them too; then, many more ended up in her mouth than in her bucket. Simon mostly just sat in the stroller and watched. Anna did share some of her strawberries with him though - afterall, there was an endless supply :-)

Inaugural Camping Trip

We decided that we wanted to try out our new camper before we go for our week long camping trip later this summer - you know, to work out the kinks so to speak :-)

The problem is that it is VERY difficult to get campground reservations without serious advance planning - like 6 months in advance. Times have changed from when Joel and I went camping as kids, when you just left as early as possible and hoped there were sites left when you got there (there usually were). Now, you MUST decide where and when you want to go and make reservations 6 months in advance - the earliest the state parks allow. This involves rapid speed dialing to the reservation center until you get through and having a list of camp sites you are willing to reserve. Anyway.....the state park at Cadillac was one of the few that had any spots for this weekend, so that is where we went.

Set up went relatively smoothly, in spite of 2 kids "helping". We finished right around dinner time and decided it was time to eat, but when we tried to light the propane grill that came with the camper, we discovered that it wouldn't light....well, long story short, a few phone calls later and Joel ended up driving to Meijer to buy a propane stove so we could eat.

So, let's see...we had the propane issue....the mosquitos were HORRENDOUS...and it rained ALOT on our last day and completely flooded our site.....But, other than that we had a good time trying out our new digs and a great time playing at the beach. We figured out some of the do's and don'ts and feel more prepared for our mega-camping trip in August.

Si looking all cute ready for bed
Playing at the beach



Our campsite

My very silly children