Family Vacation 2013---part 1

For us, our family vacation started with a brief "teaser" visit with Matt and Cheryl's family when they flew in to Midway in Chicago.  We met them at the airport on the evening of July 18 and then spent the night at a hotel with them before they headed off to Michigan in our Honda the next morning. Best moment of the evening: when Josie caught sight of us, hopped out of the stroller and came running into my arms.  Priceless! After a 4 hour plane trip, the kids had plenty of energy, and of course they were still on CA time.  So it got to be kind of a late bedtime for them. There was much giggling, squealing and jumping on beds before they were ready to settle down.

This was probably the only time they were both sitting still enough for a picture.

Since it had been a late bedtime, no one was up real early the next morning. I think Evan was the first to wake up, so Matt brought him over to our room for a visit so that Cheryl and Josie could sleep a little longer. 

The breakfast at the hotel ended before we were ready to eat, but we found a great breakfast place not too far from the hotel. 

Evan did some texting while waiting for his food.

Josie was pretty excited about her Mickey Mouse pancake!

After breakfast Matt, Cheryl and the kids got in the Honda and headed to Michigan for their week with the Vanderkamp family. And Dad and I headed back to Brookfield in the (brand new!) Ford Escape. We were so happy that we got to spend that time with them!

The REAL family vacation started on July 26, with our drive to Michigan. We made a stop at Diekemas on our way to Fremont, and Adam, Rachel and Jeremiah were already there. Jeremiah had already found their cool toys and was having lots of fun.  We had coffee and cookies and a little time to visit, and then we drove on up to Fremont.  We stopped at Spanky's for pizza and delicious breadsticks on our way through Fremont.  Then we picked up some groceries and made our way to the cottage.

Saturday morning we drove down to Grand Rapids and went to the Sinkes, where we met up with Matt, Cheryl and the kids. The main item on the agenda:  Train rides!!  Our kids have such fond memories of riding Uncle Carl's train every time we came to Michigan when they were growing up, so it was really fun for Matt and Rachel to see their kids enjoying the same thing. Chuck was on hand to run the train and he was very generous with his time---he said that they could have as many rides as they wanted. Well, I guess if we had really taken him up on that we would have been there all day---we did have several rides, and then a delicious picnic lunch that Cora Mae had made for us, and then a few more rides.

The boys walking down to the train.

It's always fun to sit in the caboose--if you're small enough!

Yes, even Grandma got a ride. Evan actually fell asleep on this ride. 

In addition to the train itself, we also got to see the water tower that Carl and Chuck have built, as well as other projects in their workshop. And we also got to see their beautifully restored Model T. 

  And he even let the kids sit in it!

Well, I think that's it for the first installment. More to come!

July.....so far, part 2

Good-bye, Windstar....Hello, Escape!

 This mini-van has served us very well for several years.  It's a 2002 and has about 155,000 miles on it, and it's been getting some rust.  We decided that we really don't need to have such a large vehicle anymore. I think this means that we're out of the moving business--at least as far as hauling mattresses and couches is concerned. We had bought it from Marilyn after Herk passed away, so I do feel a bit sentimental about it and I kinda hated to see it go.

So we have down-sized to a 2014 Ford Escape!

 

We really went into this intending to buy one of the last 2013's, but after going through all the paper work, etc. and assurance from the salesman that there were several of them available in the area, we got the word that there were no longer any 2013's to be had in this area.  So then we went back to thinking about a used one, but after we thought about it for a while we decided to go with the 2014. We got it yesterday and took it right on the road to bring Abby back to Chicago and to visit Roger and Sheryl.  We're liking it a lot so far. It's pretty much the basic model, but it has more features on it than I know how to use.  I think I may need to take a class.  One nice feature that the 2014 has is the rear camera, which is now standard, I guess.  We also are learning how to use the blue tooth feature, and Dad plugged in his i-pod today and was telling it what to do. :)

I really like the way you sit up a little higher than you do in the Honda.  Maybe it's because we drove vans for so many years, but I like that better for driving and also for ease in getting in and out. (This is important for old people.)

Here are a couple more views...

So....that's what's new and exciting on Evergreen Court!!

July......so far, part 1

July has been a nice month so far, and we have hopes of it getting even better as we have our week at Crystal Lake to look forward to.  After a rather slow start, summer has come to Wisconsin and we've had some rather warm, humid weather. It hasn't been too unbearable, though---today is the first day that we have had the AC on, and that is more for the humidity than the heat.

We had a rather uneventful 4th of July holiday.  It's become our tradition to go downtown for the fireworks on July 3, and the display has always been awesome!  When we got down there, Lew and JoAnne and Sue, Daniel and Steven had already staked out a good spot for viewing the fireworks. Sue and the boys had come over on the Lake Express that afternoon, so they came right downtown after getting off the boat.  We had a nice time sitting around visiting while we waited for it to get dark enough for the fireworks.  I think they started at about 9:30 and for about the first 5 or 10 minutes we could enjoy the fireworks, but they did not seem to be as bright or as loud as they usually are.  As time went on, fog came rolling in off the lake and pretty much hid the fireworks from view.  For a few more minutes we could see the ones that went really high in the air, but then it was like a curtain came down and we could not see any of them.  We could hear lots of booms and could see flashes of light through the fog, but that was it.  About 20 minutes into the hour-long show, there was pretty much a mass exodus from the lake front.  We hung around for almost the whole hour, and gave the crowds a chance to thin out a bit. It was disappointing, because we always enjoy the fireworks so much.  And really a shame to think of all the money that was spent on fireworks that could not be seen. :( 

On the 4th we went to the Brookfield parade in the morning, and then to Panera for an iced coffee drink while we waited for the traffic to clear.  Then it was a quiet day at home, until evening when we went to see the Elm Grove fireworks.  We watched them from a school playground and had a great view.  The Brassers and Sue and the boys joined us there too, after being in Sheboygan for the day.

Saturday, July 6, marked 39 years of marriage for us.  I got a gorgeous bouquet of flowers, and we enjoyed dinner at Outback Steakhouse with Lew and JoAnne.

This past week-end we went to NW Iowa for my 50th high school reunion.  We drove over on Thursday, got checked in to the EconoLodge in Sioux Center, and then had dinner with the Heynen cousins. We met at the restaurant that originally was the Holland House, then Family Table, and now it's the Sioux County Livestock Company. After dinner we went across the street to Culvers for dessert. We had a really nice visit, and I was so glad that they were all able to make it.

Friday was the reunion day, and it started with coffee and a social time on Dordt's Campus.  They had arranged for several different tours/activities that you could take advantage of.  We went to see a beautiful flower garden and then went to Le Mars to Wells Blue Bunny for some ice cream. This Heath sundae was my lunch for the day. :)

We went back to Dordt after "lunch" and there was more socializing there. We headed to Hull at about 3:00 and made a stop at the Foreign Candy Company, at their brand new location.  And then it was on to Western for a tour of the school, a choir rehearsal with a group that sang at our dinner, and then we had our dinner. It was really a fun time (for me, anyway!)  I saw classmates that I hadn't seen for so many years.  We all had picture name tags with our senior picture on them---and the spouses also had the same picture on theirs so that people would know who they were with.  That was very helpful for identifying people that you didn't recognize, but many people commented that they should have been a bit bigger.  You had to get in pretty close to see the picture and read the names.  :)  We had a very good turn-out---there were just over 100 in my graduating class, 10 have passed away, and of the remaining 90 or so, there were 60 or 61 attending, along with spouses. 

Of course, when I get back to Hull it's always fun to look at the two houses that I lived in.  I thought it was kind of ironic that the "old" house looks absolutely beautiful, while the "new" house looks like it needs a make-over.  It made me kind of sad to see it.  But the "old" house has certainly been well cared for. It's probably one of the prettiest homes in Hull. From what I hear, there is a state senator living there now, Randy Feenstra.

The "old" house, which looks much nicer than I remember it. 

 

The "new" house, which definitely looked much better when we lived there.

We had one other major event, but I have to take one more picture before I can post about that.  So that will come soon.

June Happenings

I can hardly believe that June is almost over, and next week will be the 4th of July!!  It seems like summer was very slow in coming this year--I still can hardly believe this but we actually had the HEAT on at one point in JUNE!!  It really went against all my principles, but when Dad was sitting in his chair with a fleece on, hood up, and a blanket around him.....well, I figured I'd better give in. We are having summer temps now, but we are still getting an amazing amount of rain.  I heard on TV yesterday that in Chicago they have already had more rain this year than they had all of last year.  And the year is only half over.  And in spite of all the rain, our basement has stayed dry, for which we are VERY thankful!!

The first week or so of the month we had some school-related events.  We had a couple of graduation parties to attend the first week-end, then on the 5th we went to Chicago to attend the retirement dinner for Uncle Roger.  That was a very nice evening, and we were so happy to be included.  All three of the Wiers guys and their wives were there---no grandkids, though. Uncle Roger was "roasted" by one of his colleagues and that was very entertaining. There were 2 other retirees who were honored that evening as well.

June 7 was graduation at BCS, and Dad was the graduation speaker.  He did a great job, and I think it was very nice for the 8th graders, one in particular, who felt that he had sort of deserted them just before their final year of school.  Uncle John and Aunt Judy were there for Maddy's graduation, so it was nice to have a chance to see them. 

On June 14 we hit the road for a trip to Michigan for an Open House for Justin and Hilary Brasser.  But we took a bit of a side trip, to Geneseo, IL, where we met up with the Wissinks so that we could take Molly with us and take care of her while they were gone to Disney World.  We each had about a 3 hour drive to get to Geneseo, and we found it to be a very nice little town.  We picked up some sandwiches at Subway and then found a park, where we ate our lunch.  And Jeremiah and Molly had a chance to run around a bit before getting back in the car.

At the Geneseo City Park

So Molly accompanied us on our trip to Michigan---it was about a 5 hour drive to get to Diekemas, where we were staying for the week-end.  Aunt Jeanie graciously welcomed Molly along with us.  We got to their house in time to join them for pizza at Fricano's, which was a treat. 

Saturday was the Open House at Bob and Lynda's house.  There were quite a few Waanders relatives there, as well as some of Lynda's family and a lot of their friends. Abby and Neil drove up from Chicago for the Open House, too, and they also stayed out at the Diekemas' house Saturday night. I took a few random pictures at the Open House, so I'll post those.

They had a tent set up, because the weather forecast was a bit 'iffy' but no rain dampened this party.

I really did a bad job as photographer--I didn't even get a good picture of the guests of honor. But they are on this picture--barely recognizable between Uncle Tony and Paul.

And Jane took this pic of the 4 Waanders sisters. You can tell we're sisters because we all have the same hair. :)

We all went to church with Diekemas on Sunday morning, and then had a delicious Father's Day lunch before we headed home.  We left at the same time as Neil and Abby, and we joined them at Sherman's for some ice cream! We hadn't been there for a long time.  The ice cream is still just as good and the servings are just as big, if not bigger! I ordered a baby-size cone, and there must have been 3 big scoops of ice cream on it.  I could barely eat it all before it melted!

Molly was a very good little traveler for us--she only barked once or twice when she felt the need to scare a couple of motorcyclists off the road. And her time with us went very well.  We did have one little unexpected adventure---we had to give her a bath after she rolled around in a some deer poop in the yard.  That was on Monday, and after that we were much more careful about where we took her in the yard. 

Of course, this was her favorite spot to hang out, so that she could warn us about any dangers in the neighborhood. 

Last Saturday, the 22nd, we went down to Ravinia, near Chicago, for the Prairie Home Companion live radio broadcast.  I think this was maybe the 5th time that we have seen this at Ravinia, and we love it every time. The Brassers went with us again this year--last year was the first time for them.  And Uncle Bill and Aunt Pat also joined us again.  We picked them up at their hotel on our way, and all rode together to Ravinia.  It's a real advantage to have Uncle Lew with us, because he has a permit for handicap parking!  (and no, that's not the only reason we like to have him with us!)  After the show, we went back to the hotel where Bill and Pat were staying and had dinner at the restaurant there.  Karen drove up and joined us for dinner, too, which was nice.

The only picture I took on this outing. Uncle Bill and Aunt Pat had seats in a different area because they decided later to join us.

And now....it's been a quiet week in Brookfield. I'm not babysitting at all because the Dooyemas are on vacation this week. Dad has been fighting a cold, but I think it's getting a bit better.  I had a dental appointment yesterday, and had to bid farewell to Dr. Theis who is retiring---yesterday was his last day. And I've been pulling a lot of weeds---boy oh boy, those weeds really grow fast with all the rain we've had!

That's about it for the month of June!  Looking forward to some fun times in July!

Botany 101....or The Lilac Bush adventure....or Bob the Lumberman

One of my favorite things about spring in Wisconsin (and I use the term "spring" very loosely) is enjoying all the trees and bushes that blossom. And among those, lilacs are probably my very favorite.

It seemed like all the blossoming trees were especially pretty this year, or maybe it was just because we waited so long for them.  Our lilac bushes were also very pretty, but I noticed something kind of strange about our larger lilac bush. Almost all the blossoms were around the lower edge with a few way at the top.  But the whole middle section was just green--no lilacs.  On closer inspection, we discovered that there was a totally different bush or tree growing up right in the middle of the lilac bush and pretty much crowding the lilac bush out.  So we figured that we needed to do something about that....but as we were checking things out we discovered this:

It doesn't show up real well on the picture, but there is a mama robin sitting on a nest, and she was not at all happy that we were poking around in her tree.  So we left the tree alone until the eggs had hatched and the babies had left the next.

Then began the project of trying to get the invading tree out of  there.  It was no small project--and Dad did all the grunt work while I supervised. :) The leaves of the 2 different trees were not all that different, and some of the branches were twisting around each other, so it wasn't real easy to tell which branches needed to be removed. And unfortunately  we did lose a few lilac branches by mistake.

The good news is that there were no injuries sustained during this project, and we were still on speaking terms when it was finished. The last picture shows Dad contemplating the last part of the job---the trunk of the invading tree, which was probably about 8 feet tall and about 4 inches in diameter. All his years of experience cutting down Christmas trees certainly helped here, although I think a better saw would have been even more helpful.

The bad news is that we now have a very strange looking lilac bush.

We're waiting for another nice day to do some final trimming of the tall branches. And we're hoping that there will be some new growth by next spring to fill in the bare spots. 

Happy Birthday, Abby!

It's time for another trip down Memory Lane, this time remembering Abby's early years.  I've been thinking a lot today about that day 28 years ago when Abby was born.  Two things kind of stand out in my memory--that car accident that I had the day before (which is not a good memory) and then the memory of picking Dad up at school and heading to the hospital for a C-section. This was quite different from our previous birth experiences--they had all involved  middle-of-the-night drives to the hospital while in labor.

Just home from the hospital at 6 days of age, with her adoring siblings. 

Baptism, about 6 weeks old

About 3 months old

Right around the time of her 1st birthday

She always did think that her Dad was hilarious. :)

(Doesn't he look young there??)

At Grandpa and Grandma's apartment in Grand Rapids, sitting in Grandpa's old chair. And I think that's "Marlo" with her. 

Her favorite feature of her new kitchen---the phone!

One of my very favorite pictures! 

You can't really talk about Abby's early childhood without talking about her blankie.  Or maybe I should say blankies.  She had a bit of an obsession with silky-feeling  fabrics. (Actually she called it "sucky" since she liked to feel the fabric while sucking her thumb.) I think the first blanket she adopted was the green one that she stole from Matt. Then I got a new pink one for her that even had a silky pillow with it. And then there was the bunny blanket that had ears and binding that were silky.  The pink blanket and pillow were both loved to shreds, literally, and the green one ended up being cut in small pieces, a few of which still remain.  And the bunny blanket is also still with us, somewhere. :) 

She never liked it when the blanket had to be washed. She would sometimes stand out by the clothesline with one hand on the blanket and her thumb in her mouth. :)

Abby, Bunny Blanket, and Snickers

Flower girl for Maria and Kevin's wedding

And I had to include a few pictures from the "short hair" era.  I'm sure that I will forever be blamed for the fact that Abby was once given the boy toy at McDonald's because of her short hair.  Oh well, she was cute even in short hair, and it sure was a lot easier.  And the way I remember it is that she requested a short haircut. 

I always like those "missing-tooth" smiles.

I could go on to the years of glasses and braces, but I think I'll stop with this one. 

Happy Birthday, Abby!  You were the best 40th birthday present in the world!