Summer Fun!

We are continuing to stay busy and are trying to enjoy our summer to the fullest! I really love hanging out each day with my 2 buddies, and I know that all too soon J is going to head off to school full time! Waaah! I am going to miss him! And I know Hope will too! Although she will probably be excited to have free reign over all his tractors and trucks while he's gone. :)

But let's not dwell on the sadness of J starting Kindergarten in approximately 50 days (!!!).

2 weekends ago we had a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Wiers and Abby. They all came to town because Matt was in GR for a 2 week class at Calvin. So we were all able to all spend time together over the weekend! On Friday we went to Meijer Gardens, at J's request.

Um, wow. Good "Mad Mom" impression. I guess he's seen that before a time or two?!

In the Japanese Garden

Just hanging around. From a giant horse's hoof.

Both J and H loved the Great Lakes water play area!

While H napped at home with Grandpa and Grandma, Abby, J, and I hung out at the pool in our housing development.
 

For dinner that night we went up to GH and met the Diekema's and Uncle John at Fricano's!

J is a huge fan- he ate 4 pieces!

We're at Fricano's and all I get is squash?!?!

On Saturday we went out to Uncle Carl and Aunt Cora Mae's house to ride the train! Again- J's request. :)

J loves hanging out and learning from Chuck!

Of course Matt and I rode, too! And J was taking our tickets.

Hope loved her first train ride! I tried to sit her up on my lap and she wanted NO part of it. She wanted to sit in the train car all by herself!

On Sunday we went to our church, and then in the afternoon we went blueberry picking! 

Who doesn't wear their candy necklace for blueberry picking?!

On Monday, everyone left us. :( J was quite sad- he said, "I like when people visit us!" He usually ends up staying up later than normal and not having to take a "rest" during the day, so that probably plays a small part in that. :)

J had shown some interest in karate, so we decided to look into that for him. He got to try it out (for free!) and really enjoyed it!

We tried Chan's Martial Arts, but they want a 1 year commitment, and we were not sure we wanted to pay that much $ for J to get sick of it after 2 months! So we'll see- we're looking around a bit and may try another place. Interestingly, not many of these types of places post their prices on their websites. And now I know why!

Tuesday the 14th was our 8th wedding anniversary!

We celebrated by having dinner (with our 3rd and 4th wheels) at Carrabba's in Grandville. And then we stopped by Hager Park in Jenison for J to play! They have a terrain map of the United States there.

There's our Iowa boy in Iowa :)

J has been working hard to complete his summer reading program checklist from the library. Today he checked off "read for 20 minutes in an empty bathtub"!

Yep. That's a book titled "Harvesters."

And one final pic of Hope, because why not?

This is what after pigtail hair looks like! 

Stay tuned- H will be 9 months old in a few days so I will post about that soon!