August 2016

Nate wakeboarding

Stacy waterskiing

Lexi's first boat ride

Cousins at the beach

Having fun with Aunt Steph

Moments of cuteness

His Little Feet friends

His Little Feet choir and host families

Julia travelled to FL by herself!

Cousin love

Cousins at the park

First day of school

Krape Park waterfall 

Fishing at Krape Park

Carousel

Fire truck

Campground lake

The old church bell on the new sign

Grandma singing in the choir

Playing in the cemetery by the old church sign

Julia and Elsa 

Summer and I- we used to play here as kids

Where the old church used to be

The old house in Freeport

Tri-County reunion

The month of August began with the older 3 kids attending a week long day camp called Kids Rock.  They attended with the Gabrielse kids.  The kids had fun, but it wasn't anything special so I do not think they will be going there again.  Aunt Steph came out for a week.  She spent some time with us and kept the kids overnight so Nate and I could celebrate our 15th anniversary!  We went to a bed and breakfast in Grand Haven.  It was very nice to have some time away.

The His Little Feet choir was in town for 3 nights.  We hosted two girls from Ethiopia- Dereshaye and Sintehyo along with Auntie Gerda from South Africa.  Gerda has stayed with us in the past so we enjoyed catching up with her.  The choir performed at our church and they always love spending time in Holland.

Julia flew by herself to Florida and spent about 5 days with Grandpa.  She was a little nervous on the flight down, but she did great!  They spent their time going to the beach, swimming in the pool, going to a movie and eating ice cream.  Grandpa made Julia a nice photo book of her visit.

Some local friends invited our family to their Lake MI cottage for an evening.  They took us out on their boat which was our first time on Lake MI. We have lived along Lake MI for 10 years now so we were excited!  The best part was we could do some skiing and wake boarding.  Waterskiing is Stacy's happy place.  Isaac tried to get up on waterskiis and he was close to getting it.

Isaac celebrated his 9th birthday!  He requested an underwater theme cake- it was blue frosting with gummy fish on it and other decorations.  One of his birthday gifts was Pokemon cards.  And here is where I share disappointing news.  I accidentally deleted months worth of pictures- which included Isaac,  Caleb and Nate's birthdays.  Argh.  At least I have a little video montage of Isaac's birthday saved on the computer.  We are thankful for Isaac and we love him so much!

The kids began a new school year.  We have a 6th grader, 3rd grader, 2nd grader and a 3 year old preschooler.  Craziness!  Caleb and Isaac are in the same building this year and can ride their bikes to school together.  Stacy rides bikes with Julia and Stephen to school.  Stephen attends preschool on Monday and Wednesday mornings.  Lexi was a little confused at first about being the only one at home, but we fill up our time easily.

The soccer season began. This was Caleb's last year in Holland Rec soccer.  Nate was an assistant coach for Isaac's team.  We had a beautiful fall and not too many miserable soccer games.  Each of the boys had a fun soccer season.

We went to Freeport, IL for the last weekend in August.  We camped at Lake Louise in Byron, IL.  It was a nice little campground.  We spent Saturday morning at urgent care inside Shopko because Stephen broke out in hives.  They prescribed steroids, which got rid of the hives.  Stephen gets a little spun up on steroids though.  We went to Krape Park where I used to play.  We also drove past my old house.  On Saturday afternoon we swam at the campground lake with Natalie Haas and her kids.  Saturday evening was a Tri-County reunion. I enjoyed talking with friends I have not seen in years.  Sunday morning was the 150th anniversary of my childhood church- German Valley CRC. Now it is called Grace Valley CRC.  It was a trip down memory lane to re-connect with old church friends.  The church has been torn down and there is a new building so it wasn't the same but, still a great morning.