June 2021

Outdoor piano recital for Stephen and Isaac

Nate is a great coach

Teen boys in charge of supper

Eating our Father's Day donuts and heading to MO

Diving platform and slide on the dock

Playing in the rain and throwing marshmallows

Hiking at Lake of the Ozarks State Park

Jacob, Nathan, Caleb

Cruising the lake

The dock was fantastic

Tweens/teens played the game Signs often

Karin and Stacy

All of us lined up on the dock

Lots of tackling on the swim mat

And some lounging

Group dinner

Our watercraft caravan

Carl towing out boat-out of gas

Nate 

Visiting Hez and Aunt Steph

Last day of school

Last day of school

-The kids successfully finished 10th, 7th, 6th, 2nd and 1st grades! 

-Caleb's finger healed and he got the pin out

-Caleb went to Colorado for a week with the Providence youth group- hiking, rapelling, white water rafting were part of the trip

-Caleb worked for the school this summer, cleaning the buildings.

-Julia did volleyball camp for a week

-Isaac did 4 v 4 soccer camp 

-Stephen and Lexi did Jr Adventure camp thru Holland Rec. It was a week long day camp and they loved it-they wanted to do more weeks this summer

-Isaac spent a couple days painting for a man from our church

-Julia did career camp for a couple mornings one week. She did a couple cooking classes and a design/fashion class

-Lexi continued taking Mandarin lessons over zoom twice/week

-We rented a house on Lake of the Ozarks with the Gabrielse and DeWitts for a week. We towed 2 boats and the waverunners between 3 vehicles. The weather was good, the water was warm, the dock was amazing, house was big enough/nice, lots of water activities, the waverunners worked most of the week, played games, adults took the boat out to eat a couple times, everyone got along well and lots of relaxing. A great vacation! 

Backpacking - June 2021

I don't write here very often, but I have done a few posts in years past following our Dad/kid backpacking trips.  So here goes... Stephen, Lexi, and I (Dad) spent 2 nights and 3 days on the Manistee River trail with Kai and his dad.  On the first day we started at Red Bridge and camped at one of our favorite sites overlooking the river.  It was about a five mile hike and the weather was gorgeous. Lexi and Stephen both had to carry heavy packs for all of our stuff.  We spent the evening setting up camp, swimming in the river, pumping water, and attempting to cook pita pizzas over an open fire.  The next day was a harder hike as we all started with sore shoulders and tired legs.  But we made it past the 'water fall' to our next site which was about another 4 miles.  After a little RnR in the afternoon, the kids explored the shoreline looking for frogs, crayfish, and other creatures.  Lexi and Kai spent hours poking and prodding the fire with sticks.  After a spaghetti dinner and several rounds of Kings in the Korner, we finished the evening with Mr. Peterson's famous campfire stories.  Day 3 was much easier as we left our packs on the riverbank and only had a short walk up to the canoe launch site. We spent the morning canoeing / kayaking back down to Red Bridge.  Stephen was an expert with the kayak, even through the rapids.  Lexi and Kai also took their turns paddling on their own.  It ended up quite warm by the time we were done and the last few miles of the river gets quite slow.  By the end of the trip we were all exhausted and quite happy to find an ice cream place on the way home to celebrate. 

My two forest kids were quite comfortable exploring the woods.  It was great watching them get pushed a little harder than they are used to and see that they can accomplish hard things.  It was nostalgic for Jim and I remembering the same style trip with our older children.  What a blessing it was for us to be able to re-create it with the next generation.

Ready to go

Three amazing hikers

Chilling after a long hike

These two spent hours doing exactly what you see here

Hiking partners

The start of our canoe trip