DeMaster visitors

Thanks for the birthday presents Grandpa and Grandma D!
So excited to open presents before his birthday. He did ask where his cake was. :)

Had lots of fun with Grandma

Visiting Great-Grandma VanStelle
Fun at the beach with Jack and Abby
Aunt Colleen and Abby

Beach fun continued
Julia loved playing with Uncle Mike
Riding the GR trolley after the wedding

Jack really liked his wine, I mean sparkling grape juice
The kids were SO excited to get lollipops from the wedding

This past week we had some DeMaster visitors! Nate's Mom came back for a couple days and the kids were very happy to see her. They went blueberry picking with Grandma. Michigan blueberries are the best! We went to Silver Beach in St. Joseph as well. It is quite a hike down to the water! The water temperature was about 47 degrees, but that didn't stop the kids from wading in. We also visited Nate's Grandma VanStelle and other relatives in town for a wedding.

On Thursday, Nate's sister Colleen and family arrived. Her kids are 2 1/2 and 13 months old. It was a little challenging to do things around the schedules of 5 young children, but we did it! We played in the sprinkler, went to the park, went to the beach, got ice cream at Sherman's and walked around downtown/the pier. I'd say we got alot in during their visit and had fun! On Saturday we went to a wedding for Nate's cousin. I always enjoy weddings and it was good to meet some of Nate's extended family for the first time. We had a great week with our extended family- love you all!

Fourth of July

Wisconsin paradise
Sparklers!
Aunt Beth's boat for some skiing

My Dad is 57 years old and a great skiier!
There he goes...
Cuteness
The kids loved jumping off the pier
Isaac jumped off the ladder
Floating in the lake after jumping off Aunt Beth's pontoon boat
Look out, she's driving already!
Cool jump Caleb!

We spent the holiday weekend at my grandparent's cottage. The weather was beautiful! We can't remember the last time we had so many great days in a row. I love watching my kids enjoy the cottage as much as I did as a child (and still do!). This was the first summer that none of our kids were scared of boats or the water- yay! My grandparents were able to come this time. My Grandpa has 2 weeks left of radiation, we're praying for you Grandpa! We took the boys to their first fireworks display. They loved it! Isaac keeps asking when we can see fireworks again. I wish we had a picture of us watching the fireworks. My relatives found a country road with a good view of the show so we didn't have to sit in the field with all of the drunk, loud people. We were quite the sight with our lawn chairs lined up in a row along the side of the road in the middle of nowhere! We had a great view though and we were home within 5 minutes after the show when normally it would take us an hour to get home from the field- works for me! Once again, Julia did not sleep well at the cottage. I do not understand why she has such a hard time there. However, she loved everyone and everything there! All of my relatives love her, but they all agree she is quite the chatterbox. She just doesn't stop talking. :)

Thanks again Grandpa and Grandma for another great weekend!

Mexico

Coba Mayan pyramid that we climbed
Rappelling into a cenote (underground lake) in the Yucatan jungle
Final kiss before we plunged
Climbing up a rope ladder out of the cave- I was sore by the end
Floating in the dark cenote- I was scared fish were going to bite my rear
Down we go!
Standing with the Mayan shaman
Our Coba exploration group
Nate ziplining across the crocodile infested lake
My turn- I was flying!
This is where our guide said, "Don't touch any trees b/c some are poisonous and will give you a 2nd degree burn." Say what?!
The beginning of our trek- we were still dry
My wary expression- "What exactly am I sniffing here?"
Mmm- ice cream whenever you want
Swim-up bar
Walking to the beach bar. It was a tough life- sit, swim, eat and repeat.
I blend in really well
Lots of good conversations with friends. Hanging out with Lisa.
Dave, Kate and Nate chilling in the shade
Toes to the sky
Doug and Nate got roped into an "Iron Man" competition- quite funny!
The open air lobby
Tanya, Pete, Lisa and Doug strolling down the beach


We are back! We had a AWESOME trip to the Riviera Maya, Mexico. We were about an hour south of Cancun at the Grand Palladium. We went with 3 other couples that are friends from college. We had a rough beginning to our trip. We were supposed to fly out at 6 am from GR. Our friends called at midnight b/c our flight was cancelled and we all had to get to O'Hare for our flight to Cancun. So we left our house at 4 am to make the drive. O'Hare was nuts and it took us forever to get checked in. Thankfully we got on our flight!

We had never been to an all-inclusive resort before, I can say we really enjoyed it! We spent most of our time swimming, eating, reading, chatting, and eating. One day we rented catamarans. Nate, Doug and I were on a boat together. The guys did a great job sailing and we had a fun hour on the ocean. One wave almost washed us over. We also caught a HUGE wave on the way into shore and rode the wave for a long time. It was slightly scary.

We also went on a day trip to Coba which has Mayan ruins. We climbed up a Mayan pyramid which was very steep. It was an amazing view from the top, but scary climbing down. We then went to a Mayan village in the jungle. We hiked thru the jungle in the pouring rain. I have never been in such a downpour. The rain slowed down and we ziplined across a lake. It was alot of fun. We then rappelled down a hole in the ground about 100 feet into a cenote. It was a dark cave and the water was slightly chilly. I thought rappelling would be scary, but it wasn't! To get out of the cave we climbed up a rope ladder. We did have a rope attached to our harness, but it was hard work getting to the top. After rappelling we had lunch in the Mayan village. The village shaman also did a special ceremony for our group. He did alot of chanting and burned tree sap, I think. He then walked around the group, waved smoke in our face and used a branch to make a cross on our chests. I don't think the cross means the same thing. Our guide told us the shaman was giving us a blessing. We viewed the experience as an act of hospitality, but I kept thinking, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus," when it was my turn to sniff the smoke, I was a little wary. The day trip was a great learning and adventure experience.

One afternoon Nate, Pete, Tanya and I went into Playa del Carmen. Pete speaks excellent Spanish and that was a huge bonus. We took the local bus into town and walked the shopping district. We did some haggling (with Pete's help) and bought souvenirs. It was fun just to be outside of the resort in "real" Mexico.

The resort had shows every night. The productions were slightly amateur, but still entertaining. We had great weather the first few days. It rained for two days and the last couple of days were overcast, but still warm. The resort had a separate spa area with a nice pool, hot tubs, etc. We enjoyed spending time there b/c kids were not allowed and it was less noisy. Ah, relaxation.

While we were relaxing, Nate's parents were taking care of the kids. They were tired by the end of the week, but everything went great! It was so good to see the kids again. They kept hugging and snuggling with us. We enjoyed our week away, but were glad to come home again. Happy early 10 year anniversary honey!!

June Fun

This picture does not truly reflect the amount of strawberry juice that was on her
Caleb had a method- pick two, eat one
The divot I put in Nate's head- I felt so bad!
Isaac mastered the marshmallow roasting
Caleb, Corban, Eli and Isaac- they spent hours riding their bikes
Post-camping coma

We had some fun this past week. I took the kids strawberry picking one morning. We didn't pick a ton, but I expected that. Julia didn't discriminate and picked berries of any color to eat. I quickly taught her to ask me for a strawberry instead of picking them- just don't eat any more white ones! She was one sticky, happy girl at the end. Isaac did a better job picking this year and Caleb was quite helpful. I bought extras for my canning needs. I'm hoping 5 batches will be enough this year!

I had my first accident when cutting Nate's hair. We were almost done and he wanted me to touch up an area. I grabbed the clippers and went at it, forgetting that the guard was off! I felt so bad, and still do. He was very gracious about it. Hopefully it will grow in quickly!

We also did an impromptu one night camping trip with some friends. We went to a campground not far from here. It was a relaxing 24 hours. The kids played non-stop and the adults could relax-good times!

Nate and I leave on Wednesday for a one week vacation to Riviera Maya in Mexico! It is for our 10 year anniversary. We are going with 3 other couples too. Nate's parents are coming up to watch the kids for us. I know the kids will have fun with Grandpa and Grandma and I think we'll have a good time too. :)

Backpacking

I don’t write here very often, but since this is “DeMaster Stories,” I’ll add another tale.

Caleb and I got to spend some quality Father-Son this week in the woods on a backpacking trip. We spent two nights and three days up in Manistee National Forest with our friends, another 6-yr-old and his dad. We hiked on the North Country Scenic Trail along the Manistee River. I learned how to fly-fish, and the kids had fun exploring, hiking, cooking over a fire, eating marshmallows for breakfast, and sleeping in the woods. Our tents stayed dry at night despite the thunderstorm the first night. There were lots of animals to see including bald eagles, a hognose snake, deer, red-headed woodpeckers, crayfish, frogs, tadpoles, and all sorts of bugs. I even heard coyotes and owls at night. The boys were pretty tired by the time we dragged ourselves out of the woods on Friday. They both did a great job hiking! Of course having your dad along to carry most of the gear helped. :) It was a memorable trip, and we hope to do more in the future.

On a more sour note, Caleb had a touch of poison ivy from last week that spread all over his legs the second night in the woods. He has been feeling pretty miserable ever since. Hopefully it will start to heal up this week.

As you can see, it was cold & rainy the day we left and I was wearing every piece of clothing that I brought to stay warm.

Caleb recently learned to ride a two-wheeler. He picked it up very quickly, even though he has been very nervous about learning. It's times like these that I feel so proud of my kids!

Signing off as your guest blogger - Nate

All he wants for Christmas...

...are his two front teeth! (and a Zhu Zhu pet)

Caleb now has a big gap in the front of his mouth. I think it is pretty cute. He is also working on another bottom tooth. I think he wants to see how many holes he can have in his mouth!

Achievements

Wildflower Garden
Caleb receiving one of his THREE awards

This posting will be about some recent achievements in our family. After much research, procrastination, more research and manual labor- our wildflowers are planted! We bought them from Hidden Savanna which specializes in Michigan native plants. The owner was really helpful as we tried to figure out what needed to be done/bought. We bought 9 different species of wildflowers which came out to about 100 plants. I was impressed at how quickly we got them planted. Nate installed the fence because we have crazy rabbits here and we do not want our investment eaten overnight. The flowerbed is sparse, but in a couple of years it should look great- if we can keep the plants alive!

Tonight Caleb's school had Academic Awards Night. We received a letter stating Caleb was receiving an award and we should attend. We had no idea what to expect and Caleb didn't either. He received 3 awards! Outstanding Academic Achievement in Spanish, Music and he received the top honor of Overall Outstanding Academic Achievement for his class. Now I realize this is kindergarten we're talking about and it seems a little over the top to give such awards, but I have been impressed with the work kindergarteners do these days. We are just plain proud of Caleb and how hard he has worked this year! Way to go buddy!