October 2020

 

7th grade soccer 

Caleb and friends at Gavin's Lake MI cottage

Pirate and Ninja

Elsa and Hotdog (I think she regretted the costume choice)

Laser tag

Lake MI overlook

Arcadia Dunes hike with Gabrielse and DeWitts

Caleb running XC

Nolbi's 7th birthday

-We celebrated Nolbi's birthday and gave him all things Minions.

-Caleb's cross country team had fewer meets because of covid.  He cut down his time over the season and his fastest time was 21:40. Nate had fun re-living his cross country high school days. 

-Our friend Kristen DeWitt died from suicide after struggling with severe depression. She had been trying different treatment options for over a year. Her son, Nathan, is one of Caleb's good friends and our family was becoming closer with the DeWitts as well over the past year. Sometimes there are no words.

-The outage finished on Oct 21- yes! 

-The kids had fall break and we rented a place near Crystal Mountain with the Gabrielse and DeWitts. We all quarantined for a week before the trip so we could stay together without masks, but it still felt a little unnerving to vacation together during covid. The rental had a basement game room/tv room for the teen boys and a large family room/kitchen so we could hang out and eat together. It was wonderful to just go somewhere! We played games, went on a hike and played laser tag. Nate and Lexi went to the alpine slide as we weren't sure she could do laser tag. When they came back and saw our group playing, Lexi was devastated and desperately wanted to play. So I gave her my laser gun and she loved it. The whole group had fun, although a little odd to look at the pictures of us intently shooting at each other... 

-At some point during the fall we began attending church in person again. Church allowed 100 people, spaced out with masks and no singing. Eventually we re-instated singing, with masks on of course. There is no Sunday School or kid programs this year. (The MS/HS youth group has found creative ways to meet.) Our church split the congregation into geographical "small groups" to maintain some sense of community within the church, and we are leaders for our group. We met outdoors about twice/month. Our family enjoyed the months of watching church online from the comfort of our pajamas and family room. It wasn't perfect, some of the kids struggled with behaviors. Transitioning back to in person church was also challenging for some of our kids. Lexi is in a stage where she is quite adamant that she does not like church. Covid life makes everything different. Being an elder during covid has also been an unique experience for Nate. 

-Stephen and Lexi are great playmates and their imagination with stuffed animals is cute. They will have conversations between the animals and make up story lines. Some of the animals are Beach, Big, Scratch, Fifi, Fluffy, and other names I can't remember at the moment. 

-We did not do trick or treating this year. We took Stephen and Lexi over to Tim's house for a fire and a candy scavenger hunt that Jenny put together. The older boys got together with friends and Julia went to a trunk or treat with a friend. 

September 2020

 

Covid soccer

Braces Time

Ripstick 

The Flash 

Paintball birthday party

Julia playing volleyball

Stephen playing soccer

Isaac playing soccer

Apple picking

-Nate began working the outage at the end of August. He left for work around 3:30 am, got home around 6 pm and tried to go to bed by 7:30/8 pm. And he worked this schedule every day. This is the last full outage at the plant that he planned, so he wanted it to be excellent! 

-Isaac, Stephen and Lexi were able to play soccer with masks. Julia played in an outdoor volleyball league. It was an adjustment, but overall they weren't too bothered by the mask. They were just happy to be able to play sports! 

-Lexi had the most intense Holland Rec soccer coach we have ever experienced. He had these 1st grade girls running drills and practicing plays. He wasn't mean, he was just very serious. Lexi was not thrilled with the coach, but we kept reminding her how awesome her team was because of his coaching. And her team was a sight to behold. Hopefully the intense coach experience didn't ruin her for soccer next year. One of the team parents joked that the girls would need therapy after the season, ha! 

-Stephen had a very large team so the coach wasn't able to do much skill development with the boys. Stephen liked playing goalie and was happy to be playing soccer.

-Isaac had a large 7th grade team, basically two teams in one. So for the first quarter of play one squad played and then the second squad the second quarter and so on. Isaac is a strong defender and he also has a solid left foot and played forward quite a bit.

-Julia decided to try volleyball more seriously this year. Her friend Leila was on team which made her happy. It was fun to watch the team near the end of their season as they were getting some good volleys during the matches. 

-Isaac got his braces, should be an easy one round- about 1.5 years. I wonder how many years total we will be paying the orthodontist?..  

-Caleb started his cross country season. They run a 5k at every race and in his first race he ran 24 min. I think a 5k in 24 min is amazing. Caleb set a goal to reduce his time every race. Caleb had quite a few friends on the XC team and the practices were challenging, but fun for him. 

-We celebrated Caleb's 16th birthday! Caleb is 164 lbs and is 6 ft. He chose paint-balling for his birthday party. He took along Josh, Teddy, Henry, Nathan, Jacob, Jason, Gavin, Andrew, Ashton and Eli. Most of them had never done it before, so there was a mixture of excitement tinged with nervousness. They had a fantastic time and all wanted to paintball again. For Caleb's bday he got a ripstick and a new kindle fire. Caleb is responsible, a hard worker, can give great one liners, athletic and he is kind. His closest friends are Jacob, Ashton and Nathan. He enjoys playing on his Switch with friends and watching funny youtube videos. Caleb is taking his first AP class this year, US history. His favorite classes this year are Bible and history. Because of covid delays, he couldn't get his license on his birthday. Caleb, we love you very much!

-Nate had a birthday, but he was busy with the outage and requested we not do anything for it. Felt weird to not celebrate, but we are happy to celebrate another year with Nate!

August 2020

The kids loved that I made them hold their cousin

Lexi did actually love holding Zeke

"I think it's time to pass me to my aunt"

Jack, Stephen and Isaac

Kate, Ashley, Lexi, Abby and Julia

Evening boat ride with the Petersons

Isaac, Luke, Levi and Efeson

Trick rollerblades 

Boating with the Gabrielse

Happy 19th Anniversary! 

Afternoon at the DeWitt's pond

Ashton, Gavin, Caleb and Nathan

Forest School treasures

Jee's family moved to MI! 

Naomi's 1st Birthday

Ruth and Naomi

Zeke's first boat ride

First day of school

-In the beginning of August we went to meet Zeke! We stayed at a local vrbo and spent a couple days with the Fonte family. 

-Colleen's family was in MI visiting friends/family and we met up with them at a park for the afternoon. Caleb was a working man, so he didn't come. The cousins had fun playing together and the adults enjoyed catching up. 

-Isaac celebrated his 13th birthday! This was a party year and he chose a boating party. Nate took the boys out tubing- and they tubed for several hours. They had lots of teen boy snacks and then took a break at Kollen Park for pizza, soda and cupcakes. And then went back out tubing again. The boys had a great time. Isaac is 120 lbs and is 5 ft, 5 in.  Isaac got trick rollerblades for his birthday. Isaac enjoys playing fortnite, playing soccer and basketball, hanging outside with the neighbor friends, and spending time with his closest friend, Levi. Isaac knows how to make us laugh, can play/tease all of his siblings, is the littles preferred sibling babysitter, he enjoys math, is a great student (even though he doesn't really like school), talented at piano and french horn, is well liked by peers, and has a compassionate heart. We love you Isaac!

-Caleb worked at a tree nursery the last half of summer, about 3 mornings a week. He had to weed the tree fields and let's just say it was not his favorite thing. 

-Caleb tried out for JV soccer and unfortunately did not make the team. We were all stunned. The coach said it was a numbers issue, too many good incoming freshman who played the same position. Caleb rallied though and joined the cross country team that week. 

-We celebrated Naomi's 1st birthday. She has grown so much from the newborn who arrived premature. She will snuggle with us and whenever Ruth or Naomi cries, the other one cries too. Nolbi is a good big brother and a big helper for Enedina.

-And the school year began! Caleb started the day after the other kids, so he was sleeping during the back to school picture. Caleb-10th, Isaac-7th, Julia-6th, Stephen-2nd, Lexi-1st. Isaac and Julia both moved to the middle school this year, having multiple teachers and moving classrooms will be a new experience. The older 4 began the school year with wearing masks at school. The younger 2 only needed them when on the bus for class field trips.  Everyone was a little anxious about masks and the covid changes, but also glad to be in person and not virtual! 

July 2020

 

Us with the Enedina's kids

Loving boat life

Julia and Delaney

View from Bay Furnace campsite

Beach access from campsite

Bay  Furnace campground

Last trip with the camper

A couple blueberry picking pics in the middle here

Isaac messed with a rooster until it chased him, Isaac was running fast

Sue Shoemaker picked with us

Eating or picking?

Baby bear at Oswalds Bear Ranch

Tahquamenon Falls 

Pontoon ride around Pictured Rocks

Trail went along the shoreline

Pictured Rocks

Chapel Beach- beautiful

Saw this guy on the trail

One of many breaks

We hiked the Chapel-Mosquito Trail, 9 miles

-We enjoyed more time in the boat. Nate took each of the older kids out with friends on the boat. And we have determined to make every boating mistake only once! Like run out of gas and have to swim the boat back to shore (not far), accidentally cut a friend's anchor line with our propeller, or get a friend's tube rope wrapped around our propeller. We also learned that when the boat is not working you can throw your anchor out and pull the boat forward and then keep repeating until land is reached. It's a learning curve, but we are having fun!

-We picked blueberries at the Shoemakers. There were some chickens/rooster in the field getting too close to us so Isaac tried to scare it away. Which then resulted with the rooster chasing him down the field while we laughed. 

-We took our first camping trip in the UP. We camped for 3 nights at Bay Furnace Campground by Pictured Rocks. It was a rustic campground- pit toilets, no electricity. But, it was the 4th of July weekend and we did not want to stay in a noisy state park campground. Bay Furnace had beautiful, large sites and it was peaceful. We hiked the Chapel-Mosquito Trail, which may have been a bit ambitious. The kids were troopers though. We saw amazing views and a bear right on the trail ahead of us! We bought some pasties to try after our hike and ice cream of course. 

-Nate and the older boys went to a mountain bike course while I took the other kids to a local beach. 

-We rented a pontoon boat for an afternoon to tour Pictured Rocks. The kids (and Nate) enjoyed jumping off the boat- the water was freezing! Pictured Rocks reminds me of the cliffs on the Wisconsin River, only with much bluer, cleaner water. 

-We then drove to Tahquamenon Falls State Park and camped with the Gabrielse. We had fun together, but there is not much to do around Tahq Falls State Park. The kids had a great time playing in the falls. We rented a rowboat to get the littles across the water. Karin was having trouble getting the rowing motion down and Lexi piped in- you move your arms like this (and demonstrated) and sure enough she knew exactly what she was talking about! 

-Nate, Carl and the older kids hiked the lower to upper falls trail. It was buggy and not the prettiest trail, but a good workout. Caleb and Jacob then hiked the same trail the next day because they are teens with energy.

-We all went to Oswalds Bear Ranch where you pay to see bears in large fenced areas. It was something unique to do on our trip.

-We decided to head home a day early as we had seen all there was to see in the area. We had a wonderful week in the UP!

-We then sold our camper. Mostly because we have a boat and waverunners, and a camper was just one too many things. We also realized on this camping trip, that our days of whole family camping are coming to an end. Caleb is losing interest and hopefully next summer he will be working full time. We will still camp with the younger kids, just in different ways. It was bittersweet to say goodbye to the camper- we have years of camping memories.