Meijer Gardens

On Friday some of the guys went golfing in the morning, so the moms and kids went to Meijer Gardens.  Alissa and I were joined by Casey's sister Renee as well as his cousin Joanne and cousin-in-law Becky and all their kids.  It was a beautiful day to enjoy the children's garden and all the kids had a fun time together while the moms got to chat and catch up with each other.

We packed a picnic lunch and after lunch Alissa, Renee and I took all of our kids back in for a few more hours of fun at the farm and seeing the big horse.  It was a long but great day!

Playing "old fashioned" games in the log cabin:

Sand area:

Beaver hut:

Fun at the farm! 

The kids got to do an egg hunt and gather eggs from the lawn.

They also got to cut out a piece of cloth for this quilt and put their name on it:

Sing-along with instruments:

Cooling off in the water!

Human sundial:

Top of the hill by the big horse...

Such a great hill to roll down!

This was the reaction we got from Peter and Mason when I (jokingly) suggested walking through the rest of the sculpture park after we'd been at the gardens for 5 hours and we were all exhausted...

Craig's Cruisers

This past weekend we had a family reunion with Casey's mom's side of the family.  Casey's cousin John and his wife Alissa, along with their kids Ashlee, Case and Mason came from Virginia and stayed with us for the weekend.  We had a blast with them!  We had stayed with them 2 summers ago, so it was fun for our kids to reconnect.

On Thursday we had hoped to go to the beach, but it was cool and rainy so we opted for Craig's Cruisers instead.  We had a great time racing go-karts, playing laser tag and arcade games, and stuffing ourselves at the buffet. 

Alissa is a great photographer so I just let her take all the pictures of the weekend. Here are some pictures of our fun at Craig's Cruisers!

Happy 4th of July!

We continued our 8-year tradition of spending the 4th of July attending the Kentwood parade and having brunch with our friends.  It was HOT HOT HOT out there today, but we found a shady spot and enjoyed the parade.

Elizabeth, Esther, Anna and Peter

Miriam and our neighbor Riley:

All the cuties in their patriotic gear, ready for the parade to start!

It was really too hot to play outside, but the kids convinced the dads to get out the pop bottle water rocket for a few minutes.

It's hard to believe we started this tradition when Esther was just 1, and Peter and Anna were in their moms' bellies!  I think Anna said it best today:  "I just love this little tradition!"   :) 

Click HERE for a post from 2007 with some pictures from the first few years!

Since it was so hot, we watched a movie in the afternoon.  Then we had a few of our neighbors over for burgers.  We ended the night by allowing our kids to stay up and go to the Kentwood fireworks for the first time ever.   Yes, they are deprived children who are usually forced to go to bed on time so as to prevent crabbiness.  Hopefully we don't regret this decision tomorrow, but they definitely loved the fireworks!  I'm sure this will now be a part of our July 4th tradition for years to come!

Sandy Pines

This weekend we spent a long weekend at Sandy Pines Resort.  We have been there twice before and once again had a great time.  We rented a trailer, so we don't feel like we can really call it "camping" since we had a kitchen, beds, air conditioning and cable TV.  Basically this is what we did all weekend:

Rode around in the golf cart
Went fishing
Played in the pool
Went down the big waterslide LOTS of times
Got ice cream at the Dairy Dip
Played on the playground
Made s'mores
Played mini golf
Rode scooters
Had fun with glow bands
Relaxed

On Saturday night both sets of grandparents, Uncle Nick, and Aunt Elaine all came down to roast hot dogs over the fire for dinner and walk to the ice cream shop.  We enjoyed having them down to share in the fun.

Here are a few pictures from our fun weekend!