Miriam's Preschool Visit!

Today was Miriam's preschool visiting day.  She has been in the room a couple times already at the spring and fall open house, but she was really excited to go to her visiting day today.  She got to play, meet some new friends, have a snack, hear a story and sing silly songs.  She was lucky enough to have Daddy and Mommy both there!  She was so busy having fun that I forgot to take pictures until we were ready to leave, so we just got one by her locker:

 

She is very excited to go to school all day next week Wednesday!

First Day of School!

Today was Esther and Peter's first day of school!  They had a great first day and are both very excited about their teachers and having some friends in their classes.

Miriam has her preschool visiting day this week and officially starts next week, so stayed tuned for her first day pictures!

A third grader already!?

That backpack is loaded down with school supplies!

This kid is very excited about first grade!

Miriam was not going to be left out of the picture taking...

Country Dairy

Today we drove up to New Era to visit Country Dairy, a family farm.  Casey and Peter had camped near there a couple summers ago while we girls were in Chicago, and they had visited Country Dairy then.  We have been wanting to go back, so we decided to do that today as part of our family fun day to celebrate the end of summer.

We arrived for the 10:30 tour which was perfect because it wasn't too hot yet.  We started by seeing a video of the history of the farm, which dates back to 1907 when some good Dutch immigrants started farming there.  The video also talked about how careful they are about what they feed their cows and how they never used growth hormones, even when other dairy farms did.

After the video, we rode the wagon to the bottling plant.  They milk about 1300 cows, 3 times a day and they pasteurize, homogonize and bottle all the milk on site.  While we were in the bottling building, we got to wear these lovely fashion accessories.  As our tour guide said, nobody likes hairy milk.

We also were able to see the heifers (cows who haven't yet birthed a calf), the show barn where the best or highest milk producing cows are kept, and the calves.

Miriam was a little grossed out by the fact that I let the calf suck on my hand.  She did love petting them though.  They are so cute!

That is the end of the pictures, but after the tour we enjoyed a delicious lunch which included a "bottomless glass of milk" and of course we had to try their homemade ice cream for dessert.  It was fantastic!  It was a great way to spend our last Saturday before the crazy start of the school year, which begins on Monday!

Hudsonville Fair

Two years ago Grandma K. treated the kids and I to an afternoon at the Hudsonville Fair.  Last year the tradition continued with the addition of Renee, Ty and Cassie.  I didn't go last year because I was spending the day with Karen on the day before her wedding.  Today was the 3rd annual Hudsonville Fair day and we had lots of fun!

The kids enjoyed seeing the animals, checking out the farm equipment and riding the rides:





Seriously--who let those 2 drive?

Buddies!

Riding on a Gator with Grandma!

The kids were in awe of the size of this tire!

 

Farm girl at heart!

They got to milk a fake cow...

...and a real one!  Grandpa K. should be proud!

Peter and a new friend doing a little racing

Those girls look like they mean business!

Esther and I enjoyed the view of the fair from the Ferris wheel!

What better way to end the day than with a treat!?

Thanks Grandma, for a fun day!  We can't wait until next year!

A Day at the Race

On Sunday, the day Peter has been waiting for finally arrived.....his first trip to a NASCAR race. He has been looking forward to this for the past month.

We were relieved to see that the weather was going to be in the mid 70's.....perfect weather for a six year old boy who will be sitting in the sun all day. We left early in the morning and arrived at the track around 8:00. After making our mandatory trip to the Jimmie Johnson trailer to buy our new hats, we walked around for a while and looked at various cars and other displays.

The highlight of the trip (other than the race itself), was getting to attend a question and answer session with Jimmie Johnson, Peter's favorite driver. This was a kid only event (parents were to remain quiet). Peter was able to build a car with me (Jimmie Johnson's of course!), and then was able to ask Jimmie a question. Some other kid "stole" Peter's original question, so he had to come up with a new one quickly.

The race was great, and Peter made it through the entire 3 plus hour race. We were excited when Jimmie was leading with 6 laps to go.....until he blew his engine. However, in true Peter fashion, he said he was OK with Greg Biffle winning the race.....apparently he is 4th on Peter's favorite driver list.

Taking a picture in front of an old car

Building our car in the Jimmie Johnson tent

While waiting for Jimmie, Peter made a new friend....shocking.

You have to take your picture next to cardboard cutouts!

Peter and the Jeff Burton car

The view from our seat

Listening to the drivers on the scanner

Miriam the Ballerina

This week Miriam did a 3-day ballet camp at Hearts in Step, a local Christian dance company.  She went with her friend Mary Kate and had a very fun time!
Here is our little ballerina before the first day, showing off her ballet outfit:

Esther did her hair:

Today was the last day, so the parents were invited to come for the last 15 minutes to see them perform their dance.  Miriam's group danced to "How Great Thou Art" and it was beautiful!  They also recited a Bible verse and brought home a craft that tied in with the verse.

Fun at the Zoo

Since Karen and Juan were in town for one more day, we decided to take advantage of a cooler day and went to the zoo.  Our Children's Museum membership allows us to get in free in August, so that was an added bonus.

We had not been to the zoo since last August and I was impressed with some major additions and renovations that had occurred since last year.  We spent quite a bit more time there than we ever have before and had fun exploring the new additions.  The extra time may have also been due to the fact that Juan and Karen paid for the kids to pet the stingrays and Grandpa and Grandma covered camel rides, which are things we normally skip.  That made it an extra special zoo trip!

Esther had Aunt Karen's camera most of the time and she got some great photos of the animals!

The classic John Ball Zoo picture:

Petting the stingrays:

This guy loves walking that camel in circles all day...

After the zoo, we went to Olga's for lunch and Jersey Junction for ice cream. 

I LOVE ice cream!

Then we went back to my parents' house and played outside for the rest of the afternoon.  It was a great ending to a super fun weekend!