Rafiki lives

Last week Maria was part of a kids version of the musical Lion King. After seeing in over spring break in New York, she thought it sounded like fun to be a part of it. The local civic theatre offers a musical camp each summer, so Maria signed up.
She was given the part of Rafiki 4. The kids version turns Rafiki into the narrator and splits the part 5 ways. It was pretty cute and she did a great job.

August also means the number of hearts increases in this house. Currently, we are nurturing 7 caterpillars and two chrysalises; we had two other caterpillars, but Brandon gave one to a friend to try and another one died. I'm pretty sure another will die soon - hasn't eaten in two days. But we are hopeful we will let newly winged friends go shortly! We have learned a lot about Monarchs over the years!

I've never understood how they come up with the names. We have Mr and Mrs Beach - although you can't tell if its a boy or girl until it hatches; Jesus, and a variety of others. Never a dull moment around here.

Fall craziness begins

Last weekend we spent several days/hours at Unity Fest. It's the Christian Music Festival in town. Anika and I aren't so into it, but the rest of the family is. Matt was ready to leave with the others when our neighbor offered us another ticket, so off I went with them. We watched Toby Mac - and I wasn't so impressed even though we have a CD and enjoy many of his songs. But Saturday evening we went back and Laura Story sang in the afternoon and Matthew West was the evening concert. He was funny and engaged the audience which made it a much more enjoyable evening. Jessica hung out with a friend much of the time. There is a kids area with free activities so our kids hang out there and do a climbing wall, bounce houses, blow up jousting, 9 square and other stuff. Jessica and her friend waited in line for face painting!

WAY in the back ground you can see the roof of the main stage

When in Rome...

So, Muskegon Lake is one of the top sailing inland lakes on Lake Michigan. We have a yacht club and a youth sailing program. A good friend of Maria sails. I know MANY sailors. Last year we signed Jessica, Maria and Brandon up for lessons. This summer, Brandon opted out of lessons for a lacrosse camp. After the lessons this summer, Jessica and Maria participated in their first racing regatta, and this past Saturday, they raced in another one. Matt talked his way into the captains boat and went out on the water and watched for a while. Maria placed third and Jessica placed 5th (I encouraged her to say 5th instead of last =) which got them both three hours or so on the water and a free t-shirt.  We shall see what next summer brings.

These little boats are called Optis. Here they are heading down to the water - ready to launch.
Maria is in the pink life jacket, Jessica the green.

Monday was Brandon's birthday. He started with a birthday donut and had a detailed scavenger hunt made by Jessica and Maria to receive the two presents he had previously picked out - and used. Saturday, we all went out to eat together at Buffalo Wild Wings. We counted the number of times our family has gone out to eat together, and we didn't get very high. AND it won't be happening again anytime soon. All I can think of is how many groceries I could buy with that amount of money!

When we got home, we had Snickers ice cream bars. The lighting in the picture is bad, but I was trying to show Sam, Brandon's friend from MN, is on Brandon's phone, setting on the wall; he helped sing Happy Birthday.

Before heading out for supper, we toured the local lighthouse. It isn't always open, so I hauled everyone over there. It is a VERY short tour, but you do get to go to the top and look out. You can see their enthusiasm (insert sarcasm font).  We have a beautiful beach and a gorgeous view.

And fall sports have begun. For the next six weeks, all four have somewhere to be every Tuesday and Thursday, plus some other days in there. I think my neighbors are going to have to get involved in this one! Anika is playing varsity volleyball. There are 5 seniors and 3 very talented under classmen, so she isn't positive she will see much playing time, but she enjoys volleyball and I told her it gives her a great workout each day!

Brandon is playing JV soccer and there are 14 seniors on the varsity - which is crazy! There are 16 players on the JV team so there is plenty of playing time. He got a bloody nose on Saturday so had to sit much of the first half, but its fun to have him playing soccer again.  

waiting for the game to start

Tonight, all six of us are home again - this is the third night this week. I don't know if that has happened all summer. Tonight, we are each doing our own thing and its nice to not be running all over. Although, I wish I had gone down to watch the sunset!

Have a great week!

Back to the Blog

So, it has been awhile, so long, I forgot how to log in!
Anyway, I'm back and hopefully will keep it up. Time will tell.
True confessions. I am horribly behind in organizing photos. I tried to find a few to give
a brief run down of the last 18 months. Some of the photos are not the best, but I'm not going back through the whole file to find a better one.
And, as you know, if you don't take a picture, it didn't happen.

I'm fairly sure this happened long before the winter of 2016, but it showed up so I put it in.  Matt built this bathroom from scratch, watching videos, asking questions of those who have gone before him, and some hard work. It looks beautiful. And now we have a game area, a storage room, a bedroom AND A BATHROOM in the basement. Now you really have to come and visit!

It is spring of 2016 now, just to keep you updated:

Anika is finishing up 9th grade, Brandon 7th, Jessica 5th and Maria 3rd.

Brandon was in the high school musical as a chorus person. The musical was Hello Dolly. He had a 

great time, but we are having a hard time convincing him to do a musical again.

We met up with two families - friends from MN - in Galena, IL.  Nope, nothing special there except a really big house that would sleep all of us and it was about half way for both of us.  We had a great long weekend laughing, playing and being together!

Summer arrived, and Brandon hung out with three guys from his class - and still does.  One lives on Mona Lake, and two have boats, so there have been surfing, tubing, kayaking, paddle boarding, and fishing expeditions.  One fishing expedition left them stranded until almost midnight on Lake Michigan.  We were all a bit worried, but they made it home!

We were way up THERE!

on top of Chicago

Our family vacation in 2016 wasn't too far away, but we had fun. We spent a few days in downtown Chicago. We took the train in from Matt's parent's house and walked the town including the Willis tower Sky Deck, tandem bike ride, and the Federal Reserve (quite fun - and FREE), among a few other sites.

We made a trip to NW IA and MN, but there are pictures of this year's trip coming later in this post, so just wait.  We always have an amazing time renewing those friendships. And we are also always blown away by the kindness of our friends - those we often miss living so far away. We show up and parties happen, for which we are very grateful.

Jessica and Maria went to a one week musical camp - Jessica was a robot and Maria was an alien. It had all the characters from Mario Bros. They did a fine job and enjoyed their time.

School started - here are Jessica and Maria on their first day last fall - 6th and 4th. Maria is still taking Spanish Immersion, but has some classes in English. This was their last year together in the same school.

And of course, fall sports.

I have a picture of Brandon's soccer team, just couldn't find it. His season was disappointing. Youth Soccer changed the rules last summer and teams are now made by birth year instead of school grade. This means Brandon (and for that matter Jessica and Maria) will not have a team to play on their 8th grade year because most of their birth year counterparts will be playing for their high school teams as freshmen.  There isn't a good solution for this yet. Brandon played on a hodge podge team of boys that were all stuck like he was - they call them trapped players - and by spring time, only 8 guys were showing up for games. It was hard, but he got to keep training in preparation for this fall.

Jessica had an amazing team. She didn't play much, but those girls were good. She is in the 2nd % for height for her age, so she is tiny, and in soccer, that's a big deal. She has decided for now, not to play anymore. We'll see what she feels like next spring, but again, there won't be a team for her in a year anyway!

Maria also had a wonderful team last year. We enjoyed the teammates and parents. There was a pretty big overhaul of her team this fall, so she is playing a lower division with all new families to learn again.  We'll see how that goes.

Anika played volleyball once again. The JV team was fun to watch. They won more games in the first tournament the first weekend of play then they had their whole freshman season. She played all around and really enjoyed it.

The sophomores on the JV team

Matt and Brandon had the opportunity to watch a University of MI football game with friends this fall. It was Brandon's first trip to the BIG HOUSE!

Anika once again attended the school's Christmas Banquet. Its a nice meal and dance that most of the school attends.  This year, she decided to make her dress. She was finishing up the dress about 5 hours before the dance but it turned out lovely!

We hung out with Matt's family in Chicago over the Christmas break.  We took an excursion downtown and walked the streets stopping in a few shops including the Nike store and a fun candy shop.  We took our ice skates and went ice skating on the loop before heading back to Matt's parents house.  Its always good to get in some ice time.  Its not cold enough here to make outdoor ice rinks, so we have to plan at least one ice skating event each year.

And then there's basketball season....

Anika was on JV, Brandon 8th grade, Jessica 6th grade, and Maria 4th grade

I coached Jessica's team. I think I'm done coaching.

I was in charge of an annual auction for the YMCA here in Muskegon again this year. Anika came with to help as well. Its a crazy busy few weeks of preparation, but it's a fun event.

Maria is third from the left, trust me. She passed a few tests and was in the school geography bee. I think she got fourth, which is perfect because you don't have to go to the regional event and you weren't the first one out!

She also is the only one who still likes the kids Home Depot days. We try to get to as many as we can. Jessica and Maria also took a round of swimming lessons. Brandon, Jessica and Maria continue with piano lessons, Jessica took trumpet lessons and Anika took some lessons on the French Horn. There is never a dull or quiet moment.

Our spring break trip this year was a much bigger (and more expensive - yikes) deal this year.  We first visited friends by Niagara Falls, then headed to New York City. We crossed the Brooklyn Bridge, walked Central Park, saw the 911 memorial, went to the Statue of Liberty and to the broadway show of Lion King. It was amazing.  We went into a beautiful cathedral, the American Girl Doll store, walked by Trump Tower, almost touched a REALLY expensive Ferrari, and walked to see many sites. We came home via Philadelphia, Gettysburg, Flight 93 memorial, and Punxsutawney - yes, we took pictures with Phil. It was a great trip, but I was TIRED!

Brandon was asked to be in the 8th grade regional honors band. He did a great job and its amazing how great a middle school band can sound when everyone knows how to play their instrument!

This area is home to hunting and fishing as you have never seen. Several from our church are members at a local gun club. One night this spring they opened up the club to our church, so of course, we had to try. I have never shot a gun, nor had Anika. But we gave it a whirl. Matt, myself, Brandon and Anika all tried Clay Pigeons. Matt, Brandon, and I also did the firing range. I hope to go back sometime as I didn't shoot a whole round of clay pigeons, and I just want to see what that is like!

Spring brought track for both Anika and Brandon and Brandon played baseball. Jessica and Maria played soccer for their respective teams, as did Brandon - he was busy.

Anika's favorite is hurdles. The high school they attend has around 280 students which puts them in Class D - the small schools.  After some injuries and a few other things, Anika went to regionals in track with her team. They ended up winning. AND Anika got second in the 100m hurdles, which means off to state for her.  Jessica, Maria, Aunt Kathy and I all went to watch her 18 seconds or so of fame at the high school state track meet.  Nope, she's not super fast, but we were proud of her for sticking with it, for trying new things, and for making it.  Not everyone can say they made it to the state track meet, and she can. Plus her form is pretty good! She four steps for you hurdlers out there, which is completely wacky to me. I could only 3 step or 5 step - I can't lead with both legs and she doesn't have a preference.

And that brings us to this summer.

Anika and Brandon both work at Maranatha Bible Conference Center in the dining room just down the road.

Jessica went to Dordt Discovery Days, thanks to MANY people who got her there and back and helped her with all the things she lost and forgot

Brandon and Jessica went to a week of Bible Camp at Camp Geneva. We love how others invest in their lives in this way.

Anika was an intern for the SERVE project here in Muskegon and attended SERVE in Thunder Bay, Ontario

Maria and Jessica took a week of sailing lessons and participated in their first regatta. When you live near the top inland sailing lake in West Michigan you learn a few new things.

Maria went to a day camp for a week at the elementary school.

They have all attended a variety of sports camps

And then there's the beach.  This beauty was taken on the 4th of July. We love the beach, the sounds, the sunsets, the sand.  We go as often as possible, which isn't often enough.

We also love all the fresh fruit in Michigan. Every summer we pick strawberries, cherries, blueberries and we get fresh peaches from the farmer's market.  Good stuff.

buckets of cherries in front of the orchard

We just got back from an incredible week in Minnesota. Again, we were blessed to be among friends.

We first stopped at my parents house. Then we drove through the Cities and invited ourselves and several others to an impromptu pool party.  I could have stayed for many more hours and just talked with friends, but the cabin was still 2 hours away.

The weather was not typical August hot weather - in fact, it rained one whole day. But we love the cabin. I call it my favorite place on earth. We spent time skiing, surfing, tubing, knee boarding, jumping, fishing, swimming, paddling..... you get the idea. Plus great times of just hanging out with friends. New this year was a trip to the county fair and watching the Baja races.  Good times.

Then we were off to the Cities for more fun with more friends. More time on the lake, a trip to Como Zoo, and goodbyes came too quickly.  Brandon mentioned to me how great his MN friends are. Thanks everyone for being an incredible blessing in our lives.... still.

Anika has her license, I repeat, Anika is on the road.  Actually, she is a very good driver and I send her off to do things for me often.  Brandon recently got his permit so we are working on 50 hours of drive time with him!

This beauty is a 2002 CRV that we transferred from our neighbor's driveway to ours. Anika lovingly calls it her blueberry.

Matt is never without a project. Last summer he tackled the landscaping and a new patio. This summer a new fence. We are checking off the house projects one by one.  The roof is going to need to be reshingled soon, so if you want to plan a trip out next summer, I'm sure we can find something for you to do!

This week after arriving home Tuesday evening, Brandon started JV soccer, Anika made the varsity volleyball team and we all went back to work.

And TODAY, August 14, this guy turns 15.