The hot weather stayed with us for quite awhile, but it is quite chilly out today.
Anika has had volleyball tournaments every weekend. One tournament was in Detroit and we shared a hotel room with friends.She has played some, but more the last two games as two of the seniors were in a car crash and have pretty bad whiplash. They are recovering and expected to play in the district game next Thursday. Scary for all of them, but they are ok.
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| Anika is on the left |
We have had many games, practices etc over the last few weeks. Brandon's soccer is finished and the basketball team has started workouts. Jessica is finished with both cross country and volleyball.
And while I am driving around to all these various games and practices, I often have a side kick sticking her head out the window. Of course, whoever I am picking up thinks its quite fun to do this.
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| our pet 'elephant' |
Jessica, Maria, Anika, a friend and I went to Camp Pendalouan - the camp I work for - and played in the lake one evening with the paddle boards, four square, beach volleyball. It is so peaceful and it was so hot and it felt so good!
Friends invited Matt and I to go to a Joe Bonamassa concert... who you might ask? so did I. This is what our friend wanted for his birthday - his wife didn't know who it was either. But we went. He is a very talented guitarist. I expected laid back jazz festival, it was much more like a loud rock concert, but I still enjoyed it. Although, I showed my age and wished I had brought ear plugs.
The next day, I met a friend in Grand Rapids and we walked the streets for a few hours looking at Art Prize. Its an art festival which has become quite the thing. Artists from all over come and display one piece and the visitors vote on which one they think is best. This isn't the coolest one we saw but I took a picture of it to show to Anika. The faces on the wall are made of pennies. The mural on the side wall is made by putting small pieces of duct tape together. CRAZY. The artist ruined 6 scissors making the mural.
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| close up of the duct tape pieces |
To add to the fun, we dog sit. One weekend we had two dachshunds, the next weekend a sheltie and two labs. Always a good time. The owner of the dachshunds is a 'family' for some of the local USHL players. Hunter, one of the players, is pictured here in the suit with Brandon and some of Brandon's friends. We get tickets to the games for taking care of their dogs.
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| Maggie and Marley and Maria |
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| Maggie |
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| Chip and Peanut |
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| Charlie |
It was also grandparents day, which means a few things at our house: grandparents visit, pumpkins come, Maria begins to celebrate her birthday. This year she received a Vikings shirt (that's my girl) and her treat was Swiss Cake Rolls (because I refuse to buy them).
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| Serious game of Dutch Blitz - Aunt Kathy and Holly joined in the weekend for a few hours! |
It was also the chili cookoff at church. Jessica has won the white chili for two years, but we messed up the recipe this year, so she took home second place. This year there were 13 different chilis. You get a voting card and take little bowls of each of the chilis, then vote for the best white and the best red.
And Brandon continues to grow - or at least his feet do. I am still an inch taller than him - but this is my bare foot next to his basketball shoe - a size 15 - I have no idea how he is able to run.
Anika and Brandon were chose to be a part of Calvin College's high school honors band. The concert was last night and it was good. The first words they both told me - separately - was how hard the music was. They are both section leaders in the high school band here, so they both get the hard music. In the honors band, they both received the lowest music and they both said it was harder than their first chair music at school. I love that. A coworker always says, If you are the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room. I love it that this challenged them and showed them how really good someone else could be. They were both a bit disappointed to go back to their own band this morning. =)
And tonight, Maria had a pumpkin carving contest at GEMS. Matt went to help. She did not win, but they got to carve a HUGE pumpkin and had a great time. Maria's is a ghost if you can't tell.
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