Summer Life

If a picture is worth 1,000 words, than this post is the longest one EVER! Never give your phone to a teenager. You get multiple pictures of not much, selfies, etc. I had over 100 pictures in a 45 minute stop on our vacation this summer. How is that even possible?

Jessica loves to bake and cook. She likes to experiment. A friend gave us a great homemade cheesecake recipe. Jessica took portions out and colored each of them and made this whole rainbow cheese cake thing. It was delicious!

Summer jobs are in full swing. Anika became a manager at Maranatha Bible Conference Grounds. This will be her 5th year there. This is Brandon's third year there, and Jessica just joined the party there as well.
Brandon is getting fewer hours recently as he also got a job as a cashier at Target. He really enjoys Target, primarily because they pay him $13/hr and its near a Goodwill store. These kids love their name brands, but only for cheap. They all go to Goodwill regularly!





Maria has decided to earn some money just like her dad... reffing soccer. She hasn't taken the official class so she can only ref the little kids - 6 year olds, but they pay her $10 a game and she often knows a few of the players, parents and/or coaches from school or her own teams.

New Family Picture for 2019

Jessica, Maria and I once again ran the Run For Wings 5K. We know the race director and the proceeds from the race provide area people with flight transportation out of Muskegon to anywhere in the US to receive medical treatment. The race director's dad is one of the pilots. There are several pilots and small planes who donate their time. Its crazy how many pilots and private air planes there are out there!

Anika and Blueberry had a fender bender at a stoplight. She was upset at herself for not stopping for the red light and Blueberry got a new fender and headlight... thanks to Matt's handiwork. They both were back on the road within a week, she had to pay a fine and take a class about driving, but she got there.

Summer vacation was up next for us. We decided to spend 5 days in the UP and head to the cabin in Brainerd.

First stop, Sleeping Bear Dune. Huge Dune. Steep Dune. Anika, Brandon, Matt and Maria ran down to the lake and crawled their way back up for 30 minutes and fighting the flies. But the view is amazing.

Lilac TREES, see how big they are compared to
the horses?!?!?!

 Next stop, Mackinac Island. The weather didn't cooperate, but we fully enjoyed the trip. We biked the 8 miles around the island and watched the powerful waves hit the rocks. The lilacs were in full bloom, you can see they are more like trees - and they both looked and smelled amazing! We spent 30 minutes at two different times watching fudge get made. What a cool process. And because we spent so much time and asked so many questions, we ended up with an amazing amount of samples, and we purchased some different flavors and just sugared up!

Next stop, waterfalls.... and more waterfalls, and bear country; and no cell service, and lots of trees, and beautiful scenery. We drove the back roads.... think bumpy, muddy, gravel for several miles, but it was fun to be out in the middle of nowhere.

This was Miner's falls, probably my favorite one, the walk there was through an enchanted forest. It was gorgeous.

 Next stop, Chapel Loop.  Part of the fun of going on vacation with me, is you get to do what I want to do, and I LOVE TO HIKE. Chapel Loop is a 10 mile hike, at the end of one of the previously mentioned back roads, and there are parts of the hike that are not well marked and we almost got lost, but we saw some incredible views and more waterfalls.

The next day we went kayaking in Lake Superior, not by this hike but near here. This video was taken a few weeks after we were there, but towards the end you can see kayakers in the water... that was us, just not with the rocks falling!
https://www.mlive.com/life/2019/08/video-shows-pictured-rocks-cliff-shearing-off-into-lake-superior.html

This isn't us, but it gives you the idea of a two person kayak; Brandon and Anika went together and switched mid water front/back. Our guide video taped it, I think more to protect himself if one of them went in. They said it had never been accomplished before, but as you can imagine, that just made the challenge that much greater, and they accomplished it, as did Matt and Jessica.

For YEARS, the kids have been asking to go back to a beach I took them to when they were young - we were on our way back from Ontario and visiting Matt. We stopped alongside the road and swam in Lake Superior, the last of the five great lakes they touched that trip. It was WARM and fun. We found the beach back but the water was coming from the north... and it was COLD! Still fun to relive the memory.

The kiddos, minus Jacob

Next stop, South Long Lake, Brainerd. We love it here; It's one of my favorite places on earth. Our kids love it here. We have pictures of them doing this very thing for every year of their lives. It is a constant they look forward to every year. Ski, swim, fish, surf, knee board, sail.... the list goes on. Late night talks, clear skies with stars, and loon calls waking you in the morning. Thank you Schiebout's for sharing your summer with us each year.

Final stop before home, Marquette, MI and cliff jumping at Presque Isle State Park. It was a cold... take your breath away cold 15 foot or so drop into Lake Superior.

And this was the sunset that night... I LOVE sunsets. What a reflection off some small lake in the UP near Marquette!

This picture isn't really ours, but it is here to remind us it happened. A black bear actually did walk out into the road right in front of our van. And I was even holding my phone.... WHY DIDN'T I TAKE A PICTURE!?!?!?!?







Then we were home again, and it was cherry season. Michigan has some amazing fresh fruit. We go from strawberry to cherry to raspberry to blueberry to peach to apple season, and we pick it fresh and eat our way through. Here is just a sample of our cherry endeavors this year. Or, let's be honest, sometimes I just pick it up from the farmer's market, but these cherries we actually picked ourselves!

4th of July, waiting for the fireworks, slushies in hand, puppy chow ready, skipbo cards for fun.

I can't post every sunset picture I take, but this was a pretty amazing one. That's Maria jumping.

 Maria played on a summer basketball team with some girls from the area - some of whom will attend high school with her. She enjoyed it for the most part, but it takes time and energy and sometimes summer just needs to slow down. She also spent a week at Camp Geneva and fully enjoyed it once again. She goes every year, not knowing anyone, and just jumps in. This year she happened to be in a cabin with my former camp director's granddaughter.. .for those of you who know - Doug and Cindy Rietema's grand daughter!

ready to spread some joy in Muskegon

Brandon and Anika once again were part of two summer SERVE projects. They were part of the home team for the Muskegon SERVE and went to Abingdon, VA with their youth group to SERVE there. Both weeks were great times of serving, worshiping, and fun.














My nephew, Marcus, was married to Monica in early August. Matt performed the ceremony and Jessica and Maria came along for the trip - Anika and Brandon were in Virginia - or on their way home! We had a great evening celebrating these two!

While back in MN for the wedding, we made sure to hang with our framily there. These people did life with us for many years... holidays, birthdays, births, even some deaths. It is so wonderful to spend time with them.. so far we've been able to spend a few hours together each summer.

Back in MI, I got a phone call asking what we were doing for the night.... Evan and Leslie were in MI, not really all that close, but looking for something to do, so they spent the night with us. Once again, the kids had no problem hanging with their friends, although this time it was in our lake - the big one.

come visit us, we go get ice cream!

And then there is this guy, who thinks he can have another birthday.... 17 years and several inches taller. He still likes chocolate covered cream filled long johns for breakfast and snickers ice cream bars for dessert. We have spent the past year outfitting his feet with shoes..... size 14 is not easy to find.