The Obstacle Course

This is what happens when you go away to work and leave four young minds home alone to set their imagination.  This is the obstacle course, made with yarn.  They tried to get through it without touching the strings but found that it was too hard, so they just crawled through and would help unstick each other when necessary.  Too funny!

The Scavenger Hunt

Brandon had birthday week.
He celebrated with grandpa and grandma in MN.
He celebrated on Monday with the pool party.
He celebrated on Tuesday with birthday breakfast with some friends and birthday supper with another friend.
He celebrated on Thursday with birthday supper.
He celebrated on Friday with birthday presents.
He celebrated on Saturday with birthday breakfast.

This was the first birthday scavenger hunt in this house.  It was fun sending them on clues up and down stair and in and outside and all over, just to find a few birthday presents.
Happy Birthday buddy - but its done now. Till next year.

Jessica's grin

A year ago, Jessica lost her first tooth ever at the cabin.

This year, she lost #3 - at the cabin.  She doesn't grow, nor do her teeth fall out.  Crazy kid.

Now I have to cut the corn off the cob for her.  I told her I vividly remember Grandma doing the same for me - I had lost both of them right around the time corn on the cob was ready, and she at least still has one!

The tooth fairy has been busy.  Brandon lost two teeth awhile back and has been sleeping with them in an envelope for weeks waiting for me to remember.  And Anika just pulled out another molar.  SOOOO, all three got a dose of change.  Maria is waiting and wiggling those very stuck baby teeth.  All in due time dear one!

Brandon turns 10

He's double digits.  He can't take a picture without pulling a crazy face.  He loves video games, sports, nerf wars, fishing, legos and all things boy.  He will willingly tell you a joke.  His brain is incredible quick and he has his father's humor - not sure how I feel about that yet.  He remembers EVERYTHING - also, not something I'm so sure about yet.

We love you Brandon.  Can't wait to see what the next 10 years bring.

After the adventures of Monday morning, we continued on into the afternoon.  Another family from church that we have come to know and love, had a pool party for Brandon's birthday.  We have spent HOURS - maybe weeks if you add it all up - in this pool over the last years and they have been such a blessing in our lives.  We miss them, the time they took to get to know us, the chats by the pool, and the fun we've had with them.  It was good to share a few hours again.  There were soon many children and adults in the back yard.  Several families with friends to match up with our kids showed up and it was one big party.  Complete with Dairy Queen ice cream cake.

Our kids all went home with someone else and we had an evening to relax and chat. 

I took off on the 6 AM flight the next day.  I had mom guilt over leaving Brandon on his actual birthday, but he had an amazing day.  Birthday breakfast with buddies, beach day, and an afternoon/evening of playtime with a friend he misses dearly.  A birthday he would not have had flying on an airplane with me for sure!

The girls experienced much of the same.  Beach day and playtime with friends.  Thank you all for filling up their hearts with the gift of love and friendship.  It was wonderful. It is hard to be back, hard to say goodbye without knowing when Hello will be said again.  But the memories are so wonderful.

Matt rounded up all the kiddos and brought them back to our hosts home on Tuesday night.  This family has been there for us since Matt started working at Faith.  Two of their kids went through youth group with us, we ate many suppers with them, we've laughed and cried and worked and played.  Thank you for being you and for taking care of us.

The trip home had its bumps.  The 6 AM flight was wide open but it takes a bit of time to make it through security in Minneapolis.  Turns out, the five of them arrived at the gate five minutes late.  So, Matt has 4 kids with him at 6 AM in the morning, in an airport, with about 5 hours of sleep.  Good times.  There weren't any seats open until the 11 AM flight, so they sat some more in Chicago, but made it to Muskegon by 6 PM and I was working the flight and marshalled them in.

I struggle with the questions these trips bring.  The same ones always come back.

When do we get to go back to MN?

When can we move back to MN?

Why did we have to move to MI?

I miss my friends.  

to which I reply..... so do i

There and back again

Anika is going to be reading The Hobbit this year in school so I thought 'There and Back Again' was a fitting title.

Tuesday rolled around and Matt and the kids took off on the plane for Chicago.  They easily made it on the flight to Sioux Falls, but the plane had a problem, so they had to get back off the flight.  They finally arrived a few hours late in Sioux Falls and Grandma Nancy was there to greet them.  They headed to Sioux Center and had a BLAST playing with 'cousins'.  Swimming, playgrounds, laughing, dressing up, good food and good memories.  It hurts to know they had this fun without me, but I'm oh so glad they had the fun.

Matt jumped right back on the plane and flew back to Chicago.  Because of the delay, he missed the flight to Muskegon, so I listed him on a LATE flight to Grand Rapids.  I picked him up around 12:20 AM and we were home by 1:30.  He and I took off again on Thursday and made it into Minneapolis late Thursday evening where we were met by some friends from church who graciously opened their home to us. 

My parents picked up the kiddos and kept them for a night.  Then they brought them to the Cities for a three hour supper gathering with friends.  From there, we said goodbye again and headed for our friends cabin near Brainerd, one of our favorite places on earth.

Fishing, swimming, knee boarding, tubing, splashing, laughing, skiing, and eating.  We were sad that their church had baptism Sunday, as we love worshiping with them.  But it was also an interesting experience to see baptism in the lake, and they had grilled chicken and corn on the cob for lunch afterwards.  I also scored a great new toffee brownie recipe.  Anika and Brandon both got up on skis, Brandon wakeboarded, Anika and Jessica went knee boarding, Anika, Brandon, and Jessica went tubing, and Maria and I hung out in the boat.  Matt and I said we are definitely getting old, as we were quite content to enjoy watching our kids have fun.  This is the first summer in several that I didn't ski, or even get in the lake!

Brandon's big large mouth bass catch

Sunday evening brought us back to the Cities and to our friends.  

Monday morning we were back to our old adventures.  Flying our the Cities with far too many children in one vehicle, way too much loud noises, and plenty of smiles and laughter.  We found the Wild Rumpus book store.  Its a quaint little store with live animals roaming freely inside, as well as many that are caged.  We got there during preschool storytime and they were singing a song about a boa constrictor eating you.  It was pretty cute.  The kids wandered and pulled books and sat down and read. Here they are reading all the elephant and piggy books that were on the shelf. If you don't know Gerald and Piggie, check out Mo Willems,  too funny!

There is even a little kids door cut into the larger adult door.  Both are functional.  The bathroom mirror is a fish tank.  When the lights are out, you can see the fish, when the lights are on, its a functional mirror.  Okee Dokee brothers CD was playing in the background.  We were there for 1 1/2 hours!

Driving out, we started talking about the rose garden and how we always wanted to go, but never stopped. Well, we stopped.  It was gorgeous, smelled great, and had fountains which provided plenty of fun and moisture for the smallest four.  The big kids were fine climbing trees.

getting really wet

I spy 4 little blondies

It was so much fun to feel normal again, and just watch them all play.  And, its always fun to find something you've always wanted to do, and DO it!

The first flight

So both of my jobs have benefits.  At the Y, we get a very cheap family membership and half price on classes.  I'm signing up for swimming lessons soon and maybe we'll take on a few other activities.  We'll see how crazy we want life to get.

The airport gets me free flights flying standby on any United flight.  Anywhere United flies, I can fly standby for free.

We tried it out.  

We had planned a 12 day trip to IA and MN way back in May - maybe earlier.  When I went to the interview, I mentioned our plans for the trip.  My new boss was not eager or hopeful, but offered a bit of promise.  As time went on, I started devising plans in my head as to how the kids could still have the vacation, but I would have to stay back and work.  And I started putting the plan into action.  It took lots of sacrifice and miles and time from many people, but it happened.  THANK YOU!

It started a bit rocky.  Monday, August 6, I flew with the kids from Muskegon to Chicago.  The first flight.  It was funny to watch the reactions when the cargo bin closes or when the wheels are released for landing.  Overall they did great and really enjoyed it.

We tried to catch a flight to Sioux Falls, SD that afternoon.  I knew it was going to be close.  We went knowing that there really weren't enough seats, but my boss told me to go because, in his words, all we needed was one flight to be late and have a few people miss their connection and we would get on.  So, we went for it.

We were waiting to get on.  I had checked in with the gate agent so she knew who we were and that we needed 5 seats.  She was rooting for us, but not so hopeful.  I asked the kids if they would fly without me if 4 seats were available, and they said no.  The gate agent said the same thing!  The time for our plane to board came and went.  About 10 more minutes flew by and in that time, a few people who's flights had been late, showed up - one lady was REALLY late getting to the gate.  Our plane finally boarded.  There were 4 seats left. So, we didn't fit.  But, we would have fit if they had left on time.  Such is life flying standby!

So, I listed us on the flight to fly back to Muskegon.  I told the kids they had a story to tell when they got back to school anyway.  Who else got to fly to Chicago, have a McDonald's shake in the airport and fly back home this summer?

Brandon to the Big Hill Climb

This hill is about a mile from our house.  I assume by its location that the top of the hill is the top of the dune that leads directly down to Lake Michigan.  I wouldn't know, I haven't been to the top, but if it doesn't, its close.

We drive by it regularly and the gate to it is locked, but there's a sign above it that mentions a motorcycle club.  There are a few acres of empty land.  

We've wondered about this area for months.  Some friends of ours finally explained the situation.  It seems there are hill climb competitions all over the USA.  There are two hills - this one- and one in Ohio, that are used for the championship hill climb.  They alternate every other year, so riders only get to ride up this hill in one competition every two years IF they make it to the championships. Its a race from the gate at the bottom on your dirt bike to the people standing at the top.  Not everyone makes it.

Brandon's buddy and family were attending.  We had thought about going with them for the experience, but we had company and were enjoying them.  We decided to drop Brandon off, and oh did he have fun.  They sat close enough to the starting gate that when the dirt bikes took off, they got sprayed.  Our friends were talking about how it was nice that it was dry, there have been years where you sit there and get caked in mud. Nice.  

Brandon had a great time.  Thanks for giving him the experience.  Maybe in two years we'll all join you!