Starting a new tradition...

It had been years since I had been to a strawberry patch and actually picked my own strawberries...I must say it is easier to just go to the store and buy them, however it was a fun experience and a good way to get a lot of strawberries for a pretty reasonable price. So Monday evening with the threat of rain looming--my mom, Mikayla and I headed out to De Lange's in Hudsonville to pick some strawberries.  Mikayla had a great time and even though she wasn't great at getting the best strawberries she did a pretty good job and helped us in filling our baskets! Here are a few pictures of picking and today I made 15 jars of freezer jam and a some strawberry shortcake!

I think we have started a new tradition to the beginning of our summer vacation!

June is here and we are enjoying summer!

While my job as a teacher is quite stressful for 9 months of the year and always unpredictable as I still don't know what I will be teaching for the coming school year-I really look forward to my summers off. So as June 4th was here and it was my last day we began planning our summer fun. We started the summer with some zoo trips-3 trips to the zoo in 1 week. We first went to John Ball Zoo with the Courville family unfortunately I forgot my camera so there are no pictures of our time there. Then the next Monday our family went to Binder Park zoo-we are getting a lot of use out of our JBZ season pass. It was the perfect day for a day at the zoo. The most exciting part was the 3 baby giraffes! 

 

On the tram to Africa!

Mikayla and I in "Africa".

The giraffes are so amazing!

James and Mikayla feeding the giraffes!

Mikayla was a little more braver this year but still wasn't to sure of these big animals!

James and Mikayla

Little baby giraffe eating the grass-it was so amazing how they spread their legs wide to eat from the ground!

Mikayla sitting-didn't happen much she pretty much runs through the zoo!

Playing the drums!

On the tram back to the USA!

Riding the carousel-Mikayla chose a dolphin to ride on!

Sitting on a dinosaur at the Children's zoo!

2007

2010

A family picture! We took a family picture 3 years ago in the same place! Amazing how big Mikayla has gotten!

Mikayla riding the ant!

Feeling a kangaroo fur as we were leaving the zoo!

Last stop the gift shop-where we picked up a giraffe as we were leaving!

After another trip to John Ball Zoo with the Vugteveen girls and an evening at the pool with the Courville's-both events I forgot my camera again! We spent the day with my mom at a pool at a hotel where Brian was staying in Muskegon while he taught a motorcycle class. Mikayla is getting more and more brave in the water! She will actually let go a little bit with swimmies on. We are hoping to get her in some swimming lessons soon so she will begin to swim on her own!

 

Playing ball in the pool with Grandma!

 

Swimming around the pool with Grandpa!

Practicing swimming on the side of the pool!

Being just like Grandpa and blowing bubbles!

Our little swimmer!

Our summer is off to a great start! We have been keeping busy and looking forward to many trips to the nearby parks, zoos, beaches and more. We are also looking forward to a vacation up north during Cherry Festival and then hoping to get a trip to Missouri to visit our friends at the end of July.

The month of May!

So the month of May didn't involve as many pictures, but it was a busy month too!

We had a great time celebrating our friends Mike and Carmen's daughter Ellie's 3rd birthday. She had a Minnie party and Mikayla was so excited because that was her theme last year! Here are a few highlights of the day!

The super adorable Minnie cake made by Carmen's friend Amy-but not the same Amy that did MIkayla's Dora cake-amazing there is to amazing cake ladies named Amy!

Mikayla, Emma and Ellie-so cute!

Mikayla and Ellie hanging out in a secret hiding spot! It was so cute because they were in there reading books together taking a "break" from the party!

The next activity for the month was that I got my haircut. I have been growing it out since last year and have always wanted to donate my hair, so it was finally long enough. I donated it to a local place called "Children with Hair Loss." It felt great to donate to a great cause and I love my new hair do for the summer. It is super easy to do and keeps me cool on hot days!

James took on the sport of soccer and was in a small tournament with some guys from his work. He played goalie and did a great job. They won 2nd place in the tournament-not to bad for a team that only practiced together a few times!

Mikayla had a fieldtrip to Gymanstik's Unlimited. Which she totally fell in love with and we are getting her signed up for summer gymnastics. She can't wait-it starts at the end of June and she is ready and asking almost everyday when she gets to start gymnastics!

Warming up at the beginning before getting to play on the equipment!

Jumping on the trampoline!

Jumping in the foam pit-last time I took her to a gymnastics place-she wouldn't jump in it she had no fear this time!

Climbing up the ladder!

Being a little monkey! This was her favorite part, the second time around she hung put her feet up in the rings too! I think we may have a gymnast on our hands!

With Mrs. Mary-Mikayla's teacher!

It was amazing how many hot days we got in the month of May! Nice to have, but wishing I wasn't in school when it was happening. Here is Mikayla cooling off in the sprinkler one afternoon! I think we are beginning to have a water girl on our hands-last summer she would barely get her face wet, now she didn't want to stop!  

Well we had a few more events, but as this posting is getting extremely long and I couldn't get the pictures downloaded for some reason I am ending it. Mikayla had a spring concert and did a great job singing the songs. It was so cute to see her perform with all her friends. It is amazing the gains she has made this year I can't wait to see how much she learns next year!

April Update

WOW...Sorry it has been so long since an update! Life was super busy with the end of the school year. SO I will update with our happenings over the last few months! April is a super busy month for us with Mikayla's birthday and tulips and March of Dimes walk. Here is a a few highlights from the month of April!

Our month started out celebrating Mikayla's 4th Birthday! It seemed like our first week and a half of April was filled with birthday celebrations-including a big girl bike from us, day at the children's museum, a hand made dollhouse from my brother Kyle and then it ended with her Dora birthday party at Playworld on April 10th. Fun was had by all and a big thank you goes out to all our friends that were there and with us in spirit. We had a great time.

Mikayla's AWESOME Dora cake made by Amy! This was the highlight of the party! The characters were all hand made out of fondant!

Everyone having a great time!

Mikayla opening gifts!

Going down the slide with Emma! I think they both went down the slide about 50 times!

The amazing 3 story doll house made by my brother!

The furniture gifts from my mom and I to put in her doll house. My mom and I have been collecting because we knew my brother was making her the doll house. It goes to say the house is well decorated!

Mikayla riding her new Princess bike! Everytime she is riding it, I am amazed at how far she has come. I can't believe my baby is 4 already!

One of the many pictures from the Children's Museum trip we took on MIkayla's birthday. We joined the Spafford family at the museum and had a great day. This was taken in a mirror and I love the way it turned out, so just wanted to share.

We had a great surprise in the month of April my Aunt Laura from Florida came to visit for a week. It was great to spend time with her. IT had been almost 8 years since she has been here! We took a trip out to Holland to see the tulips.

Our last big event for the month was the March of Dimes walk. THis year was an amazing fundraising year. We always set a "team goal and a family goal" Our team goal was $1000 dollars and our family goal was $600. We surpassed both of them. Thanks to the amazing Agius' family for fundraising with us every year we raised close to $1400 dollars this year. Thank you to all that donated! Unfortunately the Agius' family wasn't able to join us in GR for the walk because of some sick kiddo's but they did their own walk at Hines Drive. Here is a few pictures of all of us that walked in GR! Thanks for helping us save babies like Mikayla Rose!