Goodbye, Michigan

Heather has an exciting future in front of her!  Engaged to Andrew, who has family and a job already secured out West, Heather looks forward to a wedding AND a move this year!  We're thrilled for her, but had the bittersweet realization that this was probably our last trip to Michigan.  As kids, we grew up summer vacationing here.  Dave and I lived here for 7 years during those college and seminary years.  Michigan is where our marriage began.  Every other year for 14 years now, we've gone back to visit Heather and all those memories.  Heather was awesome about giving us a grand Michigan Goodbye.

We rode around those familiar roads with the top down in her convertible.

We walked around her town's wonderful downtown on the riverfront one last time.

We HAD to eat dinner and apple dumplings a'la mode at Russ'!

We made one last visit to Grand Haven, where we walked the channel, ate ice cream, watched the sun set, and...

Relived one of the most important and romantic memories Dave and I share-- the Dancing Fountain!!! (Kidding!)

We walked around Calvin College one more time and said goodbye...well, until the girls decide to attend here in 6-8 years! ;)

I actually really liked seeing the changes that have been made to the Nature Preserve, where I used to give tours to elementary classes when I was an education student here.  After Calvin, we also visited Bakker Book House one last time.

We spent a night on Reeds Lake, eating ice cream again, catching lightning bugs and strolling around the yacht club.

And on our way out, we stopped at Holland State Beach, the one my mom would bring us kids to every single summer.  We said our goodbyes to Heather and Michigan with Big Red behind us.  It was a great week in Michigan.  While a part of me is sad that the place where so many important milestones in our lives happened won't be one we see on a regular basis anymore, I celebrate an exciting new adventure for my sister and a beautiful new state to explore and make memories in!

A Two-Decade Long Friendship

One great thing about visiting West Michigan is the opportunity we always have to stop in and see some of our oldest and dearest college/seminary friends, Nick and Amy.  Spending even just a day with them, we are always blessed by their hospitality.  This time they grilled us delicious, caught-yesterday salmon from Lake Michigan, had a load of fun activities ready for the kids, and planned an awesome outing!

While we adults caught up, Benjamin, Eliza, Delia, Ella and Calvin had fun with the bubbles, blocks and hammocks our friends set out.

We went to the Lewis Farms and Petting Zoo with Nick and Amy and their crew.  This was the greatest petting zoo ever!  The animals were all super friendly and fun to feed.  As you can see from the following pictures, we had amazing animal encounters with everything from llamas to parakeets!

This little farm kept our kids busy with pedal tractors, roping practice, pillow trampolines, chicken shows, giant slides, and train rides too!  It was great!

We had a laugh when our attempt at a family picture was thwarted by Nick and Amy's cute kids.  Maybe we'll use this as our Christmas card! :)  Through kids, changes in ministry, and half a country between us, we love that this friendship with Nick and Amy has remained a constant in our lives!

An Adventure in Michigan!

Breaking our Michigan pictures into posts, I'm realizing that we spent every day around some type of water activity, which was actually perfect and wonderfully summery!

On this day, we revisited our favorite place from our trip two years ago-- the amusement park Michigan's Adventure.  This time we were intentional about spending open to close at the water park section, since that is what was most fun last time.  We had a few hours before it opened, though, so Delia added to her "Roller Coasters Ridden This Summer" List.

I can't believe she was willing to ride this insane Shivering Timbers!  I sat this one, and its 13 stomach drops, out.  Delia graded it an A-, though!

Delia then decided to tackle an item on her "Goals for Year 10" List: ride an upside-down roller coaster.  That is her, Dave, Andrew and Heather hanging there on the park's Corkscrew ride.

The Mad Mouse roller coaster was more Ella's speed, so she joined her auntie and uncle and thrill-seeking sister for a spin on this wacky ride.

Once again, SUCH good times were had in the water park!  We lazed on the river.

We bobbed in the wave pool.

We hauled a one ton raft up several flights of steps and flew down a dark mine shaft as a family.

We screamed through pitch-black tunnel slides.

We took a few breaks to warm up.

And we faced our fears on the Funnel of Fear.  In case you didn't catch it in the video I posted earlier, here is a better look at the terror we experienced flying down the dark drop and waaaay up into curvy sides of the humongous funnel. :)

We hesitated slightly about trying to recapture the crazy fun we had two years ago, but our day at Michigan's Adventure did not disappoint!

SUP at MP

As promised, here starts a 10-post series on our fabulous time in Michigan and Chicago these past 2 weeks!  How is it that every time we travel back to the Midwest to visit family our expectations are exceeded?  We always have MORE fun, MORE laughs, MORE outings, and MORE difficulty saying goodbye than we plan. 

The first week of our Midwest Adventure was spent in Michigan with Heather.  We kicked off the fun with a day at Millennium Park on the river, after church and lunch at a cute sandwich shop.  At this park you can rent stand-up paddle boards, which we did for a few hours.  While we took turns with the SUPs,  it was great to soak in the river on tubes or read on the beach.

  

Heather has amazing selfie-taking skills!  My phone was not in danger in that waterproof case, but not only did Heather not drop it, she managed to get us both in the picture looking cute! :)

A special part of this trip was getting lots of time to get to know Andrew, Heather's fiance.  He is already a fabulous uncle and we love him!

A highlight of this day was watching Delia find the bravery to try to the SUP and discover that she loved it!  She's been out before, but usually just as a rider.  On her own, she paddled out into the water for a good distance and amount of time, learning how to control and steer the thing.

SUPing is hard work!  Especially when you are paddling into strong winds, like we were!  Second full day of vacation and we already had aching muscles-- sounds about par for the course with the way our family vacations! ;)

Our Marvelous Midwest Adventure 2017, A Sneak Peek!

As we return from another amazing two weeks spent with our family and friends in the Midwest, I am excited to share the many adventures we went on and cool things we saw in the states of Michigan and Illinois!  While you wait for me to download all the pictures and type out all the stories, here are a few of the best videos to hold you over.  The girls and I have already watched these 100 times, missing these fun and wonderful people.  These videos show some of the best scenes of our vacation!

I'll start with my favorite video of the trip, on the Funnel of Fear ride at Michigan's Adventure Water Park.  Heather has this great waterproof phone case, so I tucked it into the top of my suit and recorded our terrifying plunge!  And yes, that is us 4 adults screaming our heads off (Dave, Andrew, Heather and me), the girls were too scared to ride! Maybe turn the volume down before watching this one. ;)

The WORLD'S LARGEST SINGING AND DANCING FOUNTAIN, found in Grand Haven!  Revisiting this was kind of an inside joke.  For our first wedding anniversary 18 years ago, I totally oversold this as a fabulous date night idea.  Dave has teased me about it ever since.  It's become a core memory, we had to see it one last time on our final tour of Michigan!

We don't have lightning bugs in California.  The girls were delighted to spend a night catching them at Reed's Lake in MI.

Some fun with the giant bubble wand and solution our friends Nick and Amy rigged up.

Jumping for joy while watching the sun set over Lake Michigan.

One of the many many things I love about my girls and their cousins: they spend their time together planning and performing talent shows!

The BEST-- singing "Go Cubs Go" in our front-row seats at Wrigley after watching the Cubs take the W! Still get a huge smile watching this one!

This was super cool too.  On a Downtown Day with the family, we happened to discover that the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has open air practice times in the band shell at Millennium Park.  This was the soundtrack to our picnic lunch!

And finally, just another scene from around the house, but one that fills my heart with happiness: a little VM Rock Band, starring Aidan on vocals. :)

Interview with Delia at Age 10

Age: 10

Favorite colors: Purple and blue 

Favorite food: Donuts or churros
Favorite book: Welcome to Wonderland

Favorite movie: Cars 3

Favorite song: Girl in the Mirror

Favorite thing to play: Barbies and Shopkins

Favorite part of school: STEM Fridays

What I want to be when I grow up: Zookeeper, author, or professional dancer 

The perfect day is: Traveling to China and adopting a baby panda

My best friends are:  Kate, Gianna, Cailyn, Cora, Tessa, Jeanie, Darla

The best part of this year has been: ALL of 4th grade, especially my teacher!

I am most proud of: Being brave and discovering that I LOVE roller coasters!

I hope when I'm 10, I will: Ride an upside-down roller coaster and get at least 5 As on my report card (but that will be hard!)

Happy Fourth of July!

Patriotic outfits, slip n slide, BBQ chicken and kid-decorated flag/firework cake, laughing with and face painting our friends while waiting for fireworks, ooohs and aaahs for a show of sparkles and booms.  Here are the scenes of another fabulous Fourth!

Happy birthday, USA!