Fresh Fruit

There's nothing like fresh, homegrown fruit! Recently I took the kids to pick blueberries and they had a blast. I'm pretty sure they (especially Emmersyn) ate their weight in blueberries. I kept handing the blueberries to her, but I couldn't keep up with her consumption so I ended up just pushing her up to the bushes and she picked and ate them herself :)! She's such a good baby, we were there 2 hours and she sat, contently, in her stroller the entire time!

We met our great friends, Mandy and her kids (Ethan, Nolan and Lydia), at the blueberry patch and we were so excited to see them because they had also just moved back to Kalamazoo from Mexico the weekend before we did. What great timing!  I am so glad to be closer to them and I have a feeling we'll be seeing them often!

Lydia (4) and Lincoln (4)

R didn't get many berries at all, I'm pretty sure she played and ate them all.

 

Emmersyn happy eating the blueberries off the bushes!

Grand Haven Beach

I never knew it, until we moved away, but I really took having a beach within a VERY short driving distance for granted. I have always lived on a lake or just minutes from great beaches. It is something Ty and I both missed living in WV and IL. We are glad to be in Grand Rapids where we are within 30 minutes of Lake Michigan and plan to take advantage of it. I was glad Ty was with us (this time) because it's not easy for this preggo to take all 3 to the beach. I have taken them all and it's just a LOT of work but definitely worth it! Lincoln hardly got out of the water. He LOVED riding the waves and splashing in the water. Riley was about 50/50 in and out of the water and E mostly played in the sand! We had so much fun and spent most of the day in Grand Haven and got ice cream afterwards. 



To Grandmother's Farm We Go...

A couple weekends ago we went to visit Ty's family on the farm. I love that my kids can experience the farm because I have fond memories of my Grandparent's farm as well. They love the animals and getting dirty and I love that we can visit (and not take the animals with us!).

Riley was helping Gma feed the cows hay.

 Getting a good shot of all 3 is a rare occasion--this was not that occasion.

 This sweet girl LOVES to be outside!! Can you tell?

 Climbing the haystacks!

 Feeding the horses!

 Riley took care of this cat like it was her baby, she was so gentle and loving and wanted to bring it home with us. Good thing we'll see it next time we go back!

It was SO hot that day so we also took the kids to Ty's Aunt Sherry's pool (she also lives "on" the farm which is really convenient!)

 The kids and Aunt LaCross.

Ty's dad just earned his Associates degree, Good job Theron!

 Riley, Lincoln and Emmersyn had so much fun playing with the new 4 week old puppies!

 Aftermath of the pinata Gma bought and stuffed for them.

4th of July!

We had a very fun 4th of July! We went to Gull Lake to spend time with my family and we were all there which doesn't happen as often as we'd like since there are so many of us. However, being closer now makes it more possible. We spent the entire day on the lake then when we left Riley stayed with them for 2 days. She had a blast and got to watch fireworks on the boat with my mom, Jeff and sisters. I didn't think she'd last to stay up that long, but she did! She LOVED the fireworks. We haven't taken the kids before because they always fall asleep before they start and we don't want to wake them up. I'm glad she got to experience them, though!!

OUCH!

Poor Emmersyn had a nasty fall yesterday. I'm not exactly sure what happened because I didn't see it, but Riley said that she fell and hit her head on her headboard (I also heard that she fell out of a box and hit her head on the dresser...so I'm not sure what really happened). Either way, poor baby looked REALLY bad. I don't think that I've seen such a huge goose egg. She was okay once she calmed down but stayed up at night I think because her head hurt!