The park formerly known as Deer Park Funland

My mom and I took the kids to Michigan's Adventure - an amusement/water park near my parents' house.  When I was younger it was called Deer Park Funland and I loved going there.  Ashlyn and Maguire loved it too!  Thanks, Mom, for the great adventure!!

My Girls!

Julie, Kristi, Jill, me, Amy (missing, Anna & Megan)

God has blessed me with an incredible group of girlfriends.  We laugh together, cry together, share our prayer requests and our lives together.  I love these girls and I thank God for them often!

Party on, party people!

Most of my posts center around Ashlyn and Maguire, but every once in a while Kyle and I have a good time with our friends, too :)  Our friends Nathan & Megan had a housewarming/birthday party for Megan, so we left the kids with Kyle's parents and headed over.  We had a blast with our friends pulling out all the oldies but goodies--stuff we danced to in jr. high/high school/college.  It was a nostalgic dance party to be sure!  Once of my favorite parts was seeing Kristi (my neighbor, Elizabeth's mom) come completely out of her shell (see top right pic).  Too bad her husband Brian had to stay home w/ the girls since their babysitter backed out last minute.  I LOVE my friends and haven't had so much fun or laughed so hard in a long time!  I just wish Amy/Jerimie and Anna/Kevin could've been there too.  Next time :)

 

Moms & Kids Camp

My uncle is the director of a YMCA camp in western Michigan and he invited Ashlyn and me to come to their Moms & Kids Camp weekend this summer.  I'm SO glad that we took him up on his offer!  We had a BLAST! 

My cousin and her twins were going to join us, but not until Saturday morning.  So Ashlyn and I had fun doing crafts (a girl after my own heart!), lounging in one of the many hammocks, and enjoying s'mores and songs at the campfire.  The camp was having a dedication service for a new cabin and another building Saturday morning and my dad surprised us by biking up for it.  It was truly a surprise--Ash and I were walking up toward the dining hall from the craft shack and I saw someone coming toward us.  I thought, "That's weird, uncle Bruce changed into biking gear for the ceremony?"  Then I realized it was my dad!  My dad and his brothers look so much alike that my mistake wasn't that far off :)  Ashlyn was so thrilled to see Papa--she recognized him before I did and took off running for him!

Once my cousin, Jen, and her twins, Anna & Alex, arrived, we got right into our swimsuits and headed for the lakefront.  We had fun swimming, building sandcastles and riding in the paddle boat.  The girls thought it was pretty cool to pick the flowers off the lillypads.  Too cute!

After swimming and a story ("Fancy Nancy") read by Auntie Jen, the kids were hungry and dinner wasn't for a few more hours, so we headed into town in search of a snack.  We found an ice cream place that had a playground--perfect!  There was also a field of tall grasses that we had fun running through and pretending that we were "Going on a Bear Hunt".  Once we got back, the kids got to make rain sticks.  They were all digging the crafts that weekend! 

After dinner we took a long walk (on accident--we got lost trying to find the horses) and then got to ride the horses.  I was shocked when Ashlyn stepped right up and offered to go first!  She's not what you'd call an animal lover--she doesn't even really like dogs.  But she got right on and did great!

We had so much fun spending time at Camp Pendalouan with Auntie Jen, Anna & Alex!  I can't wait to go back again next year!

P.S. If you're in the area, you should totally check it out for next summer too!

Wrong place, wrong time

Poor Maguire!  He was swinging while Kyle was throwing the frisbee around.  Kyle threw it at just the right (wrong??) second and Maguire swung up at just the right (wrong??) second and the frisbee hit him right in the nose!  All that blood makes it look worse than it was, but Kyle felt terrible nonetheless.  Do you like how I ran to get my camera and then helped to clean up Maguire?? :)

Boy Oh BOY!

My brother and sister-in-law, Brittany, are having a BOY!  Since they were in town for 4th of July, my mom and I threw Britt a baby shower.  I can't wait to meet this little guy!

 Didn't my mom do a great job on the decorations?!

Let Freedom RIDE!

Every 4th of July, we go with my parents to their country club for games, dinner, Hot Wheels races and fireworks.  I've been doing it for as long as I can remember, so I love that we can do it with our kids now! 

The kids love the games, prizes and treats that start out the night. Then it's up to the clubhouse for a tasty picnic/BBQ themed dinner.  After that is one of the highlights--the Hot Wheels races!!  I think the parents/grandparents get into the races more than the kids.  The kids are divided into age groups and then they raced around the valet parking circle.  I was coaching Ashlyn at the start line, telling her to wait until they said GO, then pedal really fast.  She looked at me, rolling her eyes, and said, "Mo-ommm, I knoooowww!"  And boy, did she--she got first place in her age category, leaving all the other kids in the dust!  She was so proud of her blue ribbon.  Maguire did really well, too.  He was a little confused by all the yelling and screaming (and yes, it was coming from the parents!) at first, but he rallied back to get second place.  Way to go, Buddy!
After the races is the candy scramble.  This candy scramble is insane!  They rope off an entire tee area and cover it with candy.  Then they let the kids (ages "up to 5" and 6-12) in to grab away.  There's so much candy that the kids come away with bags jam packed without much of a "scramble" at all!
While we wait for dusk to fall, the kids all run around, rolling down the hill on the green, listening to the live music and dancing, eating their popsicles, and then--one of my favorite parts--getting their glo-necklaces! 

The fireworks are first class and rival any city show.  One of my favorite parts and something that pulls at my heartstrings every year is the trumpeter who plays taps and then the Star Spangled Banner after the grand finale.  Everyone stands, looks to the flag, and sings along.  It's so cool!  I love this tradition we've established with my parents and I'm grateful that they make it possible for us--thanks Mom and Dad!!  Can't wait for next year...when Maguire will take FIRST place in the Hot Wheels races ;)

Got Milk?

On a recent trip to the zoo this summer, MILK had a booth set up outside the entrance. It was so cool! We got to choose from a vanilla shake or a banana smoothie to make our milk "mustaches". Then they took (& printed copies for us) pictures in front of a Christie Brinkley milk poster. I always wondered how they made those milk mustaches! We had a great time at the zoo. It always amazes me that my not-even-dog-liking daughter loves going to see all the animals, even going to the petting zoo. One of the highlights for the kids is getting a "budgie stick", which is a popsicle stick with some bird seed glued on. There's a huge bird cage that you walk in and you can hold your stick out...and the birds land on them! Unfortunately, partway through the trip I got a migraine, so I went and laid down in the car while Kyle and the kids stayed a little longer.

VBS

I have such fond memories of attending Vacation Bible School as a little girl, so when I learned that St. Peter's (the church where Ashlyn attends preschool) would be hosting VBS I signed Ashlyn up right away! She LOVED going to VBS...especially since she got to go with Elizabeth. What would these girls do without each other?! Seriously, they are as close as sisters! We attended their closing program...which was crazy hot in the church with no air conditioning. But not to worry, there was ice cream at the end :)

Love these girls!

Enjoying their ice cream after the program

Brian "teasing" Leah. He was talking, gesticulating with his spoon and Leah was bobbing and weaving, trying so hard to get that ice cream!

I'm sure Maguire can't wait until next summer when he can attend VBS. I've got a lot of friends who do the VBS circuit, attending a whole bunch of programs at different churches. I might even travel a circuit of my own next year ha ha! The kids can never get too much biblical teaching, right?

GRCM

We love going to the Grand Rapids Children's Museum! We're fortunate to have a membership to the museum (and the zoo), which comes in handy especially in the dreary winter months. But on this gorgeous summer day, with Maguire sleeping over at Mimia and Papa's house, Ashlyn wanted to go to the museum, just the girls :) While upstairs in the museum, I looked out the window and noticed this fountain for the first time. We've been to the museum countless times and I've never noticed it?! Anyway, you know me and my camera...it was a photo-op if there ever was one ;)

I love taking pictures in these fun mirrors!

My "Punky Bee"
Ever since she was a baby, my mom has called Ashlyn "Punky B". We can't quite remember why or where she came up with this nickname, but it has certainly stuck!

Pool days

We didn't haul out the kiddie pool nearly as often as we would've liked due to weird summer temps here in Michigan, but here are a few pics from one of the days we did.

Who needs a bathing suit?!

Little Drummer Boy

Maguire loves all kinds of instruments, but especially drums and guitars. I was on a quest in my garage saling to find a cheap drum kit for him to bang around on. I found a great one and he was thrilled! Don't worry, we keep them out in the garage so Mommy doesn't go crazy ;)

But Mom...everybody's doing it!

Ashlyn tends to run about 10 degrees hotter than Maguire and I do, which makes car rides interesting. I'm freezing and she's undressing because she's sweaty! We were visiting our friends Heidi, Ava and Kaiya when one of these temperature discrepancies hit. Ashlyn took her shirt off because she was hot. Maguire took notice and decided he wanted his off. Ava's shirt didn't stand a chance of staying on (or her pants for that matter!) once my kids were topless. Ah well...made for cute pics :) Looking at the pictures of Ava and Maguire, I can't help but fast forward 12 years or so to think about what pics of Mac and his girlfriends (not multiple at the same time and NOT TOPLESS, of course) will look like. I'm guessing much like these...minus the diapers.

Too Cute for your TUTU!

Stacey Clack has done a few "Too Cute for your Tutu" sessions and when I saw the sneak peeks on her facebook page I knew I had to do it with Ashlyn! These pics are just some pics my mom and I took before and after the session with Stacey. I loved that our session was downtown with an urban vibe. Really fits my sassy yet girly girl :)



Here are some of Stacey's pics--LOVE them! Ash wasn't as cooperative as I would've liked her to be (you can see me having a "talk" with her in one of the pics). But once my mom and I went and waited somewhere else and Stacey started talking to Ashlyn about Spongebob (??), she did great! Way to go, Stacey!

CURE

Kyle has been working for CURE International for more than a year now as regional director of development. CURE has hospitals around the developing world where they perform orthopedic surgeries on children. These children have things like hydrocephalus, club foot, cleft palate, spina bifida and other orthopedic deformities that would routinely be fixed here in the US. In June we were blessed to spend time with one of the surgeons from the Kijabe, Kenya hospital, Dr. Tim Mead. He was formerly a surgeon in my hometown. I hope to travel to one of the hospitals someday soon, but for now it was incredible to hear stories from a surgeon who's living it day in, day out. Thank you, Dr. Mead, for taking care of the children and doing God's work!

Princess and the Pauper

Ashlyn's latest favorite DVD series is all of the Barbie movies. She and Elizabeth are hilarious when they dress up, always pretending to be one duo or another from one of the Barbie movies. The pair they favor the most is from Barbie in the Princess and the Pauper--Erika and Annelise. Ashlyn is always Erika (pauper) because she has brown hair and Elizabeth is always Annelise (princess) because she has blond hair. And don't even try to call them by their real names because they will LET YOU KNOW that's not who they are ;) Here they are in a very typical dress-up/pretend scenario:

Ashlyn and Elizabeth--I mean, Erika and Annelise--Friends forever!

Always be prepared to give an answer...

...to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect... (1 Peter 3:15)

Maguire spends his day asking WHY? Honestly, it's exhausting and I often find myself getting frustrated when he takes one sentence from me and turns it into a series of 5+ "why" questions. For example:
ME: Maguire, please put your shoes on.
MAGUIRE: Why?
ME: So we can go to Meijer.
MAGUIRE: Why?
ME: Because you have to have shoes on in the store.
MAGUIRE: Why?
ME: So your feet don't get dirty or hurt.
MAGUIRE: Why?
ME: (getting frustrated) {sigh} Because it's the rule of the store--you have to have shoes on.
MAGUIRE: (you guessed it) Why?
ME: Why not?
MAGUIRE: I don't know.
ME: (wondering WHY I haven't learned yet to use that answer first!)

I love how curious Maguire is and I believe that a lot of the time he's sincere in his questioning, but I often wonder if he's asking "why?" just to ask "why?". I know it's typical, but I never went through this with Ashlyn. If she asked "why?", we gave her one answer and she was satisfied.

I will say that all of this is making me think twice about the answers I give him. It also makes me think twice about what 1Peter 3:15 is talking about. Am I prepared with answers for people who question the hope I have in Christ? Am I prepared to answer with gentleness and respect...and confidence? Do I answer Maguire's questions with gentleness and respect...and patience?? I think I have a little more preparation ahead of me :)

Bike rides and cousin time

Kyle's sister, Heather, and her husband took their older 3 kids to a Whitecaps baseball game and the ballpark is just a few miles from our house, so we agreed to watch the younger two kids while they went. Blaze and Ashlyn are known as the "twins" among the Warmington side of the family because they are only 2 days apart. They've always had a special bond and always have a great time together. Ironically, Maguire and Skydra's birthdays are 2 days apart as well, but there is a year between them. Now that Maguire is older, he thinks Blaze is the bee's knees. We're pretty sure these two wild men will get into all kinds of mischief together as they get older!
It was a really nice day so I thought it would be fun to borrow the Neeley's bike trailer along with ours and take a bike ride/picnic to a nearby park for dinner.

We had the girls riding together and the boys riding together on the way there, but switched it up on the way back. It was funny to see the difference. Even though Blaze and Maguire are paling around more and more these days and Ashlyn is into "mothering" Skydra, it was clear that all parties involved were happier and more comfortable on the way home, paired with the cousin closest in age.

"The Twins"

I love how Skydra was leaning into Maguire, resting her head on his shoulder. I pulled these two and I don't think they made a peep the entire way home! The just rode comfortably in silence.

We typically stop for ice cream at "Trailside Treats" along the bike trail at the end of our rides, but this time we skipped it and had ice cream at home. It's so fun to see how close our kids are with their cousins. What a blessing to have so many of them living so close!