Not too long ago, with no plans for the evening, I packed up the boys and a dinner and headed to the Gardens for their concert series.
They have a beautiful amphitheater. The music was fun, we ate our picnic, AJ danced near the stage, the boys played in the boats for a bit… it was great summer evening.
Since I’ve been blogging for almost 6 years now, there is a lot of our lives that’s been documented. Some really great, and sometimes not to great moments. One of my main reasons for blogging to begin with is the remember these times… good and bad. So I’m going to start “Sentimental Sunday”, linking back to a post I’ve written in the last several years. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy looking back over them.
Originally Posted August 08, 2009.
I thought they had finally conked off when I hear the oh-so-slightest giggle.
Earlier this month, AJ got a very special guest. His preschool teacher came over to our house to visit him.
She even brought him some crayons, a special preschool T-shirt, and even homework. Of course, AJ was a little stinker and barely gave her the time of day.
Good thing Andrew was there to pick up the slack. Andrew couldn’t have been more thrilled that his previous teacher was visiting and was quick to update her on everything that had been happening to him since he was in her class.
She is a very sweet lady and I was super pleased with her as Andrew’s preschool teacher. I have no doubt that this year with be just as great for AJ. Even though I can hardly believe he’s old enough to be in preschool.
Not too long ago, my Aunt lent me the book, “Mothers Are People, Too”, by Linda Howard. The book was a quick read since it was a compilation of stories about mothering. And most of the stories were Biblically based.
In one sense it was really good and really eye opening to some things I want to change in how I mother my boys. It helped me focus my prayers a bit on ways I can be a better example of Jesus to my children.
The downside is that it was written in 1976, so there are few things that made me tense up a bit when I read them. Now, during those moments, I knew what the story-tellers were trying to say and the message they were trying to portray, but the way it was put shone a light on the generational gap present.
It was a nice quick read that was easy to pick up when I had a chance and gave me some good things to think about.
This is Part II of our trip to Binder Park Zoo. It’s coming a bit late, I know. But we had a great time feeding the Giraffes. It really is the highlight of this zoo and that’s saying a lot since the whole zoo is pretty cool.
That last time we visited, they had special crackers to feed them. This time it was just leaves from romaine hearts. But it was like candy to the giraffes.
There was even a baby giraffe trying to vie for his share. You wanted to drop a few pieces on purpose for the little (comparatively speaking) guy.
One thing we could not get over was just how long these guys tongues were. I know it sounds mean, but we would hold the lettuce (only once or twice) just out reach just to see how far they would stick out their tongue to get it. Cool and gross at the same time.
Since I’ve been blogging for almost 6 years now, there is a lot of our lives that’s been documented. Some really great, and sometimes not to great moments. One of my main reasons for blogging to begin with is the remember these times… good and bad. So I’m going to start “Sentimental Sunday”, linking back to a post I’ve written in the last several years. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy looking back over them.
Originally Posted August 21, 2008.
AJ was sitting on the bottom of the pool and said…
The other day, after work, I picked up the boys and surprised them by taking them to the airport for lunch. This is something we used to do quite often, but with our new busy schedules… this is the first time we’ve done it this year. Little sad, huh?
I really enjoy our airport observation area. It’s the perfect place for a picnic (or drive-thru) and there is plenty of room to run in between take-off and landings.
(Andrew had a run-in with some stairs earlier that day – hence the band-aid across his face)
Not that I am telling you this from personal experience, but be careful if you take a ball or Frisbee to play with. The wind could catch a well-kicked ball and place it over the barbed wire fence with large “No Trespassing” signs all over it. Because if that happens you just might have a very sad little boy or two.
However, you just might have a very nice man on a bulldozer drive by, and you just might be able to flag him down and a ball that you thought was gone forever just might be back in your arms before you leave. And it just might be an afternoon with a happy ending.
Since I’ve been blogging for almost 6 years now, there is a lot of our lives that’s been documented. Some really great, and sometimes not to great moments. One of my main reasons for blogging to begin with is the remember these times… good and bad. So I’m going to start “Sentimental Sunday”, linking back to a post I’ve written in the last several years. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy looking back over them.
Originally Posted August 24, 2007.
Nothing makes the boys nap quite like seafood for lunch……
Last month, the boys and I had planned on meeting some of my family at the Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek. We had it planned for a while, however the morning came and it was a dark and dreary day. We called each other to feel out the how we felt about the weather and decided to pack an extra pair of clothes and go for it. 
I’m so glad it we did. It ended up turning into a beautiful day! In fact, it got so nice and hot that we were intentionally trying to get wet in the mist sprayers.
Since I’ve been blogging for almost 6 years now, there is a lot of our lives that’s been documented. Some really great, and sometimes not to great moments. One of my main reasons for blogging to begin with is the remember these times… good and bad. So I’m going to start “Sentimental Sunday”, linking back to a post I’ve written in the last several years. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy looking back over them.
Originally Posted August 21, 2006.
Happy, Surprised, Mad…
A week or so ago, we had a free evening and decided to make our annual family trek to Grand Haven. We did our usual… ate at the Kirby Grill, walked along the channel “ooh-ing” and “aah-ing” over the big boats, walked the pier to the lighthouse, played in the sand a bit, and got ice cream at Pier Peddler. Great evening!
This is what you get when we give AJ the camera to keep him busy for a few minutes while we work around the house.
…or maybe I just wanted hard proof that I do clean my house once in a while.
I recently finished the final Season of Grace series book, The Telling, by Beverly Lewis. This was a great series.
However, I was a little frustrated at first because I felt that each book just cut off and left me hanging. I realized that series books tend to do that as they want you to want to read the next book. Yet within each book there is usually somewhat of a beginning and ending. I felt as if Mrs. Lewis wrote one long (granted great) story, but then just cut off each book 1/3 of the way through.
Also the story was very obvious from the beginning. You KNOW how it’s going to end. Even though I truly enjoyed the books, part of what kept me reading was to see if she really truly ended the story how I expected it. And she did… but in a very satisfying way. I even had to sneak up to my room while the boys watched a show just to read the last few chapters…. and found myself tearing up reading what I already knew I would read.
I will be reading more Beverly Lewis in the future, jah.
Since I’ve been blogging for almost 6 years now, there is a lot of our lives that’s been documented. Some really great, and sometimes not to great moments. One of my main reasons for blogging to begin with is the remember these times… good and bad. So I’m going to start “Sentimental Sunday”, linking back to a post I’ve written in the last several years. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy looking back over them.
Originally Posted July 30, 2005.
What happens when I get too busy making waffles in the morning…
