The Beach

Well now that I don't have such a CRAZY week I can actually get caught up on some blogging. VBS pretty much kicked my butt last week but it was lots of fun!

Last Thursday we got to go to the beach with our friends Melissa, Zoe & Kate. I haven't been up to the dunes at lake Michigan since I was in high school. I forgot how fun it can be!! I also forgot a few other things...........

I forgot that right when you walk in the water it drops off. So, we get there and I start to lay out a blanket and get out the sunscreen. Emma was up first for lathering so I start to do that with her and I see Jackson putting his feet in the water and I figure that's OK because I'm not that far away and it's only up to his ankles. Well, I was wrong since I forgot that about a foot out the water drops off. Even at the drop off it isn't over his head but since he didn't expect it to, he slipped and went under the water and of course freaked out and didn't try to stand up. I had to run out and get him before he drowned. If you ask him how he liked the beach he'll tell you "It was fun but I a little bit drowned."

So the other thing I forgot was the sunscreen. After the whole drowning fiasco I was so worried about getting Jackson all calmed down and tried to make sure he was OK that I forgot to go back to what I was doing when that happen and we all got sunburned. Emma had sunscreen everywhere but her face so she wasn't so bad but Jackson and I got fried. Its a wonder he even wants to go back to the beach after bad mommy almost let him drown and then let him get fried in the sun.

All in all it was a fun trip to the beach and I'm sure we're going to be doing it again soon because the kids loved it and it was so nice for me because it was a day of not much fighting and refereeing. We'll just make sure we do it a little better next time :)

PS - the wonderful pictures were taken by my amazing friend Melissa.

Visiting Daddy's work

The local theater in Rensselaer has been playing free movies on Wednesday mornings so that has been a regular thing we have been doing to keep ourselves busy this summer. The kids always enjoy going to the movies but honestly I think it's mostly for the popcorn :) Anyway..... my friend Melissa and her sisters are usually there too so this week we decided to take our friends over to visit Daddy at work. Kids are usually pretty excited to see an airplane close up.

Jacqui & Jayse

Zoe & Kate

Jayse

I know Jack is always excited too when kids think his job is cool. He's just a big kid himself so he loves to see their faces of excitement and all of them fighting over who get to drive the plane next. Speaking of driving the plane next, as soon as Emma walked in she started asking for the guy who took Jackson on his airplane ride. She though maybe she could get a quick ride in while we were there. She's been pretty jealous that he got to go the other week.

VBS Pirates

We have been counting down the days until VBS and it is finally here! Last night was the first night and the kids had a ton of fun. Jackson even gets to go this year because he is three and potty trained. They really got into the theme and dressed up (thanks for Grandma Kathy). I'm sure we'll be posting more about this later this week........

Mosquito Mania!

The mosquitoes have been TERRIBLE ever since we had so much rain and flooding. The kids had been playing outside every night but now over the past week or so we have had to stay inside because of the terrible amount of mosquitoes we have. This is a picture I took of Emma yesterday and she hadn't even been outside. I guess she must have gotten these just going from the car to the house. Poor thing!

Jackson Caught a Big One!!

Well here with go with another "like father like son moment." Last Saturday morning Jackson got to go on his first fishing trip with Daddy and Papa Roger. Dad and Jack were planning to go early in the morning and then all of a sudden Jack's waking me up asking if Jackson could go. I guess he had got out there with my Dad and Dad said "we're not gonna be gone too long, do you think we could take Gunther?" (That's what my Dad calls Jackson because in the summer his hair glows in the sun like Gunther from Friends :)

As you can see Jackson was pretty excited about it and I, without even realizing, had packed their matching Bass Pro t-shirts. How perfect!!

Papa says he's gonna start Jackson early teaching him how to fish so he'll learn all of the tricks and then make us a bunch of money as a pro fisherman. I figure why not, he was born in Kalamazoo and that's where Kevin VanDam lives and he's the best, so maybe there was something in the water there that Jackson got :)

Some of the ones he caught were little.......

And one was BIG!!!!

All in all, I think Jack was pretty excited to get to a point where he was able to share something that he loves with Jackson. He's still a pretty big handful and of course he did fall in the live well once and got his shorts all wet but Jack said it was worth it!

A visit from school friends

We got together with some of Emma's friends from school at our house last Thursday and the kids had A LOT of fun. Check out these pictures!!

Like Father Like Son

Thursday afternoon we got to do something amazing with Jackson. We got to take him on his first twin engine airplane ride. He has been asking Jack for a while now and of course miraculously one of Jack's customers offered to take us for free!

As he got in the plane it was almost amazing to see the similarities between Jack and Jackson. Of course Jackson insisted on sitting in the co-pilot seat. That made me very nervous because he had all of those fun buttons right there in his reach but once I saw the look of awe in his eye I knew he was going to be a little angel. As Craig started up the plane Jackson did not stare out at the propeller as most would do. He concentrated on all of the gauges and levers and I could just see all of the wheels in his little head turning as he was taking it all in and trying to figure out how it worked. Just like his daddy.

Craig's plane has headsets with microphones so we all got to wear them so we could hear each other better. Well.... Jackson has been going through a gross boy stage where every bodily function is not only hilarious to do but also to talk about. So, of course, he decides it would be funny to burp into the microphone and then announces to everyone "Ha, I burped." We always try to keep a straight face and tell him that is it not funny but this time we just couldn't help but laugh.



As we flew Craig took us over some windmills and then through some clouds. As we did this Jackson thought of his papa Roger. My dad always plays with the kids on the swing set and Jackson always tells dad to push him higher. Dad, in response, will ask Jackson if he wants to go "high as the sky" then they continue with what things they should watch out for; birds, helicopters, clouds etc. When he saw the clouds Jackson said "we're REALLY as high as the sky!! Can I call papa??" My dad just about smiled his whole face off when I told him that.

I'm so thankful for this community and not only the opportunities like this one to have a friend in the community to take us on a free ride but also for the memories we are getting to make with our kids right along side our parents and grandparents. Priceless!