Take a kid fishing day...

Dylan and Jayden participated in the "Take a kid fishing day" this year.  It was a great opportunity for them to get out on the big lake.  Of course they get to go fishing with Ryan regularly, but unfortunately, our boat is too small for salmon fishing.

Ryan helped pack up the fish...

Jayden got on a boat with a friend from church that we didn't even know was going to be there!  They caught 3 nice ones, and had a great time together!

The people who take the kids fishing volunteer their boat, gas and time for the day!  They had a hot dog lunch and each kid got a trophy, t-shirt, and a gift bag with lures and bobbers!

Dylan's boat caught 11 fish!  He didn't know the other kid on his boat, but had a great time with him and their crew.

Each kid came home with 2 big bags of fish!  If your kid ever has the chance to participate in an activity like this I highly recommend it!

summer....

Why must it go so fast?  I can not believe it is the middle of August, and school is just around the corner...in fact, it's starting to intrude on my summer! Dylan has been reviewing Spanish and Algebra for a big test which he took today, soccer has begun, high school registration{YIKES!}, orientation etc...  We have been unusually busy the last few weeks.  But we have had a ton of fun things going on as well.  I am going to try to catch up my blog for the next little bit on a few of our adventures. 

After we spent a week camping, we were home for a week and then we headed back up north to Lake Ann Camp.  Ryan was invited to speak at Fresh Start camp for the week, and the rest of the family was invited to come stay at the camp while he was there.  I must admit, I was looking forward to this all summer.  A real vacation for me, no cooking or cleaning!  Jayden and Spencer went to junior camp that week and the rest of us hung out at our cabin.  Dylan and I taught Easton how to play Dutch Blitz, the best card game ever!  He even beat us a couple of times. 

 We were in a cabin on one side of the camp and Ryan was speaking on the opposite side of camp, one night when we went to go hear him speak we walked the nearly 20 minutes to where he was and it started to thunder!  So, I headed back to our cabin with Easton and the girls.  Ryan and Dylan stayed while he taught in the pavilion, but they had to run back in the rain!  They could not have been any wetter!  Fun memories.

 The kids played lots of games including air hockey, and at one point I had 2 of them in tears because the puck hit their fingers!  I had warned them from my past experiences to keep their hands back...guess they had to learn that lesson the hard way!

 Doing some sprinting in our own family Olympics!

 We went to the beach in Traverse City one day.

 It was fun to see the boys from time to time doing their activities.

 The kids loved carpet ball...

 and the slushies every day were a huge hit!

It was a great week for all of us, I was blessed to meet a wonderful family who is in the adoption process and we talked adoption several times, which is always fun. It was great to spend time doing fun things with the kids with no other responsibilities.  God was at work and many kids lives were impacted in one way or another through all of the various speakers, including Ryan, which is always exciting to see.  Our boys had lots of stories to share and wonderful memories were made.  I went to Lake Ann when I was in high school, and have gone for several womens and couples retreats.  It is a beautiful place and we were blessed indeed to spend time there this summer.

He's home!

Ryan was gone on a mission trip to Romania for the past 2 weeks.

 The kids made the welcome home sign and wrote him notes.

 He took a great group of teens from church and did ministry in Romania with a missionary from our church who is there.  They had an amazing trip and maybe, just maybe I can get him to share some stories from his trip...that is after he has slept off his jet lag!

The kids and I held down the fort and I am happy to report that all the animals are still alive! That was my biggest fear!  Not that they didn't give me a few more gray hairs, but they are doing well and we are so happy to have the real farmer back!

 apparently we didn't feed this guy on time, so he helped himself!

 One morning I woke up to see the boys walking this guy BACK into the pasture!  Good thing he is super tame and will come when called!  Apparently the electric fence was turned off and he just decided to go for a stroll OUTSIDE of the pasture!  He ate a few of my flowers but then decided he wanted back in the pasture, the boys found him standing there nose to the fence mooing to get back in!

Then there are these 2 who both lost hair in spots...nice!  Only on my watch does stuff like this happen.

But, we did a few fun things too to help pass the time.

 I made strawberry freezer jam while the boys made a potato cannon with the help of their friend Ryan!!  They rode their bikes into town for the parts.  I had no idea that it was possible to launch a potato or apple that far!  Amazing!

 They played in the kiddie pool but mostly had fun with the buckets of water, which makes me wonder...why bother with the pool?

 We went to the beach and tried to have a picnic lunch there, but it was so windy we ended up eating sand and being sand blasted!

 I doubt this was fun, but I enjoyed watching them wash my car!  I did help them wax it though. 

 They may kill me, but I caught this shot of my brother in laws playing on the swing while they were up here.

 The VZ cousins spent a few nights at grampa and grama's cabin and they had a great time together!

And we went down to Chicago for the day to the Lincoln park Zoo,{great FREE zoo if you're ever in the vicinity, check it out!} we were able to meet up with my best friend since the sixth grade!  It was great to catch up with Kadie again and see her beautiful children!  In the picture above, Anaya and Kadie's son Jake are both 5!  They are both off the charts, just in opposite directions, too fun!

We went down to visit my family and were invited over to a few friends homes as well, lots of fun things that helped pass the time.  I sure wish I could have gone with him, but I truly felt my part in this ministry was to be here for the kids.  While I don't like it when Ryan is gone, I am so grateful that he had this opportunity to share the gospel with the beautiful people over in Romania. Many people came to know the Lord as a result and that is what our lives are all about!  Praising Jesus tonight for such an amazing blessing! 

skiing...

We took the youth group skiing last week, and our kids as well.  This year it was Easton's turn to learn how to ski.  I am the designated ski instructor in our family, so Easton and I started out the morning on the bunny hill, which he usually called the rabbit hill.  I had read that they had a 'magic carpet.' which I believe, is the best invention in the skiing world EVER.  But I found it wasn't running.  So, off we went to the tow rope.  Getting up the hill proved to be the hardest part!  First of all, there was a huge dip that made getting to the tow rope nearly impossible for the first time skier. I managed to get him up the hill a bit further getting him parallel with the rope, and not sliding back down the hill backwards was another trick!  Finally he was ready to latch on to the rope... Poor kid, I could barley get a grip on the dumb thing, I thought for sure he would burn a hole in his glove as he stood there hanging on to the rope and going nowhere!  I managed to get behind him and practically carry him up the hill.  Thankfully it wasn't too busy and the ones behind us were having trouble of their own getting started.  He did okay, but lets just say, we were both exhausted after only an hour of fighting with the tow rope and going swiftly down the hill only to find ourselves struggling with the tow rope again.  So, Ryan took him with to get some food and I was able to actually ski for a bit.  I was so nervous.  It was fun when I was younger, now I get all nervous and think about how awful it would be to break a bone or something!  I am happy to report that I never even fell!

Then, after lunch, look what was open!  I was so happy, my arms could not take anymore of that stupid tow rope.  4 of the kids from our group ruined their gloves on that thing, it was bad.  Easton loved the carpet too, it made everything so easy!  After that he started to get the hang of it, and was so proud of himself!  I love that part about teaching!

Spencer was an old pro and went down all of the big hills with his big brothers.  Ryan stayed in the lodge with Anaya and Lucy.  One of the great things about working with teens is there are never a shortage of willing kid wranglers! 

 It was a beautiful day, in fact we skied without coats and Easton couldn't look at the camera, it was so sunny!

critters...

So I finally purchased more storage space and now can blog on with pictures!

First news first, Dylan shot a doe this morning, the opening day of gun season!  Good job Dylan!  I don't have a picture of it yet though. 


 But...
Here are some of the pictures from our visit to the Critter Barn a while back with a few families from AGCI (the agency we used to do Anaya's adoption.)

 They were in their glory being at a farm!  The boys really miss the farm!  They enjoyed hanging with daddy and playing with the chickens when Ryan farmed, and sometimes I feel bad because they look back at that time as being "the good old days!"  They're young, I surely hope they can look back someday and still have fond memories of this part of their childhood as well!

 Nice, No fingers by mouth?  Ha!  She can't keep her fingers out of her mouth, even though I told her a million times, and I kept yanking her hand away from her mouth, after a while I just gave up!  Good thing she has a great immune system!

 Easton was the gate keeper, he opened and closed all of the gates, but he never went inside by the animals!!  Anaya, on the other hand, loved the animals!

 Anaya and Anna, both from Guatemala, both are tiny, and they both have very similar personalities!

They even got to milk a goat!  I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that THAT was their "favorite thing" they got to do...

Now they all want a goat!

Good times.  Thanks friends from AGCI it was fun!