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August 18, 2007 Nicholas on Two Wheels

We have been doing a lot of camping this summer, and have been really busy the rest of the time, so we haven't had many chances to REALLY work with Nicholas on riding on two wheels. However, this weekend we were able to bring his bike camping and had plenty of time to practice. SUCCESS was achieved. Here's some footage of a few of his first successful attempts. He even managed to complete a turn/curve without stopping.

August 16-19, 2007 Another Camping Weekend at Pioneer Park

This weekend, the temperatures were cooler and so we never even went down to the lake. We filled our weekend with activities we had not yet done. We went out for breakfast at Mr. B's, then headed to downtown Muskegon (sans my camera). We went through an railroad depot, which is now the visitor's center. We also got to see a train come through by the harbor, the kids got to be pretty close to it. We went for a ride on the trolley, which took us out to lakeshore and back. We got off the trolley and tried to visit an old fire station, but it wasn't open so we could only look in the windows - maybe next time. On Saturday, we went mini golfing and go-karting. We also took the opportunity to try to fly our kites - the wind was too gusty though - we could get them up but we couldn't keep them up. The kids had fun trying though. On Saturday night we had a visit from Uncle Shawn, Aunt Erin and Owen. Unfortunately, it started to rain and was a fairly wet night. NO campfire that night. However, we loaded into our camper and, believe it or not, we got all the children to fall asleep while the adults played some games - I think this was the first time this year that we really did that. It was a little soggy and cooler, but a great weekend none-the-less.

July 28, 2007 - August 4, 2007 Family Camping Trip Well, as you can tell by my posting date, I have been running extremely behind on keeping the blog up to date. Given the fact that we were gone for whole week, there were many pictures to go through and it was difficult to find the time to work on the video. By the time I got caught up on laundry and got caught up at work, it has made me quite a bit behind.

Anyway, we had a great time camping with family at Myers Lake Campground. We hope to return there next year. It was such a great place for the kids. The lake was warm, and with a shallow beach area they were able to run around a lot. There were swings right on the beach which the girls loved. The kids had so much fun playing with all of the 2nd and 3rd cousins that are their age ( a privilege they do not often have). It was a great week, spent together, and having lots of fun.

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July 26, 2007 - Doctor's Appointment time!

I loaded up the kids and headed into town for another trip to the doctor's office. My kids are very healthy, but with 4 kids whose birthdays are pretty spread out throughout the year sometimes I feel like I am going there constantly just to keep up with well-child visits. Fortunately, most of Sam's appointments during this first year are able to be coordinated with a visit for one of the other kids.

This time around it was Allison's 2 year appointment and Sam's 6 month well-child. Here are their stats (as well as how they compared to the other kids).

2 year appointment

Allison 26 pounds (25%) 35 1/2 inches (90%) Head: 47.5cm

Gabrielle 25 pounds 34 inches Head: 47.5cm

Nicholas 25 pounds 34 1/2 inches Head: 48.2cm

6 month appointment

Sam 15 lbs 12 oz (15%) 27 inches (75%) Head: 43.8cm

Allison 14 lbs 15 oz 27 inches Head: 43cm

Gabrielle 17 lbs 2 1/2 oz 26 1/2 inches Head: 43cm

Nicholas 17 lbs 1 1/2 oz 27 1/2 inches Head: 44cm

We are thankful to have 4 healthy children, and surprisingly enough they are all actually fairly close in size from check-up to check-up. If Allison keeps this trend she is actually going to catch up to Gabrielle fairly quickly. When you see them side by side they don't appear to be that far apart in height. For having a slow start the beginning of his life, Sam seems to have caught up to the others fairly well and is right in the middle of the pack.

July 18, 2007 - What in the world is a Pandora Sphinx?

We were getting ready to leave the house to go to the grocery store the other day. On this particular day the van was backed into the garage so Nicholas was on the garage window side of the van. Right before we pulled out of the garage, Nicholas says "Mom, What's that?" and points to the window sill. I took a quick look, and at first glance I thought it was a very weird looking creature and it gave me the heeby-jeebies. I got out of the van and went to take a closer look and then thought it was a dried up leaf that had somehow managed to get caught on the sill. But, as I got even closer I realized it was a HUGE moth. The wing-span on this moth was between 3 and 3 1/2 inches and one of the ugliest things I've ever seen. Needless to say, this moth was not going to fit through the tip of the bug vacuum. So I grabbed a gladware container and managed to collect it for a time. That afternoon, we got on-line and struggled to find a website that would help us identify what we had caught. We finally came upon whatsthatbug.com There are some really awesome pictures of moths and other bugs and after going through many pages, we finally found our bug....it is a Pandora Sphinx Moth (sometimes called a camo moth). Several posts indicated that others have mistaken this moth for a dried up leaf as well. This was definately our bug find of the summer so far....we did let it go that evening, but have some cool pictures to preserve the memory.

July 16, 2007 - Astronaut or Astronomer?

Nicholas has continued to express interest in the stars and planets lately. We have gotten several books out of the library and he has memorized several facts about them. He knows that Pluto is the smallest and Jupiter is the largest, Mercury is the closest to the sun and Pluto is the farthest. He also knows which planets have rings and their order in size. One of the books we got from the library had a page where it explained how to make a mobile of the solar system. We found numerous shapes in the house to that we could make them in order from smallest to largest, and Nicholas studied every page and colored the planets as close as he could to what the pictures looked like. He did a very good job, I was actually surprised at how long he stuck with the project (through all 9 planets). We put little facts on the back so that we can review them periodically. So anyway, for the time being we now have a mobile of our solar system hanging from the ceiling fan above the kitchen table.
(by the way, we do know that they are no longer considering Pluto a planet, but that is a little too deep for a 5 year old who is reading older books from the library, so for now...Pluto is a planet again. )

July 12-15, 2007 Another Camping Weekend.

This was a fun filled weekend, with lots of fun. The kids got to spend a little more time in the lake this time, as the water wasn't quite so cold. They also spent a lot more time riding scooters, etc. There wasn't as much hiking, but Nicholas and Grandpa did head out to see how many kinds of leaves they could find. The weekend also included Allison's birthday celebration, the details of which are in the previous post. Nicholas has continued his interest in the stars and planets, so we got the binoculars out one night for him to check out the stars.

One special note for the weekend, was that Thursday evening a storm came thru very quickly. There wasn't much warning and all of the sudden the wind picked up and it got super, super dark. We just started to grab things and put them away and the wind picked our awning right up and "threw" the awning right up onto the roof of the trailer. The awning pole brackets ripped right out of the roof of the trailer, the awning poles actually flew over the top of the trailer and one of them landed on the windshield of the van. Thankfully, it hit right on the edge and there was only a scratch. We are very grateful that no one was in the way of our awning poles when they decided to take flight, it could have caused some serious injury. (Needless to say, we now stake them down right away). The storm passed as quickly as it came and we were able to repair the awning. Some friends of ours were also in the park that weekend and filmed some awesome waterspouts on the water. That was quite a night.

July 12-15, 2007 - Allison's 2nd Birthday

We were camping over Allison's Birthday, so we ended up spreading her birthday out over several days. We also had her birthday party with aunts, uncles and cousins out at the lake. We had a lot of fun. Then, when we returned home Allison got a few more presents that we didn't want to take out to the lake.

I can't believe how quickly time flies, Allison is 2 already, seems like just yesterday that we were camping and she couldn't even walk yet. She is such a "little lady", she carries on such conversations...talking up a storm all the time. She also, can be quite a pistol, with a temper that just won't quit when she decides to unleash it. We can't wait to see how much she grows in the years ahead.

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July 4, 2007 - Annual Party and Shawn and Erin's

It has become a yearly tradition to have a pool party at "Uncle Shawn's" house on the 4th of July. This year was no different, however, we also had my niece Micah along for the day. We all had lots of fun enjoying the pool, then the kids proceeding to check out Owen's awesome play area in the back yard. The day was not complete without ice cream and fireworks ( however, I have no pictures of the fireworks...don't remember why).

June 28 - July 1, 2007 A weekend of family fun.
Once again we headed out with the camper and went camping with mom and dad. The kids had lots of fun and we were blessed with another beautiful weekend. Grandpa took each of the kids hiking individually and they got to pick out their own walking stick, which he then customized for them. They loved it. After packing everything up on Sunday morning, we went on one last hike with the family and posed for a picture up on the dune.
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June 27, 2007 - Good Morning, Sam!

This is actually quite a common occurrence in the morning. Allison seems to always need to see if Sam is awake, and if he is....up she goes. All of the sudden you hear them laughing and giggling through the baby monitor. They often roll around together and even though Mom is afraid Sam will get hurt, he seems to think it is the best of fun. A week after these pictures were taken, we had my niece Micah staying with us for a few days. We got home late at night on the 4th of July and I don't think Allison had any clue that Micah was sleeping in the top bunk of the boys room. When Allison woke up and started to climb into Sam's bed Micah very gently said...no, no Allison. It totally freaked Allison out and she started crying, sobbing and cowering in the corner. Papa soon came to the rescue, but Allison remembers this and often says "Micah scared me" as she recalls the situation.

June 25, 2007 - Vacation Bible School

Two years ago, Nicholas attended vacation bible school with our neighbors. Last year, we were camping during that particular week. However, this year it worked out that he could go again, and this time Gabrielle was old enough too. Miss Shannon, as the kids call her, picked them up in the morning. Gabrielle was super excited as this is her first experience with anything like it. She barely said good-bye to me, she jumped right in the car and was ready to go.

Gabrielle shows off her first vacation bible school paper.









Nicholas and Gabrielle after the main group meeting.


Allison joins in for an after bible school picture, and a tootsie roll from big brother.

June 20, 2007 - Don't forget Me!!

As you have seen in previous posts, the girls often play dress up, and Nicholas has gotten some of his previous Halloween costumes out so that he can participate. On this day, Nicholas decided that Sam should participate as well. Sam actually cooperated and left this hat on for several minutes. What a pose with Woody I, and Woody II.

tpvan-June 21, 2007 - Nicholas on two wheels

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June 18, 2007 - A prize well earned!

The kids earn tickets during the week for doing their chores. At the end of the week they count out their tickets with us and we are teaching them to put some in their piggy bank and give some to church. With what is left they are able to choose a toy to save up for, we post a picture of the toy on the cupboard and we have a graph of sorts that we color in as they get closer to their goal. This time, they decided to pool all of their money together to save up for this water activity toy that they saw at Target. It took them a while to reach their goal, but we finally got to make the trip to the store to realize their "dream". The hose hooks up to the pool and after it fills with water their are holes in certain places to make it like a sprinkler, the pool ends up being about 3 inches deep once it is filled with water. The whale is a slide, and there is a ring toss of sorts, and a dolphin to "ride". They have had several fun days with their new toy.

Excitement with Learning

(This post will be a little out of order because I am behind on posting right now, but I had to post this while it was fresh in my mind.)

We were camping last weekend (pictures to come in a future post) and we took the kids up to the lookout to watch the sunset for the first time. Nicholas was full of questions as we explained to him the sun was going to sink down and look like it was going into the water. His questions led to trying to explain that when the sun goes down here, it is coming up where someone else lives. Paul has always loved astronomy, so we thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to spark Nicholas' interest in the subject as well. This could lead to some real quality time in the future. So we told him we would look things up on the computer at home.

This morning, Nicholas asked if we could go to the library, which we did this afternoon. I prompted Nicholas to ask the librarian if they had any books about the sun and the planets. She pointed us in the right direction and I found a couple of books that appears to be something he could grasp. After leaving the library, he had to call Papa at work to tell him what he had found.

Tonight, before bed, Paul took Nicholas in the other room to read his book while I kept the girls in the other room. When they were finished Nicholas came up to the girls room and had to tell me the following:

1. The sun is very, very, far away. (Paul prompted him further and he told me 93 million miles)

2. The earth is smaller than the sun. (Upon Paul's prompting he recalled that 100 earths would fit into the sun).

3. There were two scientists. One discovered that the earth circles the sun and his name was Nicolaus, and the other invented the telescope which has two parts, legs and another part--he used his hands to demonstrate).

When I asked him why the sun looks so small, he informed me that it was because it is so far away.

I was so proud of his comprehension of what they had read. He is quite concerned that this book is not going to explain how and why the sun sets. Hopefully, future chapters will satisfy his curiousity and his interest in the subject will continue and this can lead to some special father/son moments in the future.

June 15-17, 2007 - Church Campout at Chinook Campground

We signed up for the church campout this year. They go to a campground that turned out to be only 20 minutes from our house. We had a great time. People didn't seem to mingle a lot, everyone just kind of did their own thing and most of the families went tubing on the Muskegon River on Saturday afternoon. Our children are little young for that, so we took the opportunity to let the kids explore the 2 different playgrounds that they have, as well as spend some time in the heated pool (we went twice). We had a great time, and are so grateful to have the opportunity to spend this kind of time with our kids while they are still young, it isn't very often that we can totally dedicate time to the kids without being drawn to laundry and other chores. We will never forget these days.

June 13, 2007 - A Day in the Pool!

The other day was so hot, I was starting to feel sorry for Sam not being able to get any relief from the heat. Then I remembered this tiny little inflatable pool that I purchased at the "dollar" store when Gabrielle was a baby. I dug it out and filled it with warm water. I then retrieved our bath seat (which he hasn't yet taken a bath in) to see if he could handle sitting up in it. He actually did very well, and enjoyed his own little pool for almost 10 minutes. Is this Allison, or a drowned rat?
Gabrielle borrows Nicholas' mask and snorkel.
Sam hanging out in the pool, while gnawing on a toy.

June 8-10, 2007 Inaugural Camping Trip with the New Trailer.

We originally planned to take the trailer out for just one night, to figure out how things worked and what we forgot to bring, etc. before our upcoming church campout. However, as the weekend approached we decided at the last minute to stay two nights, and at the very last minute mom and dad decided to join us. We had a great weekend of weather, cool, but beautiful. It was kind of nice to know we weren't even going to try to go swimming with the cool water temperatures of Lake Michigan. It put a relaxed spin on the weekend. First breakfast in the trailer
The kids show off their 'zoopals' plates
The kids and Grandma return from their nature hike with buckets full of pinecones.
Sam plays for a while in his swing, he seemed to enjoy the weekend as well.

He holds the honor of being the first one to sleep in the new trailer, as he needed a nap.

June 7, 2007 - Let's Talk...

I just couldn't resist posting this picture. I thought it was so cute seeing the two boys having a little confab on the floor.

Sam is 4 months old!

Can you believe that Sam is 4 months old + a week. He is such a happy baby. Continues to sleep through the night, as a matter of fact he often sleeps 11-12 hours. He is picks his head and chest up very well as you can see above, and he rolls around a lot. He is often found sleeping on his tummy now, as he rolls over in bed. He has also taken several opportunities this week to roll again from his tummy to his back. This morning he actually rolled from back to tummy, tummy to back, back to tummy. Then he looked up at me a giggled, as if to say "did you see that mom?" He loves to play with toys, it seems to me like he plays with more toys than any of our other kids did at this age, at least they seem to hold his interest longer.

Doctor's Appointments

Sam had his 4 month checkup today, as well as Nicholas 5 year appointment. All is good all around.

Nicholas had his first hearing and eye exam. He passed both...his eyes are 20/15 with both eyes and one of his eyes is 20/15 and the other 20/25. He weighs a whopping 35 pounds (30th percentile) He is 43 1/2 inches tall (50th percentile) He just keeps going up and doesn't gain any weight....looks like he is averaging about a pound an inch as he gained 3 1/2 pounds and grew 3 1/4 inches in the last year.

Sam has made significant strides in his growth. He is up to 13 pounds, 14 ounces (35th percentile) and measures 25 1/2 inches (75th percentile). So even though it took him 6 weeks to gain back his birthweight he's gaining an average of 5-8 ounces per week ever since. What a growing boy.

New Trailer

As most of you know we spent last year camping in a tent with 3 kids. Well, this year we decided that there was no way that the tent was going to hold 6 people, so we started looking for an older pop-up that would fit into our budget. Over the holiday weekend we found one at a local dealership and we got to pick it up last night. We are all super excited to get to use it for the first time. It is a 1998 Camplite. The box is 12 feet long and it has a slide out dinette. It also has a porta-potti area with a shower, which will come in very handy with young children. Potty training, or just to "hose them down" before heading for bed. The zipper on the awning bag needs to be replaced but other than that, there is only normal wear and tear. Looking forward to a summer of camping.

Memorial Day Weekend We didn't do a whole lot over the weekend, except work on some projects...but it did finally get warm enough to warrant blowing up the swimming pool. Nicholas got a new life jacket at a garage sale (seeing as how he outgrew his old one), so he wanted to try it out...well of course, that meant that everyone needed life jackets. They had a lot of fun.


Sam hung out in the Bumbo seat, on the picnic table under the umbrella with mama.