October 12-14, 2007

The Final Camping Trip of the Summer

After a week or so of struggling with where to take the family for our final weekend in the trailer , we decided on trying our first state park. We headed out to the Muskegon State Park - Channel Campground. It is a different type of camping than we have done before, no water hookup and the trailer was parked on a cement pad. We had a great time, and setting up was so easy - no deciding where to put the trailer on the site and no leveling. The hardest part was deciding which campsite to choose as the campground was pretty empty. It was a cold weekend, but we had so much fun. We chose a site that had no sites behind us, and there was a small hiking type trail leading right from our site to the beach on Muskegon Lake. We decided that the kids would love having a little bit of freedom to explore this area, and we were correct. The loves playing hide and seek. Believe it or not, this was also our first camping trip with no one else camping with us. We had such a great time, as a family. It was cold, but we stayed dry except for a few raindrops Sunday morning that never even got the ground wet. Here are some of our memorable moments.

Enjoying some hot chocolate by the fire.

Sam is bundled up by Papa

The small wooded area and short hiking trail leading to the beach

on Muskegon Lake.

We are used to seeing sunsets, this time we got to see the sun

come up in the morning.

It was a brisk morning, but we are ready to explore the campground.

I knew there was a pretty decent playground on the other side of the channel, so this was the perfect weekend to take a drive around Muskegon Lake and let the kids check it out.

We walked down by the Silversides Submarine to look around. The kids posed for a picture atop a torpedo they have on display on the grounds.

Back at the campground - A hike up the dune trail

Papa and Nicholas are the first ones to declare themselves "King of the Mountain"

Allison did so well, for being so young. She never complained and was very motivated to "reach the summit"

Gabrielle joins Papa and Nicholas and encourage Allison (and Mama with Sam) to join them at the top.

I'm almost there Papa, can you help me out a little?

I did it, I'm Queen of the Mountain, too!!!

The kids decided they could slide down the dune, on their bottoms.

Walking back to camp via the beach on Muskegon Lake

Posing for a picture on a log at the beach

We got in the truck and drove down the Lake Michigan Beach Access to watch our final sunset for the year. We missed the sunset because of a cloud bank, but the kids had a blast running around, and even posed for some great pictures with the awesome lighting coming from the sunset.

I cut my bottom teeth while camping this summer, so I decided I better cut the top ones while camping too.

Having fun on the beach

Posing for some pictures with Papa

The sunset before we lost it behind the clouds.

Some pictures of the kids to close out the camping season.

It looked like it was going to rain Sunday morning, so we packed up the campsite first thing. After everything was packed up, we drove down (with the trailer) to the winter sports complex at the other end of the Muskegon State Park (across from RuthAnn's for those who are familiar). We had a map of all of the hiking trails that go through there and set off for one final hike. We will definately be making more trips there next year, it was great. Nicholas, in particular, LOVED using the trail map, and finding the navigation markers in the woods to get us where we needed to go. The trail we selected took us through the LUGE run they have there. The kids loved having to climb all of the steps and check everything out.

Looking for the next trail marker, to lead us out of the woods so we can head home.

October 7, 2007 - Gabrielle's First Field Trip

After one weather related cancellation, Gabrielle finally got to go on her first field trip. We went to Nelson's Farm Market in New Era. It was still a little rainy and quite cold, but we bundled up and had a good time. (Gabrielle wasn't very interested in cooperating with the camera though). Getting ready to walk over to see the animals.

Snack time and Storytime was in a great big teepee. Gabrielle liked her donut, but didn't care for the apple cider.

Boarding the wagon to take a tour of the orchard.

Picking some apples, Gabrielle picked the red delicious.

I wonder how many apples I have in there???

October 6, 2007 - A Fun Day with Friends

Ever since Nicholas was 6 months old, we have been involved in a playgroup with neighbors. Once a week we get together and just let the kids play while the ladies socialize. One of our families moved out of Ravenna down to Kalamazoo last December. It has been quite sad for Nicholas because they have a boy 6 months older than Nicholas and they love to do a lot of the same things...they can play together for hours.

(They also have a girl a little older than Gabrielle, a boy 2 months older than Allison and a girl 6 weeks younger than Sam). We have managed to get together every couple of months by either them driving this way or us driving that way, so the kids have managed to stay in touch so far.

This particular October weekend however, the parents of this family needed to go out of town for a family event. 3 of the kids stayed with my neighbor across the street and Carson got to stay with us...much to Nicholas' excitement.

It was a beautiful weekend so we met at the local park, so that all the kids could play together. We managed to catch this photo opportunity as the kids decided to make a "log jam" on the slide. There were 8 kids on the slide (Allison was busy swinging and obviously the the 2 babies were not included). The kids had so much fun spending the weekend together. Bottom to top: Nicholas - 5 1/2; Carson - almost 6; Nyla-4 1/2;

Tori 4 1/2; Kylie-almost 7; Aubrey-5 1/2;

After Aubrey (in orange) you can just make out the top of

Arie John's head-2 1/2; and Gabrielle-almost 4

October 3, 2007 - Eight Months Old and Counting.....

Just wanted to post a quick photo-op of our 8 month old little boy. His independence continues to grow and he is FAST!!!!! He loves to discover new things, and today he discovered Nicholas' toy dinosaur. Paul was playing with it, when you push this button the front leg stomps and it makes roaring noises. Sam found this fascinating and after a little exploration got his hands on this interesting new toy.

September 22, 2007 - I'm Taking a Trip on My Train

Another one of Nicholas' favorite books came true today.

With my striped cap I'm the engineer

and I'm taking a trip on my train ....

Nicholas was ready with his striped cap for a special day with just Grandpa and Papa. Grandpa knew of this place up near Cedar Springs where they open it up to the public during a few times of the year-for people to ride on the model trains. There are miles of track, and a ride takes over an hour to go through. The layout is incredible and very detailed, there are switches, bridges and tunnels to make the entire adventure as realistic as possible.

Here are a few pictures of their day.

(it was hard to get many pictures of Nicholas because once on the train, Paul couldn't see anything except Nicholas' back - there wasn't much room to move around).

September 15, 2007 - Leaf Hunt!

We're going on a leaf hunt
We're going right away
Let's find colorful leaves
it's a beautiful day.....


The kids love the book "We're Going on a Leaf Hunt". It resembles the familiar "Going on a Bear Hunt", except the children in the book are off to find different kinds and colors of leaves and encounter many adventures/obstacles along way. It's a cute book for fall.

We decided to head to the local park, where there is a walking trail back into the woods, to go on our own leaf hunt. Allison, in particular is raring to go- can you tell?

Sam enjoys his perch on Papa's back - he has spent quite a bit of time

in his backpack during our many adventures this summer.

The kids pose for a picture along the banks of Crockery Creek
Our leaf hunt quickly turned into "how quickly can we get through the trail and back to the playground".

Fun together on the tire swing. There were many playgrounds throughout the summer that the kids loved to climb on a tire swing together and spin.

September 13, 2007 -

Hey Mom, Look what I can do,

on this "new" toy you brought up from the basement!!!

September 10, 2007 - First Day of School for Gabrielle

The first day of school turned out to be an entirely different story than orientation day. No pouty puffer here. Gabrielle was so excited. She had - as she would say "a beautiful dress" picked out and was ready as ever for her new adventure.


Ready to go into school.






<-- Found her name on the table, now she gives identifying the letters a try with her teacher, Miss Monica.
Saying good morning to Miss Gaynell - Actually I think she's asking her if she likes her dress.

Allison was not nearly as happy about Gabrielle's first day - she was very said. I don't know if she was sad about leaving Gabrielle, or not getting to stay herself.


First Art Project.

September 8, 2007 - Hanging Out!

Sam continues to get more freedom and adventuresome. We have also found that Nicholas and Gabrielle are getting a little more brazen about picking Sam up - he must seem more resilient to them and less fragile. So, I have no idea if he climbed into Allison's chair by himself or had a little help. Either way, he thought he was pretty cool hanging out with the big kids.





Sam also loves his new bath seat. Our old one gave up the ghost, when the latch that held it closed broke. Seems weird to have to buy a new seat for child #4, but a necessity is a necessity. He is enjoying the freedom of being able to sit and play with toys in the bath.

September 6, 2007 - Preschool Orientation

After dropping Nicholas off at preschool for two years, and Gabrielle being able to carry on a conversation with the teacher like no tomorrow, I expected her to walk into orientation like she owned the place. However, I was very surprised to fine her pouty and clingy. As the morning progressed, I came to realize that the issue was that she didn't want her picture taken. When we arrived at preschool there was a list of things to do to help the kids explore the classroom. Things like: find the calendar, find your cubby, find the table toys, find your name on the bulletin board, and GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN WITH YOUR TEACHER. The pictures were to be used in a project later in the week. Well, apparently the picture taking thing through Gabrielle into poutsville and it took a while to figure out what the deal was.















She finally started to open up, when she got to find a prize in the sandbox.














Starting to make friends in the kitchen area. (However, these were girls from the 3 year old class, not hers - at least she was getting comfortable in the classroom).

September 5, 2007 - First Day of Kindergarten

Well, the big day finally arrived. I am so used to getting pictures of so much of their big experiences that it seems to weird that the only photo ops I was given on this day were the getting on the bus and getting off the bus. Nothing of the school experience. It's not like preschool where I got to walk him inside and watch him put his backpack away.

Waiting for the bus

So, many big things. It was quite an eventful day as Nicholas needed to navigate his way even as far as where to go once he got OFF the bus.

Finally home...It was a good day!

September 4, 2007 - New Past-Time for Sam!

One of Sam's favorite new activities at 8 months old includes standing by anything and everything that he can. This activity table doesn't work as it should anymore - it's been around since Nicholas was his age. Nothing spins anymore, but he has figured out that when he hits the table on the yellow button it plays some really cool music.

September 4, 2007 - Kindergarten Orientation Day

Nicholas' first day of school was orientation. Nicholas got to see his classroom and meet his teacher (again). Then the children watched a video on bus safety and went for their first bus ride, while the parents had their own orientation. Posing in front of the sign at his new school.

Finding his coat cubby...

...and his mailbox.

Listening to a book about the first day of school.

August 31, 2007-September 3 , 2007
A camping trip at Brower Park.

As you can tell, if you look at my posting date - I am about a month behind on my blog. Everybody is back to school (watch for future posts on that), and settling into a routine has been....well, shall we say.....hectic. Needless to say, the fact that I work at home, means I am ONLY working at night, which leaves little computer time for personal projects like - what's this called again - a blog?

Anyway, Labor Day weekend we headed out to Brower Park with Mom & Dad, and Cory,Catherine & Joshua, with a visit from Shawn, Erin & Owen thrown in on Saturday.

As much fun as we had at the big family reunion at Myers Lake (and can't wait to go back), it was so much fun to watch the kids interact with Joshua "one-on-one" for more than a couple of hours here and there. They had so much fun together. There was a playground right across the street from our camper, that had a log cabin house. The kids were constantly pretending it was an ice-cream store. They would take our order through the window, and they would serve us pine-cone treats. What fun, to see them play together and PRETEND. It was so great, they even had other kids from the campground coming to ask for "ice-cream". Apparently, they got a reputation.

There was also a couple of walks to another playground on the other side of the campground, where there was a big wooden train. The kids had lots of fun crawling and climbing all over it, as well as enjoying the bouncy toys, etc.

To top off the weekend, we ran into some friends of Mom & Dad on Saturday night and they had a pontoon boat. They offered to take us for a ride, which ended up being much longer than we anticipated. The kids had lots of fun, and Joshua really like seeing some of the FAST boats up close.

We had a lot of fun together, and can't wait for more camping fun in the future.

August 29, 2007 - A New Look!

Gabrielle's hair has been starting to drive me crazy for quite some time. The longer parts of her hair were so thin and fine (baby hair) and she had a bunch of places that would just stick up all the time because of the incident a while back with Nicholas taking a scissors to it. http://vanwesepventures.blogspot.com/search?q=quiet. When I would pull it to a ponytail there were short pieces sticking up and some of them would always fall out. School was getting ready to start and Paul would be getting her ready at least one day week, and pony tails are not his thing. So.....I took her in to get a major makeover. She's looks so ready for school and so grown up. Hopefully, if we decide to let it grow out again now it will be thicker and more even. However, I like it so much we might just keep it short for a while. Gabrielle loves it too, and thinks she looks like mama.....which she does.

August 22, 2007 - Summer Portraits

Click to Play

Will all of the camping we have done this summer, I was a little late in getting around to Allison and Sam's newest portraits (and of course, a few group shots thrown into the mix as well). They are doing some new things at the portrait studio...some I like, some I don't. One of them however, is when they let you preview the pictures prior to ordering they have all sorts of enhancements on the photos which are sometimes really cool. It is an obvious ploy to have you fall in love with the enhancement and just "have to have it". I fortunately go in there with my list of what I need and never get caught in their little scheme. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that when I received my electronic versions of the pictures...it included all of the enhancements. Kind of cool.

August 14, 2007 - A New Vehicle....New to us that is!

Over the past months we have been feeling slighlty cramped in our mini van. Adding Sam to the family this past January put all four "car-seat" compatible locations of the van in use. We no longer had the ability to take one of the seats out when we needed to take extra gear with us, and the every time we went somewhere for any period of time, the gear was a lot. I could barely get the groceries in if I happened to have the double stroller along. Our numerous camping trips this summer have increased our desire for a bigger vehicle. We just didn't know if we would be able to do this. After some serious research, lots of looking on-line and a few days of driving to numerous car lots we found our perfect match. We found a 1997 Chevrolet Suburban. It is a little older, but for it's age only has 108,000 miles and these vehicle seem to last forever. So far, we love it and our recent camping trips have proven how much extra room we actually have. So, with an 8 passenger seating capacity, we can successfully seat all 4 car seats, but we have room for an additional car seat and one more additional passenger if needed (for taking friends along - not another baby if that's what you are thinking). We also have a "ton" of room behind the back seat for taking all of the many belongings that go along with 4 kids.