October 9-11, 2009
Wabasis Lake

We have never camped at Wabasis Lake before, but my brothers have. We coordinated this trip with an invitation to visit my sister-in-law Erin's father's farm on Saturday. We arrived in the cold and rain it was yucky! We parked the trailer and packed up to head into Greenville for dinner out. When we returned we set up the beds, etc and settled in for the night. We woke up to a cool, but beautiful day. Everything was still wet and damp, but we enjoyed the day very much.

This is one of my favorite pictures.

What is a camping trip without a hike in the woods?

Sam playing peek-a-boo behind a tree.

Playground fun.

Saturday afternoon we headed over to the Potter Farm near Belding. There was a lot of tractor climbing (and driving), many giggles and laughter, and much fun.

We got to go on a hayride behind one of the tractors.

Before we left, all of the kids put on their Halloween costumes
and we took some pictures of all of the kids together.

We also stopped at a pumpkin patch on the way back to the campground.
All of the kids picked out their pumpkins for Halloween.

We had a great time, enjoyed visiting Wabasis Lake Campground - it is a very nice park. And we had a great time sharing an afternoon at the farm with our cousins and aunts and uncles.

October 7, 2009
My Girls

The girls in there matching outfits -
they are still young enough to love dressing alike.

Crazy hair day at school
(this really shows how long her hair is getting)

Crazy Girls

October 4, 2009
A New Look on Life

We received a letter from the school that Gabrielle failed her vision screening test. We needed to follow up with an exam with an eye doctor. So after, several phone calls to various places inquiring about their prices, etc. We decided to take her right to the local Ravenna Optical. While we waited for her appointment date to arrive, I had spoken to several friends who had received the same letter the previous year. All of these friends said their child's eyes ended up being fine. So, I was hopeful that this was the case for Gabrielle as well. She hadn't demonstrated any symptoms of not seeing well and hadn't complained of headaches or anything.

When the appointment finally arrived, we were surprised to hear that not only did Gabrielle need glasses but if we hadn't corrected it she very well could have lost all of the sight in her right eye by the time she was a teenager. She is far sighted (meaning she can see far away but had difficulty seeing close up like for reading). Her left eye is 20/20 vision but her right eye was bad, really bad. Her prescription is a +400. We had to order special bi-focal grade lenses for her glasses in order to prevent her lenses from being almost a 1/4" thick.

The next part was the hard part - as anyone who knows Gabrielle knows that she has a definate opinion of what she does and doesn't like and picking out frames was going to be a battle of wills. After several pair of frames that she wouldn't even try on, she saw a pair that she liked. Once she put them on she decided that she looked like her Aunt Melissa and that was it - those were the glasses she wanted. I really had to fight her to try on a few more styles to make sure that we likes these best. Fortunately, for me - the ones Gabrielle picked were the ones I did like the best and so an agreement was reached and the glasses were ordered.

The first day of school with her new glasses just happened to also be stuffed animal day. Nicholas had the bright idea of taking the lenses out of Sam's old baby sunglasses and having her kitty wear them to school. It was a perfect idea - as it seemed to take some of the focus off from Gabrielle's apprehension of walking into her class for the first time with new glasses. It made the day fun and exciting as she kept showing off her stuffed animals new glasses too.

September 18-20, 2009
Hoffmaster State Park

The past 2 years we have begun our camping season at Hoffmaster State Park in April when the park is mostly empty. However, this year we re-visited in the fall. It was a warm weekend and the kids were actually able to go into the water - which was one of the reasons we decided to go back there, as they don't go swimming in April.

We made our traditional visit to the Visitor's Center to see the animals and other displays they have about the Great Lakes. Then we went on a hike, taking a trail we have never taken before. At the end of the trail, we found this huge set of stairs to climb.

The climb was worth the view.

We spent some time running and goofing around in the play field and discovered that Allison is quite the little soccer player. Our little girl who is always "too tired" to walk on our hikes and doesn't seem very motivated about anything - ran and ran and kicked the ball for 5-10 minutes straight. She did really well and surprised us.

The kids loved playing in the creek area that feeds into the big lake. The shallow water allowed for much running and jumping. Nicholas found these big stumps that he was rolling to different places in the water and Sam soon joined him.
Here they are taking a rest on their newly placed log stools.

Sam loves the water.

Nicholas takes in the scenery right before sunset. We are hoping he is learning to enjoy the little things and notice the beauty of creation as we do. One of the reasons we love to camp. There are so many things in this world that we as a society don't take the time to stop and look at. We love to get away from the schedules, routines, TVs, computers and everything else that distracts us from the beauty God gave us and be able to enjoy it together as a family.

The kids take in the sunset.

The girls got a little creative while drying the dishes.

A hike on Black Creek Trail (first time we did this one too)

Allison was loving all the yellow flowers - as her favorite color is yellow.

Our beautiful bouquet.

September 14 and 16, 2009
Allison Starts School

Allison has been looking forward to starting school for so long, she has been talking about it all summer long. She was so disappointed to find out that she didn't get to start school last week with the other kids. So, this week her long awaited first day of school finally arrived.

Monday she had Orientation. The parents had some general things to go over and paperwork to fill out while the kids got to play and get to know a few of their new classmates. She had to take her backpack, just as if it were a regular day of classes.

Because they wanted orientation to involve smaller groups of children and there are 3 different preschool classes to orient - she had Tuesday off, before she finally got to go to her first day of school on Wednesday afternoon. She will attend classes Monday thru Thursday from 12:15-2:45pm.

As excited as she was for school to begin, I was very surprised to see tears from her before I left. She entered the classroom and the kids were playing with table toys and she just sort of wandered around without finding a seat. The teachers invited her to have a seat, but she ran back to me in tears instead. It took me a few minutes to get her over her nerves and before I left she seemed fine. We never had another tear or any sign of reservations about school after that though.

September 13-15, 2009
Holland State Park

School may have started but our adventures in camping are far from over. However, our planning changes slightly. Because we only have short weekends once school starts - we play every weekend by ear. We basically wait until Wednesday to watch the weather forecast and if it looks dry and decent we head out. Sometimes it's Friday before we actually decide where we are going - but it doesn't matter to us, we just want to be outdoors having fun as a family.

This weekend found us at Holland State Park's Macatawa Campground. This was our first time camping in Holland and therefore, we had lots to explore.

Friday evening we road our bikes over to the beach area to take in the sunset.

The kids loved - just laying around in the sand as the sun fell below the horizon.

They had 2 decent playgrounds there for the kids to enjoy.

We spent the morning on a wonderful hike. The trail started at the campground and went up to the top of Mount Pisgah where it wound through the woods for bit and then joined up with a huge boardwalk which provided us with an absolutely awesome view of the beach from a high vantage point. We then had to go down over 200 stairs to the road level. (Glad we went down them and not up them!) Soon after that - We made our first ever stop at Smitty's Pronto Pups for some Pronto Pups and Deep Fried Pickles. MmMm good!
We also took a walk down to Ottawa Beach General Store for some Ice Cream. Needless to say - we didn't have a very nutritious lunch that day, but it sure was good!

It may be September and school may be back in session - but the weather on Saturday evening was beautiful and the Lake Michigan water temperature was warmer than it had been the entire week before while we were at Pioneer. The kids had a great time splashing around in the wonderful waves and enjoying the warm water.

I was trying to take a group picture of Paul and the kids like I usually do - and a kind young woman offered to take my camera so I could get in on the picture. An actual family picture was nice to have for a change.

On our way to the park, we had passed a sign that said "Stu Visser Trails" so we took a drive down there before heading home on Sunday morning. It was a wonderful neighborhood nature area with a nice trail running through it. There was a pond and creek and made for an enjoyable morning seeing where the trails would lead.

September 8 and 9, 2009
Nicholas and Gabrielle start school

The carefree days of summer have come to an end and the days of schedule, routine and homework have once again returned to our household.

Nicholas started 2nd grade this year and will have Mrs Kantola for his teacher. He seems very excited to get back into the swing of things and see his friends again.

Gabrielle is very excited to start Kindergarten this year. She will attend school all day, every day and get to ride the bus in the morning and afternoon (unlike last year where she only got to ride the bus home). She is excited to have Ms. Doane as her teacher, just like Nicholas did and was glad to hear that some of her friends from Young 5s last year will also be in her class again this year.

First day of 2nd Grade for Nicholas

Gabrielle had Orientation on the first day of school -
so she didn't get to take the bus until the next day.

August 30 - September 6, 2009
Pioneer County Park
Muskegon MI

It has become sort of a tradition of sorts to spend Labor Day weekend at one of our long standing favorite campgrounds on 'The Big Lake' - Pioneer County Park. My family began camping there in 1978 (I believe). My Uncle Gerry loves to camp near the Lake Michigan, given the fact that he lives in Ohio now. So - whenever they can make it they try to join us over Labor Day, for lots of fun and fellowship and great food (Uncle Gerry loves to cook). As in her usual fashion, Aunt Nancy is one of the family and brought her tent to spend the week. Why is it that when we had tenters along - it was the coldest nights of the entire summer? Aunt Nancy was well prepared however, and had an assortment of coats and sweatshirts, which she appropriately hung on the coat rack she had brought from home and placed in it's new home inside her canvas home away from home (sorry - had to put that in because we teased her about it all week).

We had a great week - with visits from my brothers and several cousins. The kids loved getting to play with everyone and really grew attached to cousin Kelly's dog, Bailey. As a matter of fact, when we returned home Nicholas went to bed the first night in tears because he was missing Bailey and afraid he wouldn't see Bailey again.

We headed home on Sunday, so we could use Labor Day to get the kids ready for school. What a great week we had.