Moving blues

I have moved! I know, many of you might not understand why that statement seems so happy when you read the title, but let me explain. Moving stinks. Yes, really. The people who were renting this place before us had never heard of the cleaning aisle in Walmart, mold and mildew were normal bathroom companions for them, and landscaping is something that only people on tv do. I not only have had to move in and unpack but I have gone through three bottles of cleaning solutions, two cans of dust spray, countless washcloths, more weed eater string than humanly possible, and have emptied my vaccume numerous times. The bonus of all this - I AM IN A LARGER, CLEANER, SAFER HOME WITH A FENCED IN BACK YARD JUST EIGHT BLOCKS FROM THE LAKE AND DOWNTOWN!!! That alone is enough to make me happy. My husband is happy that I am happy and my kids love their yard and new neighbors (there is a little boy Nick's age next door). My dogs are happy because they can run around a yard again without being chained up and my cats are happy that they have a basement to slink off to when they are feeling anti-social. All in all, life is turning up. I got a new job and I am so happy with that! I will be able to work a flexible schedule and get some great experience and maybe some help finishing my BSN in the future. I honestly feel that working makes me a better mommy. Some might be confused, so let me explain. Spending time with my kids is awesome, but getting some time away from them makes me miss them and realize just how important they are to me and how important that time I have with them is. I get a break, earn a little extra spending money, and relax for a while. My kids go crazy at their grandmothers and get a break from mommy. All in all, we get along better with these break times. My time at Trendway was awesome, but 9 hours a day away from my kids for 6 weeks almost killed me. This will be much less and will be flexible around my family so everyone wins! Hooray! Anyway, it is so late. I have been to the swimming pool, an interview, the store, and have worked outside in the yard for several hours while playing with children today. I have been staying up to 11:30 every night to unpack and clean and I think that I am to the point now where exhaustion is about to take over. Love you all! Come visit! We now have room for you! A

One of those days...

Have you ever had one of those days when you planned for something wonderful to happen and then somehow a bunch of crap just hits you like a ton of bricks? We had one of those days on Sunday, literally. It was a beautiful day and we had just finished having company for two days straight. I love having our family around close by, but we had company two weekends in a row and were so worn out after two long weeks of work and such. My little man had his ballet recital on Saturday. It was so adorable. I'll post about that later. Anyway, to get back to the real story, Mike suggested we go to the zoo. They have some new exhibits which opened this weekend with some new animals. The kids and I were super excited as we packed a travel bag, got lunch to go, and hit the road for Grand Rapids and John Ball Zoo.

Now, remember when I said that you can plan for a wonderful day and what can happen? Well, crap happened five minutes after entering the zoo - duck poop to be exact. We were standing and watching the pelicans that are at the entrance when three ducks flew in from behind us to land in the pond. What's wrong with that you might ask? Nothing. Except that these ducks flew about three feet over our heads and decided to relieve themselves at that exact moment. Let me empasize - ALL THREE OF THEM AT THE SAME TIME!!!! Yup, you guessed it. DUCK POOP WENT EVERYWHERE! At first we stood there in shock and then began to assess the damage. Duck poop was all up the back of our bodies - jeans, jackets, back pack, my husband's hair. Caitlynn, protected by our bodies and the stroller top, was the onlyone who walked away clean.

Luckily we had brought spare clothes and the weather was warm enough. We stripped off jackets and changed Nick's jeans. Mike and I took turns scrubbing duck poop off the backs of each others jeans and shoes. I washed it out of his hair while he scrubbed the backpack clean and then dumped the soiled articles in the car. Thirty minutes later we bravely re-entered the zoo and RUSHED through the pond exhibits to bigger, and hopefully cleaner, things.

The rest of the day went off without a hitch. We spent a fun-filled day at the zoo enjoying the touch tank (sharks and rays), the pettying zoo (barnyard animals galore), riding a camel (Nick and Dad), cursing and plotting the death of any and all ducks and much more. What had started out as a crappy beginning turned into a beautiful awesome day. We concluded our day by taking a spin around the pond in the swan paddle boats. I know, I know. Hadn't we had enough water fowl for the day? These seemed tame enough though. Then it was time to head back home. Nick has been begging to visit Craig's Cruisers, so we made a quick stop there so that he and Daddy could have a go-cart race. Caitlynn and I found a place to feed the fish. Feeding fish is an understatement - fish frenzy would be more exact. Carp were everywhere, much to the delight of my daughter. They would come out of the water for the pellets floating on the top, sucker mouths making all sorts of kissing noises. It was a madhouse and she loved it! The day was done - started pretty nasty, but ended up good. More than one good thing came out of the experience, first of all, it will be a zoo visit we won't ever forget. Secondly, now we can laugh about the fact that the poop doesn't hit the fan, it hits us!

Tulip Time Dancers

Tulip Time

Ok, so here in Holland, MI we have a yearly 10 day festival called Tulip Time. During these ten days thousands of tourists descend upon our town to view the tulips, visit the Dutch theme parks, and watch hundreds of high school students dressed in provential Dutch attire and wooden shoes dance their way around the various downtown areas. Complete with carnivals, fireworks, food, drink, music, concerts, and various other forms of entertainment, Tulip Time is an awesome experience! Oh, an lest I forget, those lovely tulips. We had such a fun time going around and looking at all of the beautiful tulips and enjoying our day together as a family. My babies were lovely in front of this tulip bed at the Dutch Theme Park. But I must confess, I am glad that Tulip Time has come to a close for the year. Thousands of tourists descending on us and not knowing how to drive in our town has gotten a little old. Turning left at stop lights on highway 31 is not allowed, you have to turn right and do these turn-around things. But tourists don't read signs and do it anyway. Accidents galore! Also, they tend to see some pretty tulips, throw on the brakes, park in the middle of the road (illegal? yes. do they still do it? Yes.) and get out to spend ten minutes taking pictures of tulips. Apparantly they didn't notice the parking area one block ahead. Our favorite thing to watch, however, were the Dutch dancers. The costumes were so cool. Here are a couple pics of one of our town criers and his wife. I took some video and here it is. Oh, FYI. Those shoes they wear are made of wood and they do sometimes come off. When we were at the Dutch Theme Park one shoe flew about 35 feet through the air and landed in the water! Watch out for flying shoes is indeed good advice. My children, husband, and I watched fireworks over the lake and enjoyed every minute of the carnival and fun to be had. Fair food tasted pretty good again! Next year we hope to do and see more, but Caitlynn got very sick with Right Lower Lobe Pneumonia and a Urinary Tract Infection. Poor baby, her fever rocketed from 99.6 in the morning to 103.8 in the Urgent Care that evening. She is good now with an intensive antibiotic treatment underway, but we were really worried about her. It came out of nowhere and shocked us all!

Seattle Fun

Yesterday we spent the day in Seattle, Washington having fun with my best friend Sarah and here two little ones, Courtney and Alex. We drove up in the morning, leaving Lacey, WA in the bright sun and arriving in Seattle under dense cloud cover. The first place we visited was Pike Place Market. While we were hoping some fish were going to fly past our heads the only entertainment was a gigantic Monk Fish. Hanging out over the side of a vender's display of ice and fish, this UGLY specimen was a perfect photo opportunity for me. I encouraged Nick and Courtney to stand next to it for a picture. Upon getting close to the fish, however, they were frightened out of their socks when the fish suddenly "jumped" into the air at them. The joke was on us. Amid frightened tears of my daughter and Alex and wide-eyed stares from Nick and Courtney we realized that the long tail of the fish was threaded through a tunnel in the ice. A rope was attached to said tail and the vendor took great delight in scaring anyone who came near this ugly monster by jerking the rope, thereby causing the fish to "attack". The visit to the Market was like no other. Vendors called to you offering samples of their wares and street performers play various musical styles as you proceeded through a vibrant display of colors, taste, smells, sounds, textures and sights. A visit to Pike Place Market is truly an experience that invites all of the senses to participate. Vibrant displays of flowers and fabrics line the aisles. After sampling such delicacies as chocolate linguine we decided that our starving children needed some more nourishment than the busy Market could offer. During lunch dockside at a Red Robin we noticed that the day seemed to be clearing up. We were blessed with sunny clear skies and warmer weather upon leaving the restaurant and celebrated by visiting a Starbucks on the corner. No visit to Seattle would be complete without a Starbucks beverage, I was told by Sarah.

Next we visited the Pacific Science Center to see the IMAX 3-D version of Monster's vs. Aliens. We had a wonderful time and the kids loved watching the movie leap off the screen towards them. Even with Alex deciding that his nose the perfect place to store a spare Reese's Pieces candy, the movie was a great success. We then ventured into the museum itself to see moving dinosaurs, play with fluttering butterflies, and investigating bugs, music, and other fun times.

Finally, we ended our day with a trip up the Space Needle. Walking so high in air was thrilling and yet slightly terrifying at the same time. After exiting the glass elevator, we ventured to the outside (yes it is actually outside) observation deck and took in a 360* view of Seattle, Puget Sound, and the Cascade Mountains, including Mt. Rainier. The breathtaking view was the perfect end to our perfect day in the Northwest. Tired and a little hungry, we trudged back to the car and began the drive south towards home. It will be a day none of us will soon forget and we are so blessed to have shared it with our friends.

Fun in a box

Have you ever noticed that kids have a lot of fun with the simple things in life? Our TV broke and we sent it off for repairs. They sent us a new set in a BIG box. I cut a door with a handle and two windows with shutters in the box and the kids painted it. I have rarely seen so much fun to be had with cardboard! It was a house, a fort, a shelter during the tornado (mom was vacumming), and a roller coaster ride with Dad (mom tipped the box onto various sides with Dad and kids inside, sending them rolling in various directions). I can honestly say I don't remember the last time we laughed so hard as a family.
It is a reminder that the simple things in life can be the most rewarding and fullfilling. To often we get caught up in the technology and the various outlets (malls, Chuck E. Cheese, etc) and think that we must be entertained to have fun as a family. Not so. There is fun and family time to be had in just taking a nature walk, going to the beach, or playing in a giant cardboard box.

Time with Dad

A son's time with his father is precious, to be sure. When they are little times seems to fly by so fast. Mike is working the second shift (6p-6a). This means that sleeping during the normal waking hours is a must for him on his days on the job. Days off are family days for us and we try to do family activities whenever possible. Today was a red letter day for Mike and his son. Nick and Daddy went to Home Depot to take part in their monthly kid activity. Today they worked together on building a birdhouse. Mike read the directions and guided while Nick learned how to hammer and screw and glue pieces together in the proper order. He received an offical apron for working with tools and a pin. For each project he finishes he will receive a pin to add to his apron displaying the project he finished and a certificate of completion as well as his hard earned project. He took this picture displaying his apron, birdhouse, and pin (on right shoulder). They had a lot of fun together and built Mommy a beautiful bird house to hang outside. The back is plexiglass and it hangs on a window with suction cups so that if, and I stress if, a bird happens to build a nest within it, we will be able to see the babies. Nick wants to paint is up pretty for the birds so I guess that finger paints will be coming out tomorrow. What was most important was that Nick and Mike spent some quality time together. This happens rarely and it is important that Mike sees Nick as a little boy and that Nick sees his dad as a loving father. This happens best when they spend one-on-one time together and it makes Nick feel special (he is doing something with Dad, man time, etc). Next month they already have plans to attend the May session and build a wheelbarrel planter (nice Mother's Day project yes?).