Seven Years and Counting

Lindenwood in Autumn

Flat Top Grill - yum.

Wordless Wednesday: Zoo Fun

Why must good friends live so far away?

David, Lida and I spent the day with Carrie and Andy at their house in Ohio.  It is always so good to spend time with Carrie and fun to see the boys playing together.  David and Andy got along really well this time.  They played in Andy's pretend kitchen, with bikes outside, and of course with plenty of trucks and tractors.  We're so excited for Carrie's upcoming wedding, but not too thrilled about her and Andy moving even farther away!

Camping 2010

David is three years old and has not been camping yet...how did that happen?  Keith and I used to go camping every summer, but between babies and masters classes, we just haven't made it happen in the past few years.  We decided not to let another summer go by without a camping trip, so we borrowed Keith's parents' van, loaded up our gear and headed to Michigan for the week.  Here are some highlights from the trip:

• camping next to the Hollidays and around the bend form Uncle Todd, Aunt Dee, Mike and Nic
• sleeping in our spacious new tent (and staying dry even when it stormed the first night)
• watching Uncle Jason try and try to get a fire going in the rain
• Macy's and David's wonderfully imaginative play - building campfires up to the trees and creating a compost pile
• Max losing his first tooth
• swimming in Lake Michigan (Lida even got her toes wet) and building sand castles with cousins
• Keith's veggie packets and pudgie pie pizzas made with homemade bread - yum!
• spending a day in Grand Haven with Peter, Niki & Jake
• taking a mid-trip stop at Papa & Tutu's cottage
• meeting up with friends at Michindoh (Flash, Quinn, Tate & Abigail and Pebbles & Kasia)
• ditching our tent during a torrential downpour to spend the night in Communiversity
• all kinds of Michindoh fun: swimming, nature center, archery, hayride, campfire, and of course...WATERSLIDE!

The Goldfuss Family Can Moo, Can You?

We happily celebrated Cow Appreciation Day by donning our spots and heading off to free meals at Chick-Fil-A.  It is days like today that make me so glad I'm a mom - I can get away with crazy stunts like this if I'm doing it with my kids.  It makes me feel like a camp counselor all over again, and I love it!

Fourth of July

We spent the weekend at the lake with Papa and Tutu.  It was a beautiful, hot, happy few days.  Here are some of the highlights:

• hanging out with Niki and Peter (and Bennario) for 3 whole days (including an adults-only trip to The Parlor)
• taking Lida on her first boat ride (she didn't like the life vest, but the humming of the motor put her right to sleep)
• watching David realize that he could touch the bottom at the sand bar (he was so excited) and seeing him overcome his fear of seaweed (he ended up happily picking it up to put on me)
• seeing Jake's amazing beard
• eating Tutu's yummy red-white-and-blue dessert and herbal life shakes
• staying up late to sit on Papa's new boat to watch the fireworks (being entertained by Max, Macy & David, but mostly Macy while we waited for them to start)
• hitting the volleyball around with my sisters and brother (I think those few minutes were my favorite of the whole weekend)
• catching up with Gagi and Grampa on Monday morning and watching them smile at Lida smiling at them smiling at her...

Summer Fun @ the Library Part 1

We are taking advantage of all the free fun at the public library this summer.  So far, we've gotten creative with sidewalk chalk,

met Olivia the pig (David can't quite pronounce her name, so it comes out more like "Lydia"),

and enjoyed an outdoor "Rock the Plaza" concert (after a major meltdown forced us to leave our favorite pizza shop).

We're confident that there is much more summer fun at the library to come.

Strawberry Picking

      

This afternoon, while Lida was enjoying a visit at Aunt Christy's house, David and I went strawberry picking.  The fields were full of perfectly ripe berries and we managed to pick 10 lbs. before the rain started.  David did a good job of finding the red, non-mushy berries, but I think he enjoyed the tractor-pulled wagon ride to and from the field most.  He also spent more time taking pictures than he did picking berries.  I'll spare you the many pictures he got of me bent over picking berries from behind and show you two of his better shots instead: