Blueberry picking

I have really enjoyed picking fruit with the kids.  They're still young enough that they think its fun to work for food!  :)  It was a little warm, but they picked about 5.5 pounds of some of the yummiest blueberries!  I'm sure they consumed about the same amount but I don't think there is a parent out there that will discourage their kids from eating fresh fruit.  Justus was with us and he was a picking machine!  I'm thinking I might make a pie out them, but everybody seems to be happy just eating them plain.











JVG

Papa/Norah Date

As much as we parents try to not play favorites, there are just some kids or times that we get along with one better than the other.  Dude and Gaetan get along the best, while Norah and I seem to have an understanding.  Lucy, well, she's the biggest sweetheart so she blends well with all.  Unfortunately,  the crazies misbehaved so poorly and Norah (which usually is the one who is giving G a hard time) was so good, we thought it would be nice to reward her.  She and Papa went out for ice cream and had a nice little date and I think it did them a world of good to hang out together.  She has been extra sweet lately to Papa which is always nice :)








JVG

Girls Day Out

Thank goodness for girls day out.  A friend of mine definitely needed some time out and I was lucky enough to have a husband that took the kiddos so that I could help her out.  We got a bit fancied up and went out for an afternoon of fun, eating and soul spilling.



We went to Propaganda Doughnuts first because they were gonna close.  They have interesting hours but that means their stuff is always fresh and delicious!  I got one that was a vanilla donut with a cherry frosting with POP ROCKS.  Yes, that's right.  Pop rocks.  She got a birthday looking one with kiwi... and the other one they had was a coffee glaze with bacon and maple something.  YUM!  We sat and chatted and ate your snacks until they closed.  Then, we literally walked next door to get lunch.



She had suggested a few places and I had never heard of them before!  I researched what she sent and I thought that The Bandit Queen sounded the best.  Both of these places aren't in the best part of downtown GR but I think that if these restaurants and businesses keep up it will help turn things around.  This is a ramen noodle bar with a lot of asian cuisine influences, which just sounds yummy scrumptious right?  It is also restaurant week so they had a special menu as well!  Since we hadn't been there before one ordered off their regular menu and one got their restaurant week stuff.  We ended up getting the St. Michael's Dragon Ramen bowl and then for the restaurant week we got buffalo shrimp tacos for an appetizer, Korean BBQ ribs for the main, and then we finished with creme brûlée.  It was awesome!  You wouldn't expect to have this quality of food in this hole in the wall place, but it's great.  It has a lot of awesome teas and stuff too, but we didn't try any.















We then walked to Madcap Coffee, and we felt a little out of place.  It seemed very... hipster and we obviously aren't that cool. We got some ice chai and enjoyed talking some more.  We talked about all sorts of things and just relaxed.  I know that it was good for her, but it was good for me too.




Thanks for the day out friend, and thank you to my wonderful husband who allows me to be able to do this.

JVG

Struggling

WARNING:  The following isn't fun.  The following is real and its raw.  No cute pics of the kids being adorable or the sunshiny life I live.  Its just me.  And its personal.

I know the majority of the time I am upbeat, enthusiastic, ready to help... but I have to admit, I have been struggling lately.  I'm not entirely sure what it is, but I feel... overwhelmed?  Overwhelmed with all the hurt and sadness there is around us.  And, I know that there is always going to be something that is tragic, and there are always people who are hurting... but for some reason its hitting a little closer to home.  I can usually get over my disgust with the general population, and their ignorant and willfully hateful attitudes, but for right now, I can't.  

I find myself sitting and wondering where it all goes wrong.  I know that's a huge question to a broad problem, but I just don't know.  Why do parents lose babies?  Why is there such heartache for people who are supposed to love each other?  Why do people think they are better than someone else just because that other person is different?  And because they are different why do people think they can treat each other like they aren't PEOPLE.  What do we do to help?  How do we help those closest to us pick up the pieces when it all falls to shit?  How can we discern when people are putting a facade on there just to get by and when they are really crying out for help?  

We went and saw a speaker last weekend for a date (I will blog about that later) and it was awesome. It was inspiring and very thought provoking.  I have been mulling it over all week, which is why I haven't blogged about it.  And for me, the hardest thing I have to reconcile is as a Christian, what does that look like to the world.  How am I helping?  And how do I help without wearing myself too thin?  How do I know when I've done enough?

And, honestly, I don't think there is ever an end. I struggle with feeling adequate.  Especially as a parent.  Its been rough lately.  And, I know we are all just doing the best that we can but I constantly feel like a jerk.  I constantly feel like I am the bad guy.  In the eyes of a 4 and almost 6 year old do they understand why I tell them no?  

A lot of close friends are struggling with very real, very heart aching problems.  That's really all I can say.

No amount of 'me' time really seems to be helping.  No amount of miles or ice cream cones. So do I do? How I pull myself up out of this?  Not sure. I will though. I always do. But for now, we think. And for those who are hurting or struggling... I'm sorry.  Ask for help.  And when your friend asks for help, just listen.  Don't try to provide an answer, just fucking listen.  And as awkward as it might be for you, they're the ones who are being vulnerable and laying it all out there... so, please.  Just listen.

JVG

Oma Oma visit

Today we got to see Oma Oma!  She's been in the country for a little bit already, but this was the first time Ingrid had time off of work to come over.  Oma Oma is absolutely the best and I know that the kids really enjoy her even though they see her once a year.  I think that Norah impressed her the most because she has grown so much since the last time she saw her... I think her personality blew her away!  The older kids were really excited to show Ingrid around and play Pokemon.







The day started out well as Norah slept in til 10:55!  I was honestly starting to get a little worried about her, but G said that it was going to be fine. He was right, of course.  We had a lovely morning just hanging out and we even tried the leaf blower on the drive way.  I don't know if G had fun with it but I like the way the driveway looked afterwards!  Dude gave it a try too... it was extra cute.





















We went out for lunch at Food Dance and it was AMAZING!  I love eating... I have no idea why food makes me so happy, but it does.  We got appetizers and dessert! YUM YUM!  When we were there four trains went by and the kiddos got so excited!  The visit went really well.  Can't wait to see Oma Oma again for Dude's birthday party :)

JVG

We Shine!

The weekend after the kids first race was the color run!  We signed up to run on the team with Quebra and Dizzy, Quebra's sister and nephew and Dizzy's friend Kelly.  Its fun to dress up for this because it's not a serious 5K and I wanted the kiddos to look for to something.  I had my tutu still from last year so I thought that it would be nice and easy to make the girls some too.  I know that Quebra and Dizzy had tutus from the year before as well, but I didn't think Dude was going to be so into that, so I thought we should make them capes!  Mom of course helped me with this endeavour and I'm not even kidding it took us 5 hours to make all of them.  I wanted to make one for Dude and G but didn't want to leave anybody else out of the group so we made one for Dizzy, Kelly and Angelo.  Dude picked out the colors for the capes and I think that they turned out really nice!  There were a lot of people at the race that wanted to take their pictures because they were awesome!





























We got there and found parking and then headed into the mass that was the color run.  It was hard on the kids waiting around because they didn't understand why we were just standing and I was almost ready to go take them walking around and not do the race, but G said that they would really enjoy it and that we were almost to the start line anyway.  Well... our crazies loved it!  Dude ran the whole thing in 34 minutes, which I think it impressive for little legs and wearing sandals.  Lucy hitched a ride on G's back and I had Norah.  They took off and I tried to keep up but Norah didn't want too.  After we rounded the first corner she wanted to take a seat on the curb so we sat for a little bit.  I convinced her that we should just got a little further and get some color and she was ok with that.  Luckily, this course was an out and back so we just snuck across the course and started walking back after the first color zone.  By the way people were coming back colored we missed out on orange and blue but she didn't act like she cared that much.








































We got going again and made it to the yellow station and then the last station was the glitter station!  This is what was different from other years and I'm glad that they saved it til last.  Norah loved it!  I still have little sparkles on me from the race and it's almost been a week!  We found Quebra and Dizzy and then waited for G and the kids.  They didn't finish that far behind us even though we cut out a portion of the course.  By the end of that race though my arms were tired from carrying her!  Next year, we are definitely bringing the wagon or the running stroller.



































the plan was to go to the beach together afterwards but Quebra's sister and nephew weren't back yet and the kids were asking to go home and get washed up.  So we said that we would meet up at the beach and we headed out.  When we got home Dad was concerned that the beach was going to be really busy due to Coast Guard being at South Haven so he wanted to try Muskegon, where we got married.  The rest of the crew was still showering up and eating so we decided to just head out before the kids lost interest.  It turned out to be a BEAUTIFUL day.  The wind was just enough to make the waves fun for the kids but not too dangerous.  Norah wasn't a huge fan of them, but the crazies did.  The water was finally warm enough to get in and enjoy so I got to go in and enjoy too!




We headed back and had our traditional pizza and beer and then we harvested things out of the garden.  It was a fabulous day, filled with fun and sun!  But oh man, I was exhausted!

JVG