Blood Moon Eclipse

We were able to witness the blood moon eclipse which happens every 36 or something crazy like that years.  I was on my home from the gym and I saw that the moon was huge but didn't know when the eclipse was gonna happen.  I was a little worried that it was going to be too cloudy to see anything, but right when the eclipse started to happen it seemed to clear up!





G took Dude out to watch it and they got some awesome shots of it.  I know that it was a really nice thing to do together and that he really liked staying up late and hanging out with Papa.  :)

JVG

Nae Nae's wedding

The reason for our driving 7.5 hours north was to go to my friend's Renee's wedding.  We met after college at work, and it turns out that Renee had had Gaetan for a tutor at GVSU!  haha.  The wedding was in the afternoon, so we had some time to explore in the morning before getting ready!  The weather was absolutely beautiful!  I have been to a lot of weddings but the thing that I absolutely loved, and had never seen before, was when he was doing his vows he got down on one knee to say them.  I thought that it was extremely endearing and romantic.  It was a very fall themed wedding, which was perfect for their location! There were a few hours in-between the wedding and the reception so we tried to go to another location to explore, but the trail was a lot more rough than our first one so we didn't get a chance to do that.  We went back to Presque Isle and explored more of the park that we didn't that morning and it was AMAZING.  They had these black rocks that jutted out into Lake Superior and it is honestly hard to describe how breath taking the whole thing was.  It was a bit rocky to be doing in heels but we were still dressed up from the wedding and it made the pictures amazing :)










We headed back downtown Marquette for a nice little cocktail and snack before the festivities began. At the reception we definitely had the best table there.  She seated us next to this cute couple that was from GR that also went to GV.  Turns out Gaetan and Drew had met their freshman year and G had made such an impression because he thought in Flemish and not English!  His girlfriend Emily was super cute and super sweet. We had a really good time!  Sometimes receptions can be weird if you don't know anybody there but this turned out to be really great!



































They had the cutest party favors for the guests, which were mason jar glasses with the wedding info on it and this great candy bar!  :) We might've snuck a few more glasses so that the kids could have one too.  We were gonna try to go back to SugarLoaf for the sunset but that didn't happen since we were having too much fun!






















Congratulations Nae Nae and Ryan.  May your marriage be filled with many blessings and may this beautiful celebration be just the beginning!



JVG

Last First Day of School

School has started and no surprise I am way behind on blogging!  G started his last first day of school!!  Whoo hoo!  He told me that the head of the department told him that he was going to be done this year :)  We are so excited for him and all the opportunities that it will bring, and I can't even imagine how excited he will be to be done with school!

Way to go honey!  You've got this!

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

Kalamazoo Marathon

Now, our crazy week/weekend wasn't over yet! My amazing husband had been out all weekend watching kids and doing my event, and he had to wake up early the next morning and run A MARATHON! I still don't know how he did it, training and everything but he's a boss and he killed it. Lucky for us, our friend Grace was running the half so she was able to drive them early in the morning to the start, which meant I didn't have to get the kiddos up way early to take them. The kiddos got up at a decent time, which allowed me to get breakfast in them, pack up everything we needed and get to a good cheering spot for Papa. Ever since my marathon, we have gone to the same spot and cheered Papa on. It's just a great location, which is easy to get too... and its about half way, which is an optimal spot I think. I would love to go to a different location too, but I just don't think that the kiddos could pack up and move that quickly. We like this spot also because its by a corner and if we hurry up we can catch him in two places :) But, not this year. Norah insisted that she wanted to pull the wagon and there was no way that that was going to be fast enough... so, sorry honey, we missed you on the other side but it wasn't worth the melt down.

After we saw him around mile 14 we went home and grabbed some lunch. Then, we drove to the finish to catch up with Gracie, who had finished her half and to cheer Papa on. I always get a little stressed out when I'm with all the kiddos in a crowded event, but Kalamazoo's marathon is so nice that it is a little easier. We found a nice place to wait for him at the finishers chute... but unfortunately, right around the time he should've been coming through Norah pooped. I was afraid that if I left to go to the porta pottys which weren't close that I would miss him, and I wasn't sure how I was going to herd the other two along... so I stealthy ninja mom changed her without the guy next to us knowing what was going on. And... I got it done before he came through! Now, the original plan was just to have Dude run in with him because he would be able to keep up but Lucy was so excited when Papa came around the corner that she went too. And, with that, I had to let Norah go... so here goes Papa after running almost 26.2 miles, carrying a kid and holding the other twos hand. It was a sight to behold... very endearing! You better believe the tears were flowing... we are so proud of everything that he does and how much you can see how much he loves his family. Being exhausted at the end of that race I couldn't imagine carrying more than I had too!

After he finished there were some inflatables for the kiddos to play on while he rested and walked off all that hurt. I found out that his phone, which had his book on tape he was listening to, locked him about around the half way mark so he was running half the race with nothing! Ugh! He, also took advantage of all the goodies that spectators were handing out. He got girl scout cookies, bacon, oberon complete with orange slice and a bunch of other things! I still have no idea how he eats and runs but he loves it and it obviously treats him well! He said that he hit the wall this time... the one he never hit last race, but he did PR so that might have something to do with it! He still says he loves doing this distance (crazy man) and we are excited to be able to cheer him on again! Next time I won't be marathon training at the same time so I think that will be easier on us :) We are planning on running a half together in the fall, which I think will be fun!

Again, this week/weekend has just proved how amazing and awesome you are! And no matter what endeavours you are doing, we know, as your family that you put us first. Lucky for us you can prioritize us well and you still excel in what you are doing! Way to go babe! You're a rockstar!

JVG

WMU Teaching Excellence

On top of receiving the department award for teaching excellence my stud of a husband is now getting recognized by the entire university. A very select amount of candidates are nominated by their department for this prestigious award, and out of those only a few get it. And, not all departments are represented, so even if you are the only candidate from your department that doesn't mean you'll get it. G was the only physics department nominee and representative. It's kinda a big deal so we asked my dad if he could come down and watch the kiddos while we went out and celebrated his teaching excellence! It was fun to get all dressed up and to be able to see that others are seeing what an amazing educator he is. We did get to see our friend Dan there who also won an award for the math department. It was a fun evening of watching the best of the best be recognized for their ingenuity and performance in their area of expertise. Congrats my love you are amazing.

JVG