Dude's actual birthday

Oh man. I can't believe that Dude is SIX!  WHAT?!  This year I decided that I should throw him a party because I haven't thrown the kids a party since their dol. I also thought that it would be nice to have a get together and celebrate since Oma Oma and Karl-Jan were in town as well.  I forgot how much work parties are.... and we didn't even have that many people going!  Pinterest is a dangerous dangerous thing for party planning!  So many cute ideas!  At first we were trying to keep it a secret, and we did until that morning.  I knew that we weren't going to be able to set up without him asking what was going on so we just told him.  He didn't seem real excited about the idea until people started showing up.  Then... OH MY.







































On his actual birthday we had the Mins over for breakfast for a little bit of celebrating... I made crepes per Dude's request.  Then, they stayed and played for the morning while Dude battled people for his badges.  We thought that he would love having the actual badges from the different gyms since he was making them out of paper and leaving them EVERYWHERE.  He had a ton of fun battling people for the badges.





I wasn't going to make him a birthday cake because my Mom always makes the best, but he kept saying that it wasn't a real birthday until there was a cake.  So... I made him a cake.  I think that he was pretty pleased with his Raichu cake, and I was pretty happy that it turned out so well on such short planning.

Happy birthday to my sweet boy.

JVG

More blueberries and Dutch babies!

Since our last batch of blueberries were so sweet and we had such success we decided to go again with the Mins.  We went last year with them and it was so stinking hot we didn't stay long... but this year was cloudy and cooler.  We actually ended up leaving earlier because it started to rain a bit!  We didn't get nearly as many as we did the first time, but the kiddos had fun playing together while Jane and I picked.  It's also good for me because I knew that they were in the same row we were but I couldn't see them at all times... a little independence at a time.


















Then, Jane cooked us Dutch Babies for dinner so that we could use the blueberries and have homemade whipped cream!  I had never had one before but they are crunchy like an elephant ear on the outside and crepe like on the inside.  Definitely a yummy brinner treat!

JVG

Secret Tail

To add to how awesome this new place is there is a trail that we can access if we walk just a bit down the road.  These are more like trail trails instead of the paved ones that we have used at the old place but the kids love exploring in the woods.  It is this intricate maze of trails that has benches and maps so you can tell where you are going which is nice :)  We found part of it when we kayaked across the lake and saw people walking by, so we wanted to see where it picked up.  G first discovered it when he took Dude for a bike ride and a run and then they went walking there afterwards.  Then, Dude was really excited to show me so we took everybody for a walk one day.  It is beautiful.  Its interesting because you'll be walking along in what you think is complete forest and then you'll see a bunch of houses!  We found out that it connects to an apartment complex farther in, so that was a neat find.


































Love this area!  So many cool things to see.

JVG

Hanging out

Just some pictures of every day life... hanging out with friends, and enjoying the summer time at my parents.




















JVG