No Training Wheels!

Aiden decided today that he no longer wanted the training wheels on, so we took them off. We had practiced last fall a little bit, but Mommy usually ended up having to hang on for dear life to the back of the bike. This time though, I let go and off he went perfectly balanced like he had been riding bike all his life.

Here's a little clip for you - Mikaela decided to try her hand (or should I say foot) at roller skating today as well. Looks like we'll need to buy some real skates for her now...

Tunnel Park

Today, as suggested by Daddy, the kids and I headed to the beach after lunch.

Tunnel Park, to be exact. :)



Temps were in the 70's - absolutely perfect!

Here are some fun videos for you to see :)

In this next one, the kiddos are the ones at the very top of the screen. Poor guy almost lost a flip flop today - it came off while he was running down the dune. When I went to look for it, 3/4 of it was buried under the sand. We are lucky to have found it!

Dump Truck Hill

Here's a little video for you of the kiddos riding in a dump truck down the hill behind our condo:



Amazingly, both riders survived... more than once! Enjoy :)

Aiden Reading!

Aiden has really been enjoying finding out that he can read! Listen below to a story that he read for us tonight :)





"This is Dad. Dad put the cat on the mat. The cat is happy on the mat. Dad is as happy as the cat."

Ice Skating for the 2nd Time Ever...

Today we were able to go ice skating at the Edge - the kids 2nd time ice skating ever. This time Andy was able to join us since he took the day off work. I'm glad he did because he was able to teach them that the most important thing about ice skating is.... balance!

Here are some shots from today:

Lots of fun - we will definitely be back :)

Go, Geckos! :)

Today marked Mikaela's first day of soccer for the fall season. We chose a league up in Allendale since most leagues around here were full or only play in the spring. Thankfully, a spot opened up and we got off the waiting list. She is now a Gecko! :)

We played the Cheetahs today. Final score 4-4. Beautiful day for a game too!

Moving!

We moved! Andy got a new job so we high-tailed it from the east side of the state and returned to the west side where we met and started our family.

The kids had a blast checking out the moving truck. When asked if they thought we could fit all of our stuff in there, the answer they gave was "No way!" (That was also what I was thinking!) But we managed to get just about everything with only a few little trips to pick up the rest.

Below are pictures of the two major projects and one minor project that we had to finish before our renters moved in: the dining room, bathroom, and living room respectively. They looked so nice, we had to remind ourselves why we were moving! :) We don't recommend the "remodel right before you move" method and plan on never repeating that again.

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I plan on adding a post later with scenes from our adventures since moving back to Holland... I've obviously been a little busy lately! ;)

New Old Friends

One of the first get-togethers we got a chance to take part in was a little birthday party for one of our "old" friends 4 year old little boy named Ben. Old friends for us, new friends for the kiddos! :)

Mikaela taking a turn at "Put a Band-aid on the Dinosaur's Owie"

Aiden's turn!

The cake!

Dinosaur Footprint Cakewalk

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

One of the perks of Andy's new job included a trip to Fifth Third Ballpark to see the Whitecaps play some baseball. Since Mikaela was not feeling well, the girls stayed home and the guys got a night out at the ball park. Aiden was one happy dude :)





Hopefully, next time the girls can join them!

And with that...

...it's July! Many things have happened over these last few months. Here's a recap:

Aiden turned four and had a monster truck cake!

We took a visit with friends to Greenfield Village.







Soccer season ended with popsicles in the park.

Mikaela learned to ride her bike without training wheels, and lost her 6th tooth.



You can hear very clearly how anxious little brother is about when his turn is going to be:



The original videos were taken on the 4th of July. These were taken on July 10th:

And.... we also finished our living room...

Just in time to move! We are moving back to Holland in a couple weeks! New adventure coming our way soon :)