Princess Day

In my previous post I wrote about Amelia, Rachel, Kristen and Emily's Princess Day. Kristen e-mailed me a few more pictures of the evening that I thought I would share.

School started last week. Ethan wasn't really looking forward to it until I took him to Wal-Mart to buy new school supplies. It's amazing what new colors and folders will do! Ethan has nearly a week of 1st grade under his belt and has really enjoyed it.

Ethan on his first day of school.

Emily & Kristen (Kurt & Karl's girlfriends) took Amelia and Rachel out last week for "Princess Day". Amelia was soooo excited for her "girls night out" she couldn't stop asking about it! She loved getting her hair done, nails painted and going out to eat. She came home proudly showing us her hot pink gloves, crown and princess gifts. I don't think I've ever seen her so excited about something before, Kristen and Emily are so special to her!

Elijah has discovered the two-way radio. Here he is putting the microphone up to his ear. My apologies to all family members with a two-way that have to listen to him.

Dekalb Supper

Wednesday night was the Dekalb supper. As always there was a great turnout and nice weather!

A big crowd for supper!

Ethan are you only eating ice cream for supper?


Mom serving supper.
She also prepared the meal! Cooking for over 200 what huge job!

Listening to the presentation.

WHO Radio's Ken Root was one of the guest speakers this year.

Several kids enjoyed fishing off the dock while the parents visited.

Ezra giving Elijah a little ride.

Slip N' Slide

With last week's warm weather the kids enjoyed playing on the slip n' slide. I bought a $5 model at Wal-Mart which looked very impressive on the cover of the box. However the slip n' slide in the box was a far cry from the picture on the front, lets just say it was you get what you pay for. :) It was still very fun for them even if it was small.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh"

"Weeeee"

"You have to go that way."

"Think I'll take a little drink."

"Can you fix it?"

GEMS Campout

I'm starting my fifth and final year of GEMS! Wow how time flies, Robbyn and I been with these girls since they were in fourth grade! They have changed so much in the last four years! Anyway, to start our big 8th grade year we took them camping. I use the word "camping" very lightly because we were actually staying in a very nice cabin with AC. I know this isn't truly camping but we aren't cadets. :)

Trying to start a fire. It didn't go well with wet wood. :(

We went fishing at Mark's parents house for our fishing badge. The girls really enjoyed this!

Cassie won the prize for most fish caught. This was her biggest, but caught 20 little guys off the dock with only a gold hook and no bait!

Tracy and her little guy.

One of the many little fish that bit on hooks without bait.

Tracy caught a big catfish! She was smart to have me hold him, he had sharp teeth!

Lake Huron

These are the final pictures of our MI adventure! They were taken at Lake Huron. It was a beautiful lake but to cold for swimming. My thinking is, if the water makes my feet numb I'm not getting in past me knees! Here are a few group shots we took while braving the bitterly cold water.

Our family

Everyone on the trip.

The couples

Brothers

Karl & Kristen, Kurt & Emily

Elijah & Ezra finding shells and digging in the sand.

There was a skate park right by the beach. We happened to still have Amelia's bike in the back of the truck so Ethan tried out of some of the smaller jumps.

Ogemaw Sport & Trail

We spent a day at Ogemaw Sport and Trail Park. They had a track for the guys to race/ride on an obstacle course, hill climbs and hare scramble trails.

BJ, Kurt & Mark

Mark & Karl trying to push start Brian's bike.


Ethan loved driving through this puddle on the pee wee track.


Gideon, Ethan & John playing by a water hole in the woods.

Ezra & Elijah riding three wheelers.

One of Amelia's training wheels fell off on the way to MI, so Mark helped her learn to ride without them. Pretty impressive riding in the deep sand Amelia!



Video of Mark doing a hill climb.

MI Vacation - Trail Riding

We spent lots of time riding on the sandy MI trails! Our convoy of 4-four wheelers, 4-dirt bikes and 2 Rangers certainly gained the attention of the locals. :) The guys even took Ethan, Gideon and Cody out the last day for a little ride on their 4-wheelers. I was a driver most of the time so I didn't get tons of pictures, but here's a few to give you an idea of what it was like.

Getting ready for a ride.

Down the road we go!

On the trails.

The trails were pretty tight in some area's from all the tree branches. We were thankful to have roll over bars on top of the Ranger to protect us from all the swinging branches.

Taking a break.

Mark in the orange & Josh climbing hills.

We stopped on top of a huge hill on evening to enjoy the scenery.

Mark and a bunch of kids playing on the hill.

Amelia enjoyed picking bouquets of flowers for people.

MI Vacation - Clearlake Resort

After a night in Grand Rapids we headed another 3 hours northeast to the Huron National Forest area. We stayed in the small town of Clearlake. Here are a few pictures taken at camp.

Our home for the week.

We rented a pontoon boat for the week. We packed 20 of us on the first night, only to find out that the limit was 10. (Oops)

We had all our meals together, each family taking turns preparing a meal.

Relaxing before supper.

Karl getting loved by Cody & Rachel.

Kurt "the gymnast" Boender

The kids loved trying to catch little minnows off the dock. I think the only one they caught was half dead. They were still pleased with their catch.

Elijah & John playing playing in the playhouse.

Our view overlooking the lake.

Some of the early risers got up to go fishing each morning. Mark caught this walleye.

Mike cleaning the fish, he was very tasty appetizer before supper.