Long, Long, Long Overdue

No excuses as to why I have gone more than three months without updating, just one great, big, loooonnnnggg post now to update everyone from April 20 until July 4 (I'll update more later... this is post is long enough as is!)

We have been having so much fun and doing so many things since April. Tulip Time in May was a lot of fun! Our two little dutch boys were SO adorable in their costumes. Gavin wanted NOTHING to do with posing for pictures so I did my best capturing what I could. As you can tell in the first picture he was more interested in eating his wooden shoes than wearing them! :)

Aiden, Gavin and all of their cousins on my side of the family with their dutch costumes (even the newest cousin (1 month old at the time) had one!)...

Gavin and his cousin Andrew sporting the same jammies :)

We visited Frederick Meijer Gardens to see the butterflies and had a lot of fun! Aiden loved trying to match the butterflies he saw to the ones in the pamphlet they gave us.

It was even a nice enough day to be able to enjoy some of the outdoor part...

Gavin was finally able to switch from his rear-facing infant car seat to a regular forward-facing one at the end of May when he was 14 months old. We continue to have to take him in for weight checks (another one this week) since he is only in the 2nd percentile for weight.

One of the many nicknames we have given Gavin is "Beaver" since he has such sharp teeth and tries to chew through EVERYTHING. He has literally chewed holes in and through many of the board books we have. Those "beaver teeth" sure come in handy when eating corn on the cob though! He can devour an entire cob in no time and he LOVES it! :)

I LOVE how well (for the most part) that our boys get along with each other. Aiden is so incredibly loving and protective of Gavin and Gavin loves to try to mimic everything that Aiden does (oh, oh!) They love to play together. Here's one of the many "motorcycle" rides these guys have taken together...

In May I took a personal day off from school and we headed to Chicago for a long weekend. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed the mini vacation!

We went to the Museum of Science and Industry and thoroughly enjoyed it. There is so much to see and do there and is very hands on - perfect for Aiden!

We enjoyed swimming in the pool at the hotel...

We also went to the Field Museum. Aiden LOVES dinosaurs and when I told him that we would see a real one at the museum he asked me, "Can we feed it?" That, of course, steered the conversation into the topic of "extinction".

All the fun of the museum wore Gavin out (and the fact that he slept HORRIBLE the night before at the hotel - he hated sleeping in the pack-n-play and cried throughout the night - we were afraid that they were going to kick us out of the hotel because he was making so much noise!)

We took the boys out to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe and then went to Cabella's. They both loved the restaurant and everything that there was to look at.

On our way back home, we stopped at Fair Oaks Farm in Indiana. It is HUGE! They have 30,000 cows that are each milked three times per day. The first picture shows their innovative milking parlor. The cows get on the carousel get hooked up and get milked as they ride around. They average 80-100 calves born each day there! We were actually able to witness a birth - SO COOL! We went on a bus tour of the farm and the boys played in their indoor and outdoor kids places - so much fun!

We have also been geocaching but didn't have as much luck as in the past. We still enjoyed the time together and going for a walk in the beautiful warm spring weather.

Aiden and Gavin have gone on many Gator rides now that Bryan has rigged up a seat belt for Gavin. Here's a picture of them riding with their friend Emma...

I can't believe how big Aiden is getting. We moved him into a booster seat (just in Bryan's truck for now). He loves being a "big kid" and we love the convenience of not having to buckle him in the car seat all the time. He will probably be switching to a booster seat in my vehicle soon too.

Bryan's sister Amy and her daughter Alyvia came to spend a few nights with us. Bryan made them a "fort" in the living room and they had lots of fun playing together in it. We were going to have them sleep in there but after way too much talking we separated them so that everyone could get some sleep :)

I took Aiden to the Memorial Day parade (aka: Candy Parade because they throw soooooo much candy out to the spectators) and we met up with my cousin and her daughters. Aiden was excited to be able to ride in a real Gator while we were waiting for the parade to begin!
Bryan designed and built a play set for the boys at the beginning of the summer! You can see the progression of the structure and it's finished form. The boys love playing on it!

Done...

We went to the Musical Fountain in Grand Haven but it ended up to be a foggy night. It was fun to watch but I'm sure it would be even better on a clear night - we'll go back again! :)

We have been to many parks with many friends and cousins :)

Aiden took swimming lessons every Saturday for 6 weeks in the spring and loved it so much that we signed him up for a summer session too. By the end of the summer session he was jumping off the side of the pool and the diving board without hesitation! He had so much fun!

Practicing "saving" somone who is in trouble in the water...

On Father's Day the boys and I took Bryan on a Duck Boat in Saugatuck. We had a great tour guide and had lots of fun! :)

Having fun in Saugatuck...

Bryan and I bought a pair of kayaks this year. Gavin is too little to go with us this year but we are hoping he will join in our family fun next year. We bought one of those stadium seats that have a back on them and put it in the front of the cockpit for Aiden - he loves it! The only problem with having Aiden in your kayak is that for every 10 strokes you take he takes away about 6 of them - he loves putting his hands in the water causing drag and is forever moving around in the front from side to side! We have learned that when he comes with us we either need to be in a river that has little/no current or we need to plan a trip where we are going with the current the entire time!

One of the fun parts about kayaking is seeing many different animals along the way - turtles, blue herons, sea otters, beavers, dragonflies that hitch rides on our kayaks, etc.

Bryan and I decided to tackle part of the White River with just the two of us. It was a fun trip but very challenging. The current was very strong - it took us four hours to paddle upstream and only two hours to get back to where we started. There were a lot of obstacles along the way including trees the fell across the river.

See that tiny hole in the middle of the fallen tree? That's the one we had to paddle through AND fight the current the entire time!

At one point in the trip we had to slink down into our kayaks in order to make it under a branch. Bryan leaned too much as he was going under and flipped his kayak! It's a good thing that the keys to the vehicle and the Garmin were in a waterproof container that floats and we had a bilge pump along! :)

At the end of June we headed up to Traverse City for a couple of days. We had a great family vacation together and throughly enjoyed our time up there. We stayed at Great Wolf's Lodge and the boys had a blast in the water park!

On the way to T.C. we stopped in McBain to check out some huge windmills that my brother and sister-in-law told us about. They were enormous!

This was the lazy river. I think that Gavin and I floated around and around and around it about 50 times throughout our stay - he loved it!

One of the many water slides Aiden went down!

In the waterpark there is a huge bucket that fills up with 1,000 gallons of water. Every few minutes a warning bell goes off and the bucket tips over onto anyone who is standing underneath it. Aiden LOVED it and would run over to it each time he heard the bells go off. Aiden is in the back of this picture getting hit with the water!

Each evening they have story time for the kids. The clock tower animals give an animated show and then a staff member comes out with a book to read to all of the kids in their jammies. At the end of the story Wiley Wolf comes out to meet the kids. Aiden LOVED it!

After story time we took the boys to the arcade room downstairs and let them play a few games :)

We also went to Sleeping Bear Dunes and hiked out to Lake Michigan around sunset. Beautiful! :)

We also drove up to the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula and saw the Grand Traverse Lighthouse.

As we were packing up to go home we kept hearing loud jet engines in the sky but didn't think much about it. When we got outside we were surprised to see the Blue Angels fly right over top of us! We found out they were there practicing for a performance at the Cherry Festival that was going to be held that weekend. We quickly located the airport viewing area and watched them pracitice - SO COOL!!!!

On our way home we stopped at the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant. We hiked up a HUGE hill to view the 27 billion gallon reservoir of water that is used to generate electricity.

Aiden has been begging us to let him do a lemonade stand. I really wasn't crazy about sitting out at the road with him to sell the lemonade so instead we set up a stand at our family get together. I made a sign for Aiden on the computer and he colored it. He helped make the lemonade and then sold it to his aunts, uncles, and cousins for 25 cents a cup. He had fun!

Bryan had to work for the 4th of July holiday but the boys and I still had fun. Aiden and Gavin got together with their cousins to set off some fireworks and then we went to watch the fireworks set off from Holland State Park.