First Day of School

This past Thursday was Faith's first day of school! She will be going to school two days a week this year - Tuesdays and Thursdays. She was so excited to go, we had to count down the days before Thursday arrived. And then on the school day morning, she was anxiously waiting at the door for about 30 minutes saying, "We're ready to go!"

I finally gave her a book to read to try and entertain her for a while as Shane and I finished getting ready! She had a great first day; she already really likes her teachers and her new friends! It's going to be a great year!!

Lake Havasu trip

We are back from our week long vacation at Lake Havasu, and we had a great time! It was so wonderful to spend so much time together as a family, and also with our friends, the Nords. I am posting quite a few pictures of our trip to show some of the things we did!

Faith was excited to get into the water from the moment we arrived! We arrived on Friday night, so she had to wait until the morning to go swimming. At about 8am, she was ready to go and started putting on her life jacket!

Thankfully, Steve was willing to indulge Faith's 8am swimming desire! The only bummer was that it was raining! It actually rained all morning on Saturday. While many were bothered by the rainy weather, I actually enjoyed it as rain is so rare where we live. And we actually had a large thunderstorm one evening, which was great! The "Michigan" in me absolutely loves a good thunderstorm, and so I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Because we didn't know how long the rain would last, I had Steve pick up some puzzles for Faith when he went to the store. Faith of course loved them, and she did them over and over again.

Shane spent most of his time in the water in a ladybug floaty thing, but we also tried the life jacket on him. He preferred the lady bug!

He also enjoyed playing in the sand. We had to keep a paci in his mouth most of the time while he did play so that he wouldn't eat the sand!

Here's Faith in the water on a sunny day! One of the highlights of the trip for Steve and I was watching Faith enjoy the water so much. It is amazing that in just three swimming lessons her confidence in the water could improve so drastically! In the past, she wouldn't spend much time in the water, and if she did, she needed to hold onto one of our hands. On this trip, Faith was in the water as much as we would let her be, and she floated on her own, put her face in the water, and even let me throw her up in the air and into the water!

She also loved riding on the jet ski. Steve and I both took her for rides - apparently Steve was more fun as he would drive faster!

Daddy and his little girl!

On our last full day there, we rented a pontoon boat. Faith enjoyed helping steer the boat!

One of our destinations on the boat was a restaurant across the lake.

Shane had a great time!

Again, it was a great trip! We look forward to making many more memories there!

This past weekend, we spent a day at one of the Disneyland hotels. This is probably the one and only time we can get away with staying at a Disney hotel and not also go to Disneyland! Instead of going to the Magic Kingdom, we spent the day at the pool. It was very fun, especially for the kids! Now that Faith is in swimming lessons and her confidence in the water has dramatically increased, she is enjoying pools so much more! It's exciting to see her become more brave all the time! Her highlight was going down the water slide all by herself! And Shane loved walking around in the kiddie pool while inside the lady bug! Here are some pictures highlighting our stay at Disney...

Shane enjoying the water

Naturally, seeing Shane in the lady bug caused Faith to have a desire to be in there too!

First (of many!!) trips down the water slide

Steve and Faith in the big pool

By the end of the day, Faith was comfortable enough to be floating on her own! For her, this was a huge step! We were very excited for her and proud!

Trips!

Once again, we've been quite busy! Last week, Steve and I had a short getaway with his siblings to see a San Diego Padres game! We had a great time, and it was fun to visit San Diego. It wasn't much of a ball game, but we just enjoyed getting out, staying in a great hotel, and exploring a new area!

This past weekend, Steve and I took Faith back to Bakersfield. We had such a great time earlier this summer, we just had to go back. And we wanted to go on a weekend so that we could see Buck Owens' band, The Buckeroos, perform at the Crystal Palace. Again, we had a great time going twice to the Crystal Palace and Dewars (the amazing, old-fashioned ice cream parlor!), and even visited the Kern County Museum. Faith loved every minute! She is quite a little dancer, and was especially excited that Buck's son, Buddy Alan, also performed with the Buckeroos.

Faith on the dance floor!

We've never seen her dance with more excitement!

Doesn't this just say it all?

After getting back from our Bakersfield weekend, our next fun activity was to take the kids to the Ventura County Fair. Faith has been excited about going for over a week as we have seen all the rides set up while we take our morning walks at the beach. She was particularly eyeing the Ferris wheel. Faith loved the fair, especially all the rides, but wisely decided that the giant Ferris wheel was "too big!" for her to go on!

Our final activity was with our MOPS group. We went to the Padaro Beach grill on Wednesday, which was lots of fun. This is a great place for kids as it is an outdoor restaurant by the beach with picnic tables, umbrellas, and a giant sandbox with toys in the middle. The kids get to play while the moms can sit and talk! I had a great time watching the kids play, especially Shane as he was so excited to be in the sand! He was covered in sand by the time we left, but he enjoyed every minute of it!

Swim Lessons

Faith had her first ever swim lesson today. Before heading over to the YMCA this afternoon, I was apprehensive and nervous (I knew what was going to take place during the lesson) while Faith was extremely excited (she was pretty much clueless!). Faith loves the water, but she has always needed the security and comfort of something solid beneath her feet. I knew that one of the first things her swim teacher would have Faith do was to move off and away from the steps! And much to my surprise and delight, Faith did great!! While she did not instantly become a fish in water, there were zero tears, and she did everything the teacher asked her to do. Faith blew bubbles, she kicked her legs, and she floated on her back with the help of her teacher. The highlight - for both her and I - was when she jumped off the edge while holding onto her teacher's hands! This was something she has never been willing to do in the past! Thankfully, it went well today and all involved are looking forward to lesson number two next week Monday!

upgrade!

Our backyard oasis (aka the kiddie pool) received a significant upgrade, compliments of Uncle Russell! He gave Shane a new pool for his birthday, and the kids absolutely love their new pool!

Shane was very adventurous, and he would push himself backwards down the slide when Steve put him up there!

As you can see, the pool is quite large and has a slide and little fountains that come out of the sides! Faith and Shane are entertained for hours in their pool!

On another note, we are heading back to Bakersfield later in the month to visit the Crystal Palace again! Now that Faith knows we are going, she thinks each new day is "the day!" In the morning she will find her cowboy boots and announce that she is ready to go to Bakersfield to see Buck! Then I have deliver the sad news that we are not leaving today and then list all the other fun things that we get to do before our little trip! Fortunately, that consoles her, but she still talks nonstop about our upcoming trip!

Celebration and Vacation

It has been a very busy two weeks for us! On Saturday, July 18, we celebrated Shane's first birthday with our families! The weather was beautiful, the food was great, and the kids entertained us well!

Being the big sister and having some experience in opening gifts, Faith found it necessary to show Shane how to open gifts.

At first, Shane wasn't sure what to think about cake, but figured it was okay to eat as he saw everyone else eating it.

He soon realized how good it was, and took hold of the piece of cake with two hands and ate it! My guess is he was wondering where this delicious food had been all year!

He thoroughly enjoyed his cake and birthday. Faith did well too, not having the spotlight on her. She loved watching Shane eat his cake, and she laughed and laughed about how messy he was eating the cake!

The next evening, the kids and I flew back to Michigan to spend a week with my family. It was a great week of visiting with family and friends. And Shane had the chance to celebrate his birthday two more times! We spent an afternoon at the Meijer Gardens, we went to the zoo, and I actually played golf twice, which was fun as I have not played in over 4 years!

Here we are at the Meijer gardens with one of my roommates from Calvin, Emily, and her two kids. Two more sets of future roommates??

Walking on Water

Faith is absolutely loving VBS! It's called Son Rock Kids Camp, and everything is decorated to create a camping adventure. Each day when I sign Faith in, I am given a flier with the highlights of the Bible story the kids will be taught that day, the memory verse they will learn, and questions to ask Faith at home. In addition we were given a CD with all the songs that they will be learning. And the songs are good! Of course, Faith wants to listen to the CD over and over again, but I don't mind because it is really well done! I even find myself singing along. It has been a great experience for all involved! I'm sure all the other VBS's do these same types of things, but as this is our experience, it's all new, exciting, and impressive! The Bible stories so far have been about Jesus and Peter - the fishers of men story and walking on the water. I share this because of what happened this afternoon...



Upon request, I set up Faith's water table for her. As I came back outside from grabbing a towel, Faith was not only in her water table, but she was standing up in it! My "safety alarm" immediately went off, and I asked Faith, "What are you doing??!" She looked at me and said, "I'm trying to walk on water like Jesus and Peter." I was so surprised by her response, and was happy that she remembered the Bible stories she was learning, I smiled and went back in to get the camera!

Vacation Bible School

Tomorrow Faith will begin her first week of Vacation Bible School! This is something she has been looking forward to since, well, since I had to break the news to her that school has this break called summer vacation! She wasn't too thrilled about not being able to go to preschool until fall, but quickly became excited when I started telling her that she would have the chance to do fun things such as VBS, swim lessons, and family vacations! Last week Monday she and I went to sign her up, and all week long Faith has been asking when she will get to go and stay at VBS. I'll be sure to update mid-week and share the fun things she does there.

We've been keeping busy by enjoying the great summer weather through walks at the beach, eating dinner outside, and the wadding pool of course. Here are a few of the latest pictures...

Wanting to be just like Daddy!

Now it's Faith turn...

Shane is already being taught about football...especially Michigan football!

Summer Fun!

The weather this past weekend was absolutely beautiful! We had gorgeous blue skies, perfect temperatures, and no fog! What a great blessing for the holiday weekend! Yesterday we took full advantage of the great weather and spent quite a bit of time outside. We went for a walk at the beach, and then we took out the wadding pool for the kids for the first time this summer. Both kids loved playing in the water.

Faith especially enjoys the pool when Daddy fills it up with buckets of warm water!

Shane loved all the toys Faith brought in the pool.

So Big!

This morning I finally was able to capture a picture of Shane doing one of his "tricks." Here he is showing us he is "So big!" He loves to show off for us, and really anyone else whose attention he can capture! Faith, wanting to steal the spotlight away from her brother, slung her purse over her shoulder and announced she was going to work.

When I asked Faith where she worked, without missing a beat she said, "The fire station, with Daddy!" It was cute.

Here she is ready to walk out the door!

Friends

Today we had a fun play date with some of our friends. Faith's friend Bodie and his sister Libby came over to play with us for the morning. Bodie and Faith play very nicely together, which always makes for a good play date! The two kids have been friends for about two years now - and that's quite a long time when you're only three! What is really neat about Faith and Bodie is that they are just two days apart. And what is even more amazing, is that Shane and Libby are four days apart!

Thankfully, the sun came out today (we've been experiencing quite a bit of the "June gloom" lately) and we were able to enjoy a beautiful morning in the backyard. We look forward to many more play dates with our friends!