Blueberries and Blades

We had another busy week. On Monday, Phil and I went to Grand Rapids for the Counting Crows concert at the Botanical Gardens. Grandma and Grandpa came down to spend the night with the boys. It was a beautiful night and both the Counting Crows and Toad the Wet Sprocket put on a great show. 

 On Wednesday night, William and Alex had some friends over for dinner. They ran around like fools outside and then played nicely with trains inside. On Friday, we went back up to Grand Rapids for a picnic pops concert at Cannonsburg. Grandma and Grandpa came down again to watch the kiddos. 

 On Saturday morning, Phil and I walked around the lake and EGR for a couple hours and then had a last lunch at the EGR Ramona's Table. Saturday afternoon, we went blueberry picking at a local farm. We picked 10 pounds - we froze some, made blueberry muffins and blueberry bread, and are just eating some! William also got a pair of Rollerblades. After about 5 minutes of instruction from the neighbors he was cruising up and down the driveway. He really wants to play hockey some day so hopefully this will help with his skating! 

 Tomorrow we start Math/Science camp.

Toad the Wet Sprocket/Counting Crows

Rollerblades!

Green Thumbs

We have been having a lot of fun with our garden this summer. William is responsible for watering it every day. When he was out of town, Alex gladly stepped in. They are really good at helping me hunt down cucumbers, zucchini (we had one "monster" that was hiding along the side), and beans. They also like watching the tomatoes turn red. Our yield has been great so far and there are tons of veggies still growing! 

 Zucchini - 15 (numerous still growing and several flowers) 
Cucumbers - 7 (with 5 more almost ready to pick and about 10-15 tiny ones and more flowers) 
Tomatoes - 3 (about 25 still growing on the vine) 
Carrots - 2 (they still need a few more weeks to grow, should end up with 20 or so) 
Beans - 4 oz (and still growing!) 
Peppers - not our best producers, 1 red and 1 green pepper still growing 
Lettuce - 4 heads which keep reproducing as we cut leaves

We had an elusive zucchini in the garden... oops!

What's up, doc?

Down on the Farm

On Friday evening, we had some new friends over for dinner. They were actually Sara and Jeff's old neighbors in Cincinnati. They were recently relocated to the Kalamazoo area and have two young boys. We grilled dinner and the boys ran around the yard. Alex found a train buddy in their 3 year old so he was happy. After they left, our new neighbors had us over for s'mores and some fireworks in the cup-de-sac. 

 On Saturday morning, the boys slept in until 8:30 but we were still able to make it to the nature center by 10am to help feed the animals on the farm. The boys were able to feed the chickens, brush a horse, and Alex made friends with one of the goats. Then we went and walked a few of the trails. We set a goal to walk every trail at the nature center as a family before the summer was over. We have checked off all but two! After naps, we went out for dinner and then stopped at the playground for a bit. 

 On Sunday, we spent a lot of time on the porch in the morning. We read books and played a few games. Then we had an early lunch before heading to the pool. While we were there, we ran into Marius, Maximus, and Martis which made the outing even more fun for the boys.

Binder Park Zoo

Today we went to the Binder Park Zoo with some of William and Alex's friends. The boys loved the tram ride to "Wild Africa." It was so cool to see the giraffes running around - it was the first day two babies were out in the field. The boys also got to feed the giraffes which was a big hit. We enjoyed a carousel ride and had lunch at the park. We were hoping the boys could take the train ride, but unfortunately, it was closed for repairs. This was our first time at Binder Park and we really enjoyed it.

William and the Guys

William just got back from an action packed weekend up north. He and Grandpa left Thursday afternoon and met Uncle Ken at the cottage. He had so much fun! William learned to captain the fishing boat. They also did a lot of fishing and William even caught a few keepers: 7" and 11" rock bass. They went to Lake Michigan to hunt for Petoskey stones and road their bikes through the state park. They spent some time by the camp fire and went to Moomers for ice cream. He is already talking about next year... and whether Alex will be old enough to join him!

Alex and the Girls

This weekend, William got to go up to Aunt Mara and Uncle Ken's cottage with Grandpa. Alex and I took him to GR on Thursday. Grandma and I decided that we would take Alex out for some fun since he wasn't quite old enough for the boys weekend up north. On Thursday afternoon, we went with Aunt Mara to Cheney Place to check things out for Katie's wedding in October. On Friday morning, we went to the Botanical Gardens. Alex spent a lot of time playing with the boats and pumping water at the farm. We also spent some time on the boardwalk watching frogs. After the gardens, we went to Rockford for lunch at Red's. Then we walked across the spillway and played in the little fountains. He had a lot of fun with the girls. (Although, he did ask several times where Grandpa and William were!)

Cherry Pickers

The boys and I decided to go cherry picking on Wednesday. There is an orchard a few miles down the road. We were only able to pick tart cherries but that didn't matter to the boys. There were plenty of low branches they could reach and they even went up on a ladder. After filling our buckets, we picked up some sweet cherries in their market and went to the barn to have them pitted. As we were leaving, we noticed a sign for raspberry picking at a different farm. We followed the signs and found 8 "tunnels" of berries. William was a very good picker.... Alex was very good at picking them and putting them in his mouth! When we got home, we made a batch of cherry bars and some cherry hand pies. The rest were frozen for future baking.