Other People's Pictures

We've been having some fun lately, but the pictures we have of the fun are not our pictures!  This post will be entirely composed of pictures that other people took for us.  The first set of pictures are from Shannon, Todd's girlfriend.  I pulled them off Facebook, so I apologize if the picture quality isn't perfect (the original shots are amazing).

The event for all these pictures was the Battle Creek Air Show, which we attended the weekend of the 4th of July.  It's amazing!  Shannon got this picture of the hot air balloons taking off.  Drew and Kate loved the balloons, and it was quite spectacular to see all 47 balloons taking off in a matter of minutes.

While we were waiting for the balloons to take off, we checked out some of the other stuff at the show.  That included a helicopter that we could get in and climb around.  It was very cool!  Kate got a turn in Shannon's lap working the helicopter controls.

Next, we went over to an airplane used in the Mediterranean in WWII.  Drew was fascinated by the guns on the plane.  The four Aupperlee men went closer to check them out.

Drew was amazed by how big the plane was, and it was pretty impressive!

I lifted Drew up so he could see where guys sat in the back of the plane.  The plane was a bomber and the bombs were located just below this area.

Shannon got this great picture of the whole family with the hot air balloons taking off in the background.

Drew got on my shoulders and Kate got on Uncle Todd's shoulders and then they wanted to go in for a hug (this put Todd and I in uncomfortably close proximity!).

Kate also took a turn up on Jana's shoulders.  In addition to the hot air balloons, we also had fun watching some airplanes that were part of the show.

Oh yeah, I can't forget about this . . . while we were there Todd and I went for a ride on a MONSTER TRUCK.  Yes, a monster truck.  We embraced our inner redneck and went out for a ride on this bad boy.  It was actually quite fun.  Kate did not enjoy watching me on it though.  She cried the whole ride and was very glad when I got off and held her.  I think that was a once-in-a-lifetime ride :)

Drew rolled up his Air Force poster and used it to check out the action.  As you can see, it was getting dark as we waited for the balloons to return and then be lit up.  Lit up?  Yes, they line the balloons up after they return from their flight, they are all blown up and anchored, then they fire their burners to light the balloons up.

Shannon got this great picture of the ballons with their burners firing.  Cool, isn't it?  Whenever the crowd wanted this to happen we'd all yell in unison, "Light 'em up!"  For the past few weeks Kate has been sitting in her crib before falling asleep saying, "Light 'em up!"

Moving on to the next set of pictures I didn't take, these are from an outing arranged by our daycare provider, Rebecca.  Even though Jana has been home during the summer with Drew and Kate, they got the chance to join the daycare kids at a local fire station.  Clearly, this trip was right up Drew and Kate's alley.  They all brought along their bathing suits and participated in some "training" with the firefighters (who got some time in squirting their hoses).  The next set of pictures were taken by Rebecca and were also pulled off Facebook.

Drew and Kate were quite brave and sprinted right into the spray, which was actually pretty heavy.

The firemen were apparently all impressed by our little two-year-old as she sprinted through the water.  Fearless.

A few more pictures of them playing in the water (they might have been having a good time).

Before getting wet, the kids watched the fire truck come out and the firefighters extended the 105' ladder.  It's amazing how even training can be exciting!

In the near future I'll have more pictures that we took ourselves, but thanks to Shannon and Rebecca for the pictures.  What fun!

Drew = runner

A few months ago I took Drew shoe shopping.  Like all the rest of him, his feet keep on growing and he's been outgrowing his shoes.  As we were shopping, Drew's eyes lit up when he saw a pair of running shoes.  "Running shoes . . . just like mom's!!!" he said.  After quickly determining that he greatly desired running shoes for his next pair, we got them.  Why else did Drew want them?  "I want to go running with mom!"  I knew when he said that, Jana would also be on board with running shoes.

After getting the shoes home, the "running with mom" soon evolved into a desire to "run a race with mom."  We were very supportive of Drew's idea and have been keeping an eye out for a race for Drew to run.  Drew's so committed to the idea that a little after he got his new shoes, we got Jana new running shoes for Mother's Day.

Finally, race day arrived in the form of a 1 mile kid's run at our local zoo, the Potter Park Zoo.  It's part of racing series put on by our local specialty running store and it is fairly popular.  There were HUNDREDS of kids at the race.  We showed up early and got Drew registered.  He was quite proud of his number bib and having it fastened to his shirt.  Before the race he hardly sat still as he showed off how fast he was going to run.

Then the race started (with MANY kids . . . it was insane) and Drew got very overwhelmed by it all.  Also, his shoelace came untied.  Here he and Jana are about 100 yards in and Drew was ready to be done (Jana is in pink, Drew's in white in the middle of the picture).  Well, Jana got his shoelace tied, they walked for a bit, and eventually Drew got going off and on.

It was by no means a "fun" experience though while we were running.  Drew had a wide number of supposed ailments as the race went on.  His feet were too hot to continue, his leg hurt, finally he claimed a sore knee and said, "I think I just need a knee brace."  It was quite the impressive litany of excuses.  After all the buildup though, we pushed him on to at least walk and finish.  About a quarter mile in, I joined Jana and Drew and we did the last part of the race together.

Drew has the classic runner's look in this picture doesn't he?  Pretty good form, slightly pained expression on the face.  Throughout the race, he did not seem to be enjoying it.

Then we finished (in about 16 minutes total, walks and all).  Drew put on a burst of speed at the end and upon crossing the finishing line he received a finisher's medal.  Grandpa Bill and Grandma Sue came to watch the big race and Drew proudly showed off his medal to everyone after the race.  Suddenly, his version of the race began to change and looking back it was actually kind of fun :)

Drew's tune changed to "it was pretty hard, but it was pretty fun too."  He was so excited about his finisher's medal that in the afternoon when I took him and Kate to run errands, he wore his medal to all the stores.  The next morning, he wore his medal to church.  He's now asking when we can run another race!!

We'll keep an eye out for other races in the future so that our budding runner can get some more races under his belt.  For now, we're happy that the memory of Drew's first race has miraculously changed into a positive one and that he's so interested in doing another one. 

After checking out the zoo a little bit, Drew and Kate put their heads in this tiger cutout and gave some mighty roars.

No blog post is complete without a little Kate in it, so I have to include this picture from Father's Day.  The highlight of my day was sitting on the couch with Drew and Kate and watching the U.S. Open golf tournament with them.  For a while, Kate sat on my lap and chatted with me.  I loved it!

Another recent event for us is that our good friends Jeremy and Kristin had a baby boy, Jonah.  He was born in the hospital across the street from our house and several hours after he was born, we had the opportunity to walk across the street to visit Jeremy and Kristin and their new boy.  Drew and Kate had been clamoring to go over to see him and they were thrilled about seeing baby Jonah.  Here they are checking him out.

Vacation 2010, Part 2

There are so many photos from our vacation that I had a hard time paring it down to a reasonable number for the blog.  Here is the second section of our vacation photos and stories, and I'm quite positive that I don't have a reasonable number of pictures.   Oh well.

On another day of our trip we went back to Ludington for some more playing and for one of our rare trips out to eat.  It was a special treat to eat out, but it usuallys reminds us how much easier it is to eat at home!   For lunch we went to a great place in Ludington called Chef John's.  We'd highly recommend it for a great sandwich.

At the park there were a bunch of statues in a grassy area, and we thought it would provide a great photo opportunity.  It did!  Kate had fun strolling around the statues.  She looks like such a little girl in this picture and not as much a toddler!

This is one of our favorite pictures of Kate on our trip.  She loved climbing up on the rock and jumping off.

Drew wasn't as much of a stop-and-pose-for-the-camera kind of guy, so we settled for action shots of him.

I didn't think Kate could jump this high, but she propelled herself up and raced across on the zip line.  Just kidding!  Jana is holding her and pushing her across.

The next morning we ventured into the Silver Lake area and visited a lighthouse.  Drew was super excited about the lighthouse and was thrilled when we found it open and that we could climb to the top.  There was a height requirement to climb up and Kate didn't make it (no carrying kids, either), so Jana decided to stay down with Kate.  Drew and I got about a quarter of the way up, he froze, and we ended up inching our way back down.  In his defense, I was a little nervous myself.   The stairs were a spiral staircase going up over ten stories!  After bringing Drew back down, I climbed up the rest of the way myself and enjoyed the view from the top . . . actually, it was foggy and I could barely see the ground.   Oh well, climbing it was fun.  Would you believe that I've lived in Michigan my whole life and this was the first time as an adult that I've been in a lighthouse?!

While I was up in the lighthouse, our cool dude climbed on the rocks below it.  Drew and Kate had great fun clambering all over the rocks and Drew quickly forgot about the failed attempt to reach the lighthouse summit.

Kate hadn't been to the water yet in her new bathing suit and she was very excited about trying it on and showing it off.  Little girl bathing suits are much more glamorous that little boy bathing suits, so Jana and I were a bit excited about it ourselves.

Kate enjoyed showing off her swimming suit!

I, of course, had to scoop her up and pose for a picture.  Kate woke up from her afternoon nap first, so it was fun to enjoy her and pay attention to her new bathing suit without ignoring Drew.

As you can see, any hesitancy about being in the sand was long gone from Kate!

I found a small shovel outside the cottage and the three kids had a great time building a tremendous fort in the sand.  It was fun (for all three of us) to have a tool and to see how big we could make it.

The sand castle got big enough that there just little heads peeking out over the top of it.

Despite heavy rains the night after we made this, the sand castle stood firm and before we left we had fun destroying it (it lasted over three days!). 

Taking a break from building, the three of us threw globs of sand into the water.  The water was very cold!  (~60 F)

Drew continues to be a pretty good thrower.  It was fun to watch him chuck the sand (as long as you weren't downwind of it).

Kate was fearless around the water.  We had to keep a close eye on her because she'd go zipping in and the next thing you knew she'd stumble and do a face plant into the water.  She'd pop right up though and keep on going.

One afternoon Kate decided the front deck needed some sweeping.  There's nothing like watching a young child trying to handle a full-size broom.  We had fun watching her "clean."

That same afternoon Drew got up and sat on the couch and proceeded to be highly photogenic, a rarity for him.  He so infrequently poses for the camera that we snapped shot after shot of him.  I'm so happy that we may have captured in a few pictures how cute he regularly is to us!

After a little while of sweeping Kate came over toward me to show off.  I love how proud she was of her work and how excited she was to have me watching.  This smile almost says, "Are you watching me dad?"

My two ladies ready to hit the beach for a walk.  Kate is looking quite a bit like Jana, isn't she?

Our annual footprints in the sand picture.  The order from left to right is Kate, Jana, Mark, and Drew.  It won't be long, and I think Drew will catch Jana in foot size!

This is were we headed on our walks.  Due to rains at night, there were several "streams" that fed into Lake Michigan.  The water was only a few inches deep, it was warmer than the lake, and it was perfect for playing.  Drew and Kate had lots of fun running around and messing around in the water.

Drew paused for a bit (from throwing sticks) so that I could take his picture.  He was surprisingly dry at this piont, which he remedied quickly.

Kate wasted no time going right into the water and getting soaked.  It was a little chilly out, but neither child seemed to mind.

Jana and I had fun wandering among the kids as they flew around us running into the water, splashing, and throwing stuff.

On the way back to the cottage, Drew was soaking wet, so we put him in my sweatshirt.  He's such a big four-year-old, but the sweatshirt helps give perspective on his size.  Jana also did the same for Kate and then scooped her up in her arms.  It was a neat moment looking at our little boy and our little girl, safely ensconced in a parent's sweatshirt and totally dwarfed by them.  I'm sure someday we'll look back fondly on how small Drew and Kate were at this time.

Just a couple more pictures to go, and in this one you can get a sense of Kate's fearlessness in the water.  Keep in mind, the water is cold!!  Kate marched right in though and splashed and played in the water like it was eighty degrees.

Drew had no trouble with the water either, especially when he found a stick to play with.  It's amazing how much fun a little boy can have with a stick!

On our way home from vacation we swung through Grand Rapids for a visit with GG and Papa (Great-grandma and grandpa Vryhof).  They have a pool in their complex and to sweeten the visit we made a trip to the pool.  Drew and Kate were so excited about it.  We don't often get to a pool in Lansing.  Papa gave Kate some swimming lessons and helped her maneuver around the pool.  Both kids had a blast in the pool and enjoyed swimming.