We had a great time this weekend at my parents' house. We realized how long it has been since we were there last. This photo is from our walk around the children's area of the arboretum. That will be a fun place to take Elinore when she gets bigger. We're all a little low on brain cells right now, so I'll end this post before I write something dumb. 

More Pictures--Enchanted Evening

 

An Enchanted Evening

What a wonderful surprise we were treated to last night for our 40th anniversary! We are so blessed to have such creative and thoughtful sons and daughters-in-law. We had been told to be ready to be picked up at 5:30 PM. We were chauffeured to a marina on Lake Macatawa and helped aboard a sailboat (owned by Jen's parents). Brian and Kevin served as steward and captain. After a toast with a delicious wine, we were served an amazing meal of several courses which had been prepared by Amy and Jen. There was a bit of rain when we started out, but it stopped when the main course was served. We then had a relaxing cruise around the lake. The steward cleaned up, and we were given an interesting narration of some of the highlights we were seeing. When we returned to the dock, we assumed that was the end.

We were then driven to Brian and Amy's house for a dessert made by Jen--lemon cheesecake (my favorite) with blueberry sauce. Then came the biggest surprise of the night. Kevin had "sneaked" from our house all the short movie reels taken when the kids were young (beginning in 1971) and had them made into a DVD. Sam got to stay up, and we watched and laughed for an hour and a half. Sam got to see his papa learn to walk, swim, play soccer, etc. Kevin saw himself often at the mercy of his older brothers, and, of course, Eric, as the oldest and only child for three years, had by far the most coverage. Even though Eric, Ang, and Gabe could not be with us, they called from Thailand and had been in on "the plot." Seeing the DVD brought back SO MANY precious and funny memories (Brian trying to stomp out the bubbles in a sheet of bubble wrap).

Words cannot express what a wonderful time we had and how grateful we are for our children and grandchildren. We were at Brian and Amy's house exactly one week after they came home from the hospital with day-old Sophia. We are in awe of all the planning, work, etc., that went into last night and only hope that our children could tell how much we enjoyed and appreciated it all.


 

To the Lovebirds

Happy 40th Wedding Anniversary!!!! 

Sophia Grace

Wednesday, August 9, 2006
2:08 PM
7 pounds 2 ounces
20 inches short

Things started off slowly the evening before and through the night. Slow enough to stay home but not slow enough to sleep. We prayed she would come quickly so I wouldn't be too exhausted for the big event. We headed to Grand Haven, just in case things sped up like last time. Around 10 am things started to pick up, but we were still walking around and not yet to the hospital. At noon the midwife advised we check in, and it's a good thing we did. As soon as we left the car the contractions got closer together and pretty intense. Two hours later, Sophia Grace made her grand entrance! She has been a very happy baby so far. Big brother and big sister have welcomed her into the family with many smiles, hugs and kisses. Mom V. has been the life-saver of our home: doing whatever needs to be done. The pediatritian says she is "perfect" and, until further notice, we think so, too.

Snapshots

Well, I'm finally back to posting. I think I've been grieving for the fast internet of the States. It doesn't take an hour to work on a post. Anyway, I've been looking through our pics of our trip home and thinking about how our life with our family in recent years has been like a bunch of snapshots rather than a continuous film. We see everyone every so often and get to know a little about them at that time, then carry that picture of them around with us until we see them again. By the time we've seen everyone again, they've changed in so many ways. The last time Gabe & Sam had played before this summer, they were little more than babies and were hardly aware of each other. By the next time they see each other, they'll be school aged and maybe a bit more self-conscious. They'll feel the weight of their age and complain about the immature play of Lydia, Eleanore & Sophia. The little girls will no longer be babies but laughing little girls who will hopefully make mischief for their older cousins. Maybe Gabe & Sam will arrange a play for them to perform for us. Even though it was only a snapshot, I'm glad we got to spend the time. In one way I'm glad for the limited time; we put so much into the time we do have that what we have is very memorable. Thanks to you all for the efforts that you made to make it a wonderful time.

Does Anybody Have an Extra Horse?

The Green Knight has everything he needs except a horse! Sam watched a Franklin movie this morning because it was raining. I was worried about how we would fill the rest of the day, but he has been pretending to be Frankil the Green Knight aaallllll day....I mean for the last four hours...non-stop. And the fun continues! That was worth an hour of TV, huh?
"Green Knight...off to the rescue!" 

Our happy girl

Sometimes around 10pm Kevin and I miss Elinore. We want to wake her up and play with her! I think that if we knew she would be grumpy when she woke up, then we might not want to. But she won't. She'll smile and wave at us. Even when we wake her up!!