Back to school

School has begun! Mia and Holly had their first day today. It even felt a little like fall this morning with the heavy fog and cooler air. But by afternoon it felt like summer again.

Holly has the same great teacher that Mia had. She had a little "welcome packet" on each of the kids desks to welcome them back to school.
Mia had her first day as a middle school student and loved it. Her teacher is going to be awesome, too!

And it's t-minus 2 days until kindergarten! More pictures to come of that of the BIG day!

We are here!

This month is flying by! Grandpa and Grandma R have spent the month here and we're making the most of their visit!

They made us this fun Corn Hole game so we've been trying it out.

Lots of BIG fish have been caught!

We were at the park playing soccer the other day and ran into Uncle Herm flying some airplanes. Once we saw him, he didn't do much flying himself.



I can't believe school starts Monday although I think EVERYONE is ready to go!

IT'S HOT!!!!!

These first few pictures were taken  last week, sunny, warm, beautiful Washington summer weather.  We went blueberry picking at a friends u-pick, great berries, great fun, LOTS of big blueberries!

Then a couple days later we met up with the Mrs. Vander Wendi family to head to the bay.  We actually were quite cold when we got there, sunny and very breezy.  Wished we had had a sweatshirt.   

Check out the kid in the right hand corner of the above photo.  We think he works for the EPA.  

Because when Tyler said he caught a crab, a real LIVE crab this kids ears perked up and he marched right over (see above picture) and grabbed the crab from Tylers hand.  These mama's weren't havin' it so we "kindly" asked him to give it back, then Tyler continued to play/whip it around and ripped off one of his legs, right in front of EPA Jr.  (oops!)  :)

But the rest of the day was fantastic, with loads of fun and it even warmed up a smidge.  

Then, this week, it started to heat up...like HOT, Michigan humid HOT!   Monday was bad, Tuesday worse, Wednesday and Thursday have been the hottest!  Like 97 degrees yet at 7:30 p.m! My attitude has changed since Monday and we're coping quite well I must say.

It may have something to do with this little number we scored at Rite Aid yesterday.  It was the last one.  We were so desperate for something that Mia almost had me talked into going to Walmart.  I am currently on a 2-3 year strike with that place and really didn't want to break it now.  Thank you, Rite Aid!

And each day at 4:00 we head to swimming lessons in the heat and get to watch these monkeys learn to swim while we sit and bake in the sun.  Ahhhh, summer!  :)

Four little VH's on the diving board.

Alright, the whining is all over. We've got  lots of fans going and a basement that provides plenty of relief when we need it.  The kids are having a ball. I think they've spent almost every waking moment that we've been at home in our little pool.  

Just a "little" get together

Does it ever feel like you need an excuse to have a BBQ in the summer time?  Whether or not we needed one, we had one last Sunday.  The newly expanded Hoeksema family was in town so we had a big 'ol gathering at the Likkel home.  Like 70+ (although 3/4 of that was probably kids!)  

City kids getting used to the country air.

The hostess with the mostess.  Thanks, Trac, for having ALL of us!

The night was not complete until a MAJOR waterfight broke out.  

Good times!

A quick camping weekend

Last weekend, we packed up and went camping for a couple nights.  We were able to get into Pearrygin Lake, a place we've never camped but always heard a lot about.  We'll be back!

Mia was showing us this great fish, until it sprung from her hands.  

 

We caught crawdads, and ate them.  Yummy?!?!

Lots of playing and throwing in the water.

Lucas caught a baby crawdad, he named Mia.  Creative, I know.

Hello to our Lynden neighbors who were camped down the road from us.  This was their great little cove they hung out in.  Didn't actually get a picture of them. :)

And we couldn't leave Winthrop without ice cream.  

A quick, refreshing weekend, that's for sure.