Anyway, after I got back from the archives, Aidan and Papa were just heading out to do some haulin' in the woods, moving a messy pile of wood to the neat stack behind the house. And Papa let Aidan drive the tractor. Here he is pulling the trailer back around to the pile so they can load up some more logs.
I made sure to impress upon my son how very lucky he is - I was never allowed to drive the tractor, and my brother and sister were in their teens before they were allowed, with severe restrictions! (It must be said, though, I don't think I ever asked...)
The kids did KidsGames VBS this year, now that Esme is old enough. Aidan did the baseball track (I picked him up from the field all 5 days - he had a great time) and Esme did the cheerleading track (she learned a lot of rhymes and jumping around!)
We went to the zoo on the 20th of June, as part of our weekend-long Father's Day celebration. Here the kids posed on a rock in the parking lot.
We went to the zoo on the 20th of June, as part of our weekend-long Father's Day celebration. Here the kids posed on a rock in the parking lot.
Aidan and I tried out the ropes course! I did okay on the bottom level, but didn't do more than I needed to do to get back to the beginning and get away from the course. Yikes. But Aidan did really well, climbed all over, even to the top level!
He looked like a real pro, first time out.
The kids always want to feed the parakeets. They seemed to like Aidan.
Esme flinches when they fly near her, so she had a harder time getting them to land on her stick.
But eventually they both managed to have a bird on the stick at the same time!
Me by the waterfall.
Jim and the children fed and petted the stingrays, sharks and hermit crabs!
We had a really hot week between June 22-26. It just happened to be the week the kids were taking tennis lessons in the burning hot sun! They did pretty well, though, and drank lots of water. Aidan is pretty coordinated and hit the ball most of the time - tennis is not as easy as it looks, though! Esme seems to have inherited the Scott Hollopeter coordination gene...but she is still pretty little, so we're sure she will get more coordinated as time progresses! When you're not much taller than the net, it's hard to get your racket under the ball. :)
Fortunately we had a great way to cool off in the afternoons. This little wading pool has a built-in sprinkler so the kids did a lot of running in and out of the pool.
Splash!
Saturday 27 June we went to Holland State Park beach. It was crowded! Around noon, though, a lot of families cleared off for lunch and we had a clearer spot for a while. Here's Aidan surveying the sand.
The slightest ray of sunshine and Aidan turns brown. He has never once had a sunburn! It's not surprising he's been mistaken for biracial so many times.
Our fair Esme doesn't burn too easily, but we're careful with the sunscreen.
Digging away - they always want to dig a deep enough hole that it will fill with water.
Thoughtful.
Back to the lake for more water!
While we were at the beach, a big crane barge pulled out of the canal and headed across the lake - one doesn't see that very often, but the water was dead calm. We were also treated to a flyover by a Coast Guard helicopter!
Our cuties.
Relaxing in the sand chairs they made for themselves.
Hi Dad!
He doesn't look relaxed at all, does he? When it came time to clean up, it looked like we brought most of the beach home in the car.
Sand, sand everywhere!
Megan had her third birthday on 26 June! Happy birthday, Megan dear! We went to NeeNee and Papa's house for a bit of a birthday party on the 28th.
We got a quick picture of the kids all together again. Emily has changed so much - she is two months old now and growing fast. Aidan was a little nervous because she was crying, but the girls didn't seem to mind so much!
Sillies. What a great bunch of kids.
After lunch (and dessert - freshly picked black raspberries on vanilla ice cream), Jim, Aidan and I went out to play ball for a bit. Heeeeeeere's the pitch...
Aaaaaaannnnd the hit!
Jim has a project (hallelujah!) and is working in Raleigh, North Carolina for the duration, with R. H. Donnelly. He has been promoted to project manager and is really really busy.
We're plodding right along at home with the usual chores and quite a lot of recreating. The kids have a few weeks of relaxation before it's time for camp at the Frederik Meijer Gardens. Much to their chagrin, they are helping out with the housework, spending an hour a day in silent reading, and getting to bed on time. They're enjoying a lot of fun stuff, too, though, so they're trying not to complain too much!