Happy Birthday Daddy & Memorial Day

Monday was Seth's birthday! I love celebrating his birthday! It was so nice that it landed on a holiday so that we could spend the day together...we had a great time!

We started the day off at the Novi Memorial Day parade. We enjoyed watching the parade with Dave and Cindy, who rode their bikes up to meet us.

These little planes were SO cool!!

Getting candy from spiderman...also very cool!

We went to see Ali and her parents walk with the Moms in touch group in the parade. Ali was SO excited to see Hannah and the same was true for Hannah. :)

We ended up spending the rest of the day with the Stanley family. We enjoyed having a great bbq lunch, watching Avitar, having some birthday cake, learning 6 man euchre, and just hanging out. We are so thankful for our "family" away from home that made the day extra special...love you guys!

Hannah just LOVES Gavin. They had so much fun playing together all day.

My pretty french braids

I braided Hannah's hair for church on Sunday. Thinking that this was the first time that I had put full french braid pigtails in her hair I took a quick picture. As I was typing up the post, I realized that I had put french braid in her hair last summer...so this technically wasn't the first time. It's still neat to see how much her hair has grown...you can see her first french braids here. I'm thankful that Hannah is so good about sitting still while I do her hair everyday. She sits on her stool in the kitchen and we sing songs while I do her hair.

Day 3: Fun in Fruitport

This picture is for my Mom. Growing up, she would always take a picture of us on the hotel bed on the last day of a trip. I couldn't help but plop Hannah down and take a quick shot..this one's for you Mom :)

We spent Saturday is the little town of Fruitport. They had an "Old Fashioned Days Festival". We enjoyed walking around the town, taking in some garage sales, a circus, the petting farm, and a circus.




Hannah and Daddy after the circus


We headed toward home on Saturday afternoon, but stopped to have dinner with our friend Fred and Sue on the way home. We enjoyed getting to catch up with them and their kids Stephanie and David. They made us a delicious dinner of bbq chicken, corn on the cob, potatoes, salad, and yummy strawberry shortcake for dessert. We sure enjoyed the time of fellowship!

This was Hannah's first time having corn on the cob..she did great and loved it!

Giggles with Pastor Fred


headed back for home and cuddling with her new giraffe (don't know how you cuddle with a plastic animal..but she sure was super excited about her new friend!)

Day 2: Hiking and swimming

Hannah slept in her pack 'n play, but enjoyed some Mommy and Daddy's cozy bed in the morning

On Friday, we spent the day hiking, enjoying more time on the beach, and swimming in the pool. We hiked at Muskegon State Park. We thought that Hannah would want to walk, but instead she ended up in Seth's arms the whole hike. I'm pretty sure that she melted his heart when she snuggled into his chest :)

exploring the pine needles on the pine tree

After a hike in the woods, we enjoyed a walk along beautiful Lake Michigan.

We had a picnic lunch and headed out to the beach for more fun

Hannah had fun burying our feet and hers in the sand then watching them re-appear

Hannah...about to tumble into the sand

Hannah took a short nap (pretty sure she was too excited about swimming) then we headed to the pool for a swim This was her first time using water wings and she did great! She did topple a few times when she was trying to turn...but otherwise did great. She loves the water and would swim all day if we would let her.

Water wings on and ready to go

She was very excited to be swimming all by herself

swimming with Daddy is so much fun!

just love that smile!

A beautiful sunset on Lake Michigan

When we got to Muskegon, we checked into our hotel, had a yummy dinner at The Station Grill, made a quick Walmart run for waterwings and a memory card (I forgot mine in the computer at home!), then headed to the beach to catch the sunset.

We all loved walking through the sand barefoot and putting our feet in cold Lake Michigan. The sunset was beautiful...it was a perfect summer night!

Hannah and Daddy on a sand hill on the beach

Hannah and Mommy

waiting in anticipation for the cold water to splash up on our toes

LOVE this!

my handsome husband

A beautiful sunset

Love this picture and moment of Hannah and her Daddy...

Here's a precious video of Hannah marching through the sand:

so sweet.

As we walked the beach and enjoyed the beauty of nature and the sky around us, we couldn't help but be reminded of our Lord. His handiwork is all around us and so obvious. It reminded us of Hannah's latest memory verse:

Psalm 19:1 "The heavens declare the glory of God, the sky's proclaim the work of His hands."

Our summer weekend trip: Meijer Gardens

We were able to get away for a few days of family time this past weekend...and had a great trip. We headed out to Muskegon, MI with a stop on the way there and the way back. We left on Thursday morning and our first stop was the Frederik Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids.

Hannah enjoyed the childrens garden:

here she is just hanging out in the tree house

having a tea party with Mommy

digging in the sand with Daddy

this spot in the garden reminded her of Jesus' empty tomb

and of course...she loved playing in the water!

Seth's favorite statue...it was pretty amazing!

another neat one

my favorite statue

My favorite picture from the gardens of my sweet baby girl