Family Reunion & E's Birthday

A couple of weeks ago we had the privilege of going to the Kregel family reunion as several of my out-of-town cousins came into town. We all met at my aunt and uncle's cottage where I spent a couple of weeks of every summer growing up. In the past 9 years our family has had an explosion of children and this is the result - CHAOS! Seriously, I had about 10 pictures and this was the best one. With the exception of the youngest ones, the kids are in order of age from left to right, back to front.

All but 3 of my cousins made it to the reunion. It was so much fun to catch up on life. Most of us are very close in age so we had great times growing up together.

Since Shari was up for the reunion, we got a chance to enjoy she and her kids for several days. James is her youngest (until Oct/Nov)


Alivia is the same age as Bryan.

This past weekend was the girls' double birthday party for Eric's family. It was a great end to the week that they had at Eric's drama camp (notice the t-shirts).

It was a blessing to have Eric's 3 grandparents there. We are so thankful that our kids have them to love and to love them.

Family Vacation

We have just returned from about 5 days of relaxation and fun as a family. It was wonderful to get away and have the chance to do some fun things as a family. My parents have a place north of Muskegon that they graciously allowed us to use. Free lodging freed up some finances for some fun adventures. Our first day, it was supposed to rain so we headed into Ludington to see the 3D movie Up. It's a very cute movie despite a very sad first 10 minutes and we all really enjoyed it. Our second day we headed to Rainbow Ranch to do some horseback riding.

All set for a morning of horseback riding.

Our 3 riders never uttered a complaint. This was definately a highlight of the trip.

This hour long ride was quite enough. I wasn't sure if my legs were going to hold me once I got down from my horse, but they did. :-) I was thankful that my horse whose name was Fury did not live up to his name.

Day 3 we headed down to the beautiful beach and braved two of my least favorite things - sunscreen and sand. The kids love the beach so we have to get in a few trips. The weather was perfect and it spite of the rather chilly water the kids had a wonderful time.

A beautiful beach accentuated by gorgeous weather.

The girls built a great castle which they refused to leave until they had filled the mote with water, a rather difficult task this high on the beach.

Mission accomplished - somewhat.


Day 4 brought a trip to Mac Woods Dune Rides. Eric and I have gone several times and the girls have also gone but it was Bryan's first trip and he loved it!!

Ready to go.

The Tower family rides the dunes of Silver Lake.

This picture is Elizabeth's work. Not bad, I thought.

Bryan thoroughly enjoyed his very first dune ride, complete with hands up on the hills.

Check out their faces. :-)

Mommy and Bryan taking a turn.

We stopped at a local orchard on the way home to pick some cherries. They were pretty picked over so we only picked a couple pounds. No one was happier to leave after 10 minutes than my husband who was really just humoring me by stopping anyway. As you can see, he did a great job pretending he was enjoying himself.

A beautiful walk down to the beach. It was nice to not have to carry anyone this year!!

Bryan was thrilled to be involved in whatever his sisters were doing.

Ashlynn planting a tree.

Elizabeth helping Bryan jump over the waves.

We had a wonderful vacation. It ended a day early with Bryan waking up on Tuesday with the stomach flu, but the time we were there was wonderful, relaxing and fun! It was fun to get home and find the garden exploding with vegetables, thanks to my neighbor who gave it some tender loving care while I was gone.

4th of July

Bryan loved the parade.

It's a family tradition to go to the middle school to watch the fireworks with the rest of Grandville.

Thanks for the glow sticks, Grandma!

Happy 6th Birthday, Ashlynn!!

One of the special things about Ashlynn is that she shares her birthday with her great-grandpa. Grandpa turned 85 on Sunday and Ashlynn turned 6.

Ashlynn has looked forward to her "friends" party all year. We could not have picked a more perfect night. It was mid-70's and breezy.

Grandma and Grandpa Kregel blessed us by loaning us the Noah's Ark inflatible for the party. The kids had a ball playing in here. Grandma and Grandpa Tower aren't pictured but their help at the party was invaluable. We could not have done what we did ---safely, anyway :-)-- without them.

Ashlynn with her friends from school. She enjoyed seeing them after what seems like a really long time.


We are heading up north tonight for a family vacation. I'll post the rest of our weekend when we get home. We were blessed to have one of Eric's college friends and his family with us this weekend. They came for a pastors' conference and we were able to enjoy their children for a few days while they were in meetings. It's always such a refreshing treat to reconnect with those people who have influenced us in such a real way.

Sweet Cherries and Michigan Adventure

Our son is taking after his sisters and their love for reading. I came in the living room one day last week to find this beautiful sight.

Equally beautiful was this sight on another entrance into the living room. Ashlynn has picked up on the joy of reading as well. It's such a blessing to see her sharing her new ability with her brother.

It's Cherry season!!!!! I get giddy as each of the picking seasons begin. I think I picked about 60 pounds of cherries last week. Bryan and Elizabeth tagged along on the second trip and were great cherry pickers. Ashlynn was my champion cherry pitter, which is a really nice thing to have when you are pitting 60 pounds of cherries.

Elizabeth in the orchard.

We had a little bit of rain while we were there so Bryan held the umbrella over my camera. It was the perfect job for him!!!

We ended our week with a trip to Kairos (my parents' place up north) to pick up Ashlynn who had had a wonderful 6th birthday trip to Michigan Adventure with Grandma Kregel. My parents graciously kept Bryan and our niece so that the rest of our families could have a day at the park. It's become a yearly tradition for us over the past 3 years. We usually try to pick an off day and while the Friday before the 4th is definately not an off day, we had a wonderful time with absolutely perfect weather!

Daddy and his girls on the big swinging ship, which is one of the rides that I refuse to go on.

Here's our crew, minus me and half of our nephew who was not a friend of cameras at the moment.

Daddy and our almost 6 year old..... Whew, is that really possible? The big day is tomorrow and Monday is the much anticipated "Friends Party." Watch for a post sometime soon after that.

Summer fun

We rarely get naps anymore from this boy, but every once in a while, I'll come in after his rest time to find this.

We think he's pretty precious.

I have to tell you that we have the best babysitters in the world. We had another visit this week from one of our former students/babysitters and the kids took over as she walked in the door. This is a picture of the "fort" that they built in the driveway.

They really could fit in there. Thanks, Kaitie, for entertaining our kids on one of the hottest days of the summer so far! We miss you!

Oh, the joy of having big sisters. This looks like a Little Red Riding Hood Cape, but...





It's not.

See, Mom, I'm Batman!

We also had the privilege of celebrating with Grandma Tower this week. This birthday will go down as her craziest as she and Dad have spent the week moving out of their current house into a temporary home. We were able to get her to relax for a couple of hours for some good food and fellowship. The kids are thrilled that their temporary home is about a 2 minute walk from our house and if they had their way they would be over there 5 times a day. We're working on explaining what boundaries are and why they are necessary, but we'll all enjoy their close proximity for as long as it lasts.

End of the School Year

We are always thrilled to have Eric's former students come to visit. Alex, on the right, was one of the girls' favorite babysitters of all time and she just graduated from college. She and her sister joined us for dinner and had a hard time getting out the door due to all of the children hanging on them.

We have been so blessed to be at Sandy Hill for our children's education. This dear teacher POURED herself into Elizabeth's life this year and will never be forgotten. If we could adopt an additional grandma, she has been nominated. We're so thankful for the input she's had into Elizabeth and feel that our daughter is now a better person because of her. It was very difficult to say goodbye, but I'm sure she will get many visits in the coming years.

Ashlynn also had a fabulous kindergarten year. She has grown and blossomed under this wonderful teacher's direction. Having already taught Elizabeth, she has a special place in our hearts already and we hope she will stick around long enough to have Bryan. Oh boy, that may be the end of her. :-)

Elizabeth has now completed her second year of piano. She is playing beautifully and we all enjoy listening to her practice. This past week she had her second piano recital. Hopefully, there will be many more.

Elizabeth with her teacher, who was also my teacher when I was in junior high and high school.

Great Grandpa honored Elizabeth by sitting through the LONG recital. We're so happy that he
is able and willing to enjoy these special times with us.




Grandma Kregel was also there helping to keep the other children entertained.

And another big thank you to Grandpa and Grandma Tower for taking time out of their busy schedules to support our girl! We love you!