Art Prize

Last year Grand Rapids started something new....Art Prize. It is an art competition that allows the public to vote for their favorite piece of art. This year there were over 1700 entries. Last year we didn't go...didn't really know what it was all about, but this year we did! We packed up after church Sunday morning, ate lunch and Megan and Josh's house and headed downtown. It was busy...but fun! I love seeing how the kids look at different pieces of art and what they see in them that us adults don't even notice. Here are a few pictures from our fun Sunday afternoon!

We started at the Woman's Literary Club...there was a piece there that encouraged you to help make it....so here are aunt Megan and the kids "making" the art piece!

We then headed more into the down town to Calder Plaza. We came upon this amazing thing....it is all t-shirts cut apart with the neck holes left intact...the kids loved it!

Ian peeking through...

Kendra peeking through!

Lucas...

and Gavin!

The kids got a bit ahead of us and one point and when we caught up....this is what we found...


Looking at this...AMAZING!

As we were leaving we stuck our heads inside one last venue...this is what we saw! All made out of rubik's cubes!

There were many more things we saw and took pictures of...but this will have to do for now!!

Back to school!

Here they are...all ready to head out! When did they get so old???

Gavin ready for kindergarten!

Kendra ready for 3rd grade!

Lucas ready for 2nd grade!

And Ian ready for 5th grade....last year of Spanish Immersion!

A great Friday morning!

After dropping Lucas off at day camp at Camp Geneva...the other three kids and I went and climbed Mt. Pisgah. It is a sand dune near Holland State Park that they recently put stairs on to help slow down the erosion from people climbing it all the time. We had a great stair climb - 241 steps...Ian counted. It was beautiful and breezy at the top and they we hiked back down through the dunes on some old trails. It was a great morning!!!

Three of my 4 monkeys!

Heading out on the trail!

They have a great new pavilion at the beginning with this great bike rack! The boys thought it was something to be climbed!

4th of July Weekend

We started our weekend out at the cottage! When we got there there was a swan family that thought they should take up residence on the beach....the kids decided they did NOT belong there. They worked together pretty well trying to get them to leave....but it wasn't until Matt went down did they start thinking about leaving!

The male swan standing his ground....he was about as tall as Lucas!

Lucas marching towards the swan...he would continue until he looked at him then he would stop and run away!

Matt and the kids "scaring" the swans away!

We spent the night at the cottage, went to church then headed to Brower park for some water sports! The kids were getting read to go......what a good looking bunch!

Lucas and Ian love to tube....it was HOT outside and the water was great...even I went tubing with Kendra!!!

Kendra enjoying the boat ride.


Gavin watching where we are going!

After the boat ride Gavin started playing the water by the seadoo....he found lots of big rocks....then Grandpa Feenstra got in on the action!

Grandpa was showing Gavin how sound travels under the water. He would tap the stones together under the water while Gavin was under the water...then he would ask Gavin what rhythm it was. Provided lots of entertainment.

We left Brower park about 8:30...Lucas asked to leave because he was tired...all 4 kids were asleep within about 10 min. of getting on the highway. We never did see any fireworks...but that was ok....on Monday we just did some work around the house and enjoyed the day off! What a great weekend!!!

23:27

Zeeland held it's first ever 5k race last Tuesday evening - it was the Zeeland Zoom! Ian has wanted to run a 5k race for some time and since he knows the city pretty well we decided this was the right time. The kid did AWESOME!!!!

Ian is in the black shirt with orange sleeves....he sped right by us! He had done 2 miles already and only had a little over 1 left to go! Go IAN!!!

We watched Ian and lots of others run...we walked from one end of our street to the other...the kids had a great time getting high fives from lots of the runners and cheering them on!

Ian surprised Matt when he came running in at just over 23 min.....see him coming?

He did it!!! Finished the whole race running.....with a time of 23:27! (That's 11 seconds faster than Matt's best 5k time!)

Glad to be done....he came in 8th out of 60 in his age group (14 and under) and 150th out of 780 total runners!

One Windy Summer Day

So...we went to the beach after a morning of thunderstorms. It was VERY windy which caused the sand to whip up from the shore and pelt us. At first we were just going to stay and eat lunch...but then Stacy and the kids came...so we stayed for several hours. We never made it down to the water......but I think the kids had just as much fun! Also, the sky did clear up and the wind died down just a bit....it was a great day for the beach!

Kendra and her tiki's!

Lucas and Ian standing against the wind!

Kendra looks like she is ready to fly!!

You can see some of the sand coming....love Big Red!!!

Happy Birthday Lucas!!!!

Lucas turned 7 last Monday - but we had his party with family today!!! He chose a "swamp monster" for his cake!! He called him "Swampy!"

One very hansom 7 year old!!!

Opening presents is always a favorite part!!! Lucas had lots of fun, but also had fun watching his cousins Evan and Sadie open their presents!!!

Blowing out candles....what do you think he wished for???

First outing of the summer!

On the first Friday of summer break....we headed to the zoo! We go there all the time, but it is always fun and we always learn new things. One thing that we can't miss when we go to the zoo is....climbing on John Ball! I am sure there are thousands of families with pictures of this guy...so fun to see it year after year!

The first animal we encountered was the rare blue eyed climbing boy! Lucas will climb anything and everything!

Lucas and Gavin also found a barrel to ride on ...so cute!

Next, the boys decided to take a quick shower in the waterfall...they were wet before I even saw what was happening!

The little goats are always a favorite! It's hard to believe that they are adults...just very little adults!

Playing the drums by the lions!!! The lions were sleeping and didn't even wake up with all the noise the kids made!

It was the perfect zoo day! Overcast, not too warm and hardly any people!!

School's out!!!!

Well, we survived another year! We now have a 5th grader, 3rd grader, 2nd grader and kindergartner!!! Amazing!

Ian had two teachers....the first one is Maestra Druan - she was his main teacher as she is a native speaker. Mrs. Senti helped out in the class and taught the kids in English for 2 hours a day!

Next year will be Ian's last year in the ZCS Spanish Immersion program...amazing that it has already been 4 years since we made a leap of faith to try something we hadn't heard much about. It has most certainly paid off...you should hear that kid...he can hold his own in any Spanish conversation!!!!

Kendra had Maestra Koop. She LOVED her and made great strides this year! She loves to write and wrote many great stories...of course all in Spanish so I get the abridged version:)

Lucas had Maestra Nunez! He learned tons this year and is an amazing reader and math is a snap for him!!! The kid never sits down to do any of his work at school....but oh well...he does it well standing up.

Gavin finished preschool a week before the other kids....we had a fun picnic at the park with his class and a pinata. His main teacher was Maestra Schrotenboer and Maestra Rivera was the aide in the class. He is soooooo excited to now be one of the "big kids" and be able to ride the bus to school next fall!


What a great year!!