Catching Up!

Well, it has been a while!  Time to catch up!  

August 2019 - The family camped together.  Ella went to summer camp with her friend for the first time.  Tripp played t-ball for the first time.  Ella started 6th grade/Middle School. Ty started 2nd grade and Cort started 1st grade. We celebrated Nana and Papa's 50th Wedding anniversary and Grandpa Elzinga's 80th birthday! Laura started working part time. 

September 2019 - Tripp started preschool and we had 3 different soccer teams to enjoy on Saturday mornings! Our family was able to walk the Mackinaw Bridge on Labor Day morning!  

October 2019 -  School, soccer, and life in general.  Oh, and Laura turned 40... yikes! 

November 2019 - Ella turned 12 and had a porg birthday party!  Peter ran the 8k on Thanksgiving morning. 

December 2019 - Christmas fun as always!  Festive occasions and time off school.  It was an enjoyable time this year as we limited our activities and had some down time in between parties and activities. We all participated in the church Christmas program this year!  Even Tripp was a little lamb :)

Camping with friends

Ella had a good time hanging out with the girls

 We even tried archery. Ella, Ty and me.

The girls colored with chalk after the rain and the wet concrete made the colors really vibrant!

All of the kids camping except my sickly 2 children.

Summer Virus of 2019

Just after the birthday party, the kids came down with a SOLID virus.  Each one lasted a full 5 days, sometimes 6 and each child put his own twist on it. Unfortunately Tripp had a fever on his birthday. 

The fevers split up our camping trip so that Peter took the two oldest after they had gotten better.   A few days later Peter and I switched and I camped with the two kids.  It all worked out in the end!  

However, what do you do when you are quarantined in the house with one sick child and 2 or 3 healthy ones for a long time? 

You build Legos.  Lots and lots of Legos!

Fire station, Police station, train station, race track, and more.

Star wars

Snow creations, airports, mining equipment (in the fireplace)

Lake and ocean with sea planes, boats, surfers, sharks and treasure!

Mountain with police headquarters and campers

More mountain cabin and campers with 4wheelers

And when they built every Lego they owned, they moved on to creating wood creatures.  These dinosaurs showed up on my desk when I got back from camping!  Brontosaurus,  Pteranadon, T-rex, Triceratops

 

Boys Birthdays!

Cort turned 6 years, then Tripp turned 4 yrs, then Ty turned 7!

Birthday Party!

The boys celebrated their birthdays with a Star Wars theme party.  Everyone wore a Star Wars shirt and Ella was Princess Leia!

4th of July

4th of July

Summer stuff

Camping and fishing and the zoo!

The zoo with a friend!  The boys were a tiger, then a flamingo!