The Accidental Boilermaker

 Cross country has started. Today was just a intrasquad practice meet. As such it was small group of runners. Jameson took first out of all first and second grade boys and girls in the 1 kilometer run. Again it was a small field of runners but he looked good. Out in front, running with his friend Sam. Evelyn looked good too. She definitely prefers running in the cooler weather and since this is a practice run, knew she didn’t need to push herself.  Unlike Jameson who only wants to win. Evelyn took 6th out of  third through fifth grade girls in the mile. 

 Today we drove to the VA campus in Marion for a car show. It was little smaller than we were expecting but there were still some fun cars to check out. We also met a few of Nate’s co workers. The weather was nice and we chatted with a few cars owners, so it was a fun time overall. For lunch we drove to Upland to try Ivanhoe’s. Their claim to fame is 100 flavors of shakes and sundaes. The restaurant was so busy though. We didn’t realize it was move in weekend for Taylor University so that may have been a factor. We waited a little while in line to order and then a really long time for our food to come out. Long enough that we didn’t want to wait again for ice cream. Instead Evelyn and I went to the store and picked out 4 pints of ice cream to share at home. 

 We went to a Tin Caps game this afternoon. It was a hot day for a baseball game but our seats were in the shade the whole time.  The Tin Caps won 6-1! It’s always fun when you’re team wins. Evelyn and Jameson each got a new book.  Evelyn picked a coding book; Jameson chose a paper airline book. They each also got a little Lego set as a promotion of a new Lego show on Netflix. Pretty decent freebies.

 We survived the first day of school.  The bus was 40 minutes late in the morning, so they missed the start of school. Not great.  But it got worse. School ends at 3:30. The bus finally arrived to bring them home at 5:00. We got home about 5:30. Now I could have walked back home and driven to school to pick them up, but the information I receive from school isn’t very helpful in making this decision.  The whole time I’m waiting for the bus, I’m talking to Nate on phone who was not moving on the highway for 2 hours due to an accident. It was a trying afternoon. We ordered pizza for dinner.  We snuck in some last minute fun activities before school started. Tuesday we went to the zoo with Natalya. Tamber and I let the kids ride the log ride by themselves, a first. Wednesday, Evelyn and Jameson asked to go bowling. 

 Not really a vacation day. It was rained all morning which was fine because we needed to pack and clean. We ate lunch all together and then said our goodbyes. Jameson fell asleep on the way home. 

 Saturday was my birthday. We started the morning right with donuts and coffee with Amanda, Isaac and Joshua in Holland.  Back in Saugatuck, we got more coffee and visited a different playground. In the afternoon, we took time to do some separate activities. Meredith and Jeremy took the chain ferry across the river and walked around downtown while Hans napped. Our family played mini golf with Mimi.  I got a hole in one!  We kept score for the first time and I won! Mimi looked really good on the first 9 holes, but I managed a come back on the back nine.   Back at the hotel, the kids and grandkids decided to go to the beach one last time. The grandparents enjoyed root beer floats in town.  We were hot playing mini golf, but at the beach it was cooler, so we mostly played in the sand and climbed some smaller dunes.  My birthday cake that Mimi made for me. 

 Friday morning we went downtown to shop a little, get coffee and let the kids play at a playground.  Back at the beach in the afternoon it was windy, so there were some big waves everyone loved swimming in.  Jameson dug a big hole and then buried my legs in it. It made me surprisingly anxious but I was able to climb out without any help. Our hotel had a nice pool that I didn’t take a picture of.  So if we weren’t at the beach, Evelyn and Jameson were swimming there. 

 Summer is almost over.  School starts Thursday. But we had one last getaway to Michigan.  On Wednesday, we met Mimi, Oma, Grandpa, Meredith, Jeremy and Hans in Saugatuck. Katherine was right in middle of packing and moving so she was unfortunately just too busy to come up. Once everyone arrived, we ate dinner and then went to bed.  Thursday morning we went blueberry picking. We picked so many blueberries! Jameson picked the most.  After blueberry picking, we needed a little caffeine pick me up. This neat coffee shop had fun outdoor seating.  Finally it was time for the beach! Hans let me carry him out into the water. Before the sand bar, where the water was deepest, Uncle Nathan took over.  After dinner we went back to watch the sunset.  And climb Mount Baldhead. Hans did a good job despite a steep hike to the top of the dune.  Of course running down is the best part.  Nate thought it’d be fun to let Evelyn and Jameson wear their swim s...