Soccer 2014

It's soccer time again!  Blake played his first game this past Saturday and did awesome! 

 

 

The past couple years, Blake has mostly had fun while trying to play the game, but he really surprised us Saturday.  He actually got the ball, dribbled it down the field, dodging the other team as he went, and SCORED a goal!  I know he's scored goals in the past, but to see him using footwork was just amazing.  He even told us afterward that while he was dribbling, he was trying to keep it close so the other team couldn't get it.  Most of the time the kids his age get the ball and kick it way out in front of them and run for it, so he really surprised us and we are super proud!  I hope he has more opportunities, in the ten more games he has left to play, to get that footwork going again...and hopefully pick up a few more skills too.  Either way, I know none of us will forget that play for a long time! :-)



"A Long Way Off" Movie Review

*Disclosure: The following film was provided to me in exchange for my honest review.  I was not compensated in any other way.  All opinions are my own.

 

 

About "A Long Way Off":

Retelling the timeless parable of a father’s unconditional love, tempestuous young Jake tries to escape the duties of the family business by leaving his home and taking his dreams to the big city. Far

from the wise words of his father, Abraham, Jake is finally free to live the high life that he’s
always wanted, trading the traditional values of his upbringing to revel in every temptation that money can buy. Just when Jake thinks the world is his playground and every day offers another enticing opportunity, he must come face to face with the consequences of the life he’s chosen.
Jake must learn that sometimes it takes losing everything to realize/appreciate what he left behind,
and if his mistakes can ever outweigh the grace of a father’s forgiveness.

 

Take a look at the trailer:



My Review:
A Long Way Off was an enjoyable family-friendly movie.  I like that it shows that a parable told 2000 years ago, in the Bible, is just as relevant today.  Already knowing the story, we knew what the ending was going to be, but it was interesting to watch and see the little modern-day twists that were in it...even some pretty intense scenes!

A really nice movie that I would definitely recommend watching! :-)

Buy It!
"A Long Way Off" is available for $14.99 at Christianbook.com.

Labor Day Weekend 2014

I was going to write this post and include every detail I could remember of the weekend, but I figured that would bore you, so I'm going to keep it to the highlights:

 

*Laughing at the fact that we were taking a snowmobile to a cabin...in August.  Then laughing again that the summer had been cool enough that maybe we really weren't getting the strange looks we imagined we were getting on the expressway.

 

*Rich's idea of taking the snowmobile to said cabin up north was that we'd do it on the way to the our destination.  'North' is not on the way to 'West'...and a typical 3 hour drive took ALL day!  I'll admit it was worth it seeing the friends at the cabin though and the ride wasn't too bad...

 

*Driving through downpours so heavy you can't see out the window is bad...especially when the truck is leaking on you the whole time...from what I understand anyway...Rich was driving.  Morgan and I helped though!  With some teamwork we stuffed napkins by the leak and it was dry driving from then on!

*Morgan is attached at the hip to her best friend every time they get together...until said friend hits Morgan in the face three times with her cast while sleeping...then Morgan decides that she can sleep in her own bed the next night.

*Being out on the water in a boat is amazing...enough said! 

*Loons are not at all like ducks.  Ducks go under water and come right back up.  A loon goes under water and you can watch for what seems like forever for it to reappear....come to find out that loons stay under water for like 15-20 minutes...we know better than to try to watch now...

*Blake learned he could trust his life vest beyond being able to touch his feet to the ground...and LOVED swimming!

I didn't ask for permission to post this picture on the blog...just know there is cuteness under the smiley face :-)

 

*Blake also learned that when he finds something cute, like a little baby turtle, while with 5 young girls, that the turtle is as good as gone.  He was informed by one of the dads that he might as well learn the lesson now... :-)

*SpongeBob Island is FUN!  Shallow waters, anchored pontoon, drinks, snacks, games, warmth, music, laughing...FUN! 

*Everyone loves fireworks...and they're more enjoyable from the boat, because as I said before being on the water in a boat is AMAZING....especially at night...because between fireworks, there is still an awesome view of a light show in the sky.

*Fireworks are also scary...the one who lights them says choice words and tries running through the water, and ducking, while still trying to hold the lighter above the water, each time one is lit.  Immense laughter comes from those still on land watching this all take place.

*Learning about leeches 'the hard way' is not fun!  Being the one who removes the leech from the little girl (who was probably WAY tougher than I would have been) is not fun!  The whole instance causes several of us to want to avoid the water for quite a while...

*Steak and sweet corn on the grill, mashed potatoes and watermelon makes an awesome last meal to celebrate the end of summer.  We have to remember that for next year!

This is only a bit of the fun we had.  It was such a great weekend!  Definitely feel blessed to have spent it with some wonderful friends. :-)

**Thank you Jen for the extra pictures! :-)

Blake's 7th Birthday

Blake's birthday kinda happened in three parts this year.  While his birthday is later in August, we actually started his birthday July 31st/August 1st with a trip to Alpena, MI!  My parents wanted to take Blake to a Dinosaur Garden/Prehistoric Zoo for his birthday, so the trip was a very enjoyable early birthday present.

The dinosaur that greeted us as we entered the woods.  The kids thought it was great that they could go inside!  I think this guy was the largest of the sculptures.  The man who created them made them between 1935 and 1967.  There are a few that have been made in the same way more recently.  There were at least 25 sculptures along the path.

 The kids being silly. :-)

 I found this to be quite creative!  The dinosaur had a tree fall on it, but the sign says "Freak Meteor Strike".

 After going through the whole path, we went out front so the kids could get a picture with the sculpture of Jesus.  The man who created the amazing sculptures was a Christian and there were little things that stood out to show his faith. :-)

 The trip to Alpena is about 4 hours.  We actually stopped at the Dino Gardens just before Alpena, but hadn't eaten the whole drive, nor at the gardens, and were pretty much starving by the time we got through all the sculptures.  A quick trip to McDonald's filled us up, then on to the NOAA Great Lakes Heritage Center.  We purchased tickets to take The Legends of Thunder Bay Shipwreck Tour through Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.  (LOTS of words to say that we bought tickets to ride a glass bottom boat to see shipwrecks while we were at a shipwreck museum-LOL!)

 

We had a BLAST at the museum!  The kids were able to see, hear and feel what it might have been like to be on a sinking ship.  That was probably their favorite thing.  Here they are steering the sinking ship.

 This is them standing in front of the sinking ship :-)

 Of course there was a lot more information on the ships that were at the bottom of the bay, plus several artifacts that had been retrieved.  Honestly, I think we all enjoyed the museum (that was free) more than the boat tour (that was $30 per adult and $10 per child.)  BUT, the boat ride was still neat!

 

 We boarded the boat at 4:00 and were on our way.

 We mostly saw a lot of boards/planks from boats, but we were able to see an anchor...hopefully you can make it out in the picture.

 And this was some sort of gear, I believe...they told us on the tour, but it's been a month... ;-)

 After the tour, we checked out the souvenir shop, where the kids got smashed pennies and my mom got Morgan a snorkel, and went one last round through the museum.  We then took a little stroll through Alpena, did some wine tasting, then had dinner before checking into the hotel.

 

This is what the kids were waiting for!  They obviously had a blast the whole day, but there is something about being able to hang out in a pool!

 Morgan even got to try out her new snorkel.

The kids spent as much time as we let them in the pool at night and again in the morning.  We finished up the trip by stopping at a few wine and pop (for the kids) tasting places on the way home.  It was a pretty awesome trip for a little guy's birthday.  I'm very thankful to my parents for giving Blake (and Morgan) the experience!

These are the pops the kids tasted at one of the wineries.  Rich wasn't able to go with us, so we bought one of each flavor so we can have a 'pop tasting' as a family.  I thought it was neat that each of the drinks is named after one of the sunken ships in Thunder Bay and there is a little bit of information about each on the label!

 

*******

Blake's birthday party came a few weeks later.  He wanted a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle theme, so that's what we did!  It was pretty fun coming up with a few things to give him the theme.

 

The kids and I made he cake decorations with Perler Beads.  (It's a chocolate zucchini cake.)

We also had pizza for the meal...had to be pizza if it was going to be a TMNT theme! ;-)

 

Morgan got him some TMNT gifts, but he also received a sling shot, Legos, Dinosaurs, a rocket and clothes.

Rich and I stuck to the TMNT theme with the wrapping paper and card.  Of course we grabbed some TMNT plates and napkins too.  (Okay, so I wasn't as creative as I thought...it was mostly the cake toppers-lol!)

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I always try to make the kids' actual birthday as special as possible, being that it's 'their' day.  It's tricky with Blake because as long as he has his toys, he's happy and doesn't care to do much else-LOL!

I like to decorate the white board for the kid's birthdays.  It's pretty much the first thing they see when they come from their room.

Blake's birthday panCAKEs.  Of course he chose green icing.  (His favorite characters are TMNT and Hulk...plus he LOVES dinosaurs, so it's only natural that green be his favorite color.)

We left home shortly after breakfast and went school supply shopping.  Then it was on to Barnes & Noble for Blake's Kid Club Birthday treat, followed by McDonald's to use his gift card he gets for his birthday each year from the bank.

We then went to the south end of town to catch the trolley.  We tried to catch it last year, but it took off on us just as we were getting out of the truck and it was the last tour of the day.  We went early this time and caught it with 3 minutes to spare!

The look of the trolley is super cool, but the history of the town was even neater!  I look forward to taking the trolley tour again next summer.  Can't beat the $.10 fare to ride either!

I thought these two might get bored, but they even thought it was cool.  Morgan loved that there is a house that has a world record for being the narrowest and Blake couldn't get over the train going to Canada goes through a tunnel under the river.  The little guy talked my ear off about it-LOL!

After that we stopped in the Maritime Center to watch some fish in the river.  (There is a camera in the water that's connected to a screen inside.)  Then took a short walk on the River Walk....

...and did some duck watching.  (See his bottom sticking up out of the water?)

 And then it was time to go home.  We made the new TMNT Mac & Cheese for Blake for dinner.  (Plus a Zucchini bake for Rich and I.)  Then he opened a few more gifts, including a Bug Catcher, a Boy Craft book and the movie Meet the Robinsons...we hadn't seen it yet and it had a Dino in it!  Plus it was free through Disney Movie Rewards, so I couldn't beat the price. ;-)

We then had a movie night with the new movie and enjoyed some popcorn along with it.  It was a pretty awesome day! :-)

 

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As much as I don't like seeing Blake grow up, I'm loving the memories we're making along the way.  And I think this birthday was pretty memorable!  :-)

 



First Day of School 2014

Another school year has started.  I'll admit that I dread this day each year.  After having them home with me all summer, I always want to try homeschooling, but I know it'll never happen.  I know it's just me having a hard time letting go...the first few days (or weeks) without them feels kinda lonely.  They actually really enjoy school and seeing their friends each day and that makes it all easier.



 The kiddos annual pictures or 'mug shots' as I started calling them this year. ;-)

 The nerves were still there this year even after spreading 'Jitter Glitter' on their heads last night.  Morgan wouldn't let go of my hand as we entered the school... but it may have been because it was so hectic there too.  When we got into the classroom, she seemed better.

 Blake actually seemed a little more nervous this year than ever before.  The nerves only seemed to hit when we got into the classroom though...he was leaving me to go say 'Hi' to friends when we were standing outside the school. :-)

 So, I decided to take a look back through the years at the kids' first days of school....not sure why, because it started the waterworks flowing.  My kiddos are just so gosh darn cute!  ;-)