John Ball Zoo!

Sunday, we went to the John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids and had a blast! Gramma came with us and we met Rob, Abby, Avery, and Tessa there, along with their friends Marci, Mike and Michael. It is a really cool zoo, even in the off-season, which were are technically in now. I would have really loved the boys to have seen the giraffes, but they had a lot of fun with all the other animals that we did get to see. We will definitely make that trip again!

Here's some shots from the day!

Thanks for meeting us Rob and Abby and the "girls"! We had a a lot of fun and can't wait to do it again!

Two for Twos-day

I thought I would play Two for Twos-days along with Deanna from Eight is Great. Barb at Tale of Two Twinkies and Debi from Who says 8 is Enough? Always post cute pics, so I thought I would join in this week.

I chose this picture of my brother, Rob, and me because today is his birthday!

Happy Birthday Rob!

We graduated from college on the same day - me from Michigan State and him from Albion College. Our family split up to attend each of our commencement ceremonies because they were literally same day, same time. So, we got to see each other's graduation through video and pictures! The coolest part was that we had a HUGE graduation party together at my parents' house later that day (the picture is us in my parents' backyard). It was a lot of fun and still it gets talked about today! (oh - the Aftershock, some of you know what I mean and will never eat cinnamon gum again :)

So, hope your day was great Rob!

ps - Rob started a blog about my adorable nieces, check it out.

Fun Happenings

As promised, here are some pictures from our zoo trip, playing outside at Gramma and Papa's. and from GG's birthday party. These are all from last weekend, it was a busy weekend of fun and excitement with family!

Quent and Alex looking at the wolves, they were actually out this time (I think it was feeding time).


Alex, Quent and Jack all lined up looking at the noisy crow


Jack was taking a spin in this old truck, everyone else was in the butterfly house, but Jack and I hung out here instead.


GG,
Quent, Gramma,
Jack and Alex
riding the train around the zoo. This has to be one of our favorite things to do!


Its was hilarious how they were all crouching down to talk to this pig!


The boys were so excited to feed this cow, but a little afraid of him actually taking the hay from their hands. So, Gramma helped out. And after the cow was done, Jack and Quent were picking up any little bit of hay on the ground trying to give it to the cow!



Watching the ducks swim - don;t worry we did not lose Jack, he is missing from the photo because he is on lockdown on the stroller. The little booger kept running away from us and when we would go after him and tel him to stop, he would run faster - and laugh! So, his consequence was some time in the stroller, which he hated, but I don't really know if that deterred him from running away or not. He spent a lot of time in there that day.


Oh Boy! The penguins actually were swimming!!
It was hard to tell if the boys were following the penguins back on forth or if the penguins were following them!


All the boys loved this and we stayed here until all the penguins were out. And from this angle and when they are dressed alike, Jack and Quent do look very similar.
It was a fun, fun zoo trip!


Avery is getting Gramma's toes with the cool pool water!



Rob was chasing all the kids and splashing them.
Avery was pretty good at getting him wet too!


Tessa thought those kids were pretty funny!


Daddy giving Jack a spin!


Quent just got a big splash! He loved it, he loves the water!


All the guys (Rob, Len, Tom) chasing after all the kids
Ky-Ky is getting some cool shots, I'm sure


GG, Aunt Jean and Tessa swinging. GG's birthday party was at Aunt Margaret and Uncle Eldon's house. It was a beautiful weather day.


Avery and Rob in the water, Tom and Quent behind them.
Avery is so brave in the water and with her swim vest on, she wanted to go on her own! She really swam around pretty well.


Quent taking a big jump into the pool with Daddy's help


Jack is a little more timid, but he likes to jump too. Uncle Lenny is ready to catch him!


GG (my Grndma) opening her gifts. She is wearing the bracelet that I made for her, I loved how it turned out, she seemed to like it too. It had her and my Papa's birthstones, their wedding date stone, and all their children's, grand children's, and great-grand children's birthstones in it. 42 stones in all!! What a legacy!


Kyle and Tessa helping GG open her gifts.
Fun birthday party and we had a good time visiting with everyone!

Fun at Railroad Days

This weekend was the railroad days festival in our town. The big parade is on saturday and so we had lunch at our house with everyone, then walked across the street to watch the parade!
Gramma, Papa, Len, Kyle, Rob, Abby, Avery, Tessa, Barb and Brad were there with us. The kids had fun watching all the loud and silly stuff go by and the grown-ups had fun watching the kids!

Gramma and Papa with Avery and Quent

Avery looks excited!

Rob holding little Tessa, she slept through most of the parade

Jack sitting with Aunt Barb

Alex walked in the parade with Aunt Margaret

Quent and Momma waving at Alex

Avery and Abby enjoying the parade too!


Jack seems a little unsure about all these noisy things


Quent was pretty happy about the orange paper someone handed him
(thanks Daddy for taking good pictures of us all)

Here's Avery, Quent, and Jack riding on the Super Trucks ride. Avery was having a blast, smiling and laughing. Jack just looked a little bewildered the whole time, but cried when he had to get off. Quent started out great, but then began to cry toward the end. Maybe we are just not ready for that yet.

We went to a 50th anniversary party for Uncle Jim and Aunt Sharon on Sunday (Big congratulations to them!) and the kids got a chance to play again while we were there. There was lots of room to run around, be silly, and visit with more family!

It was a really fun weekend being able to play with Avery and Tessa we can't wait to see them again soon!