4th of July Bash!

Last weekend was wonderfully long weekend over the 4th of July holiday! I had a "free day"off from work on Wednesday and the rest of the week we all had off. Wednesday was a mommy/daughter day. We went and visited daddy at work and had lunch with him. Then we headed to Pier One for a little shopping (I carried her around instead of the stoller, makes it a tad bit hard to shop, but I could watch her little hands better this way). And on our way home, the worse storm I had ever been in or seen crowded around us as I drove home. It got really dark, started to pour with visability almost nill and then hail. So I'm trying keep the car in front of me in site so I knew where to drive and at the same time, kept talking to Anna (she wasn't crying or anything) to make sure she knew I was there and maybe for my peace of mind that I was keeping her comfortable. Well we arrived home and I found that she fell asleep! I couldn't believe, but I can b/c she is my daughter and I can fall asleep anywhere, anytime. :) So found that the power was out, there was a river running down the alley and our garbage cans had been blown quite a ways away. Gary stayed at work still the 2nd wave blew over and the power still hadn't come on so we decided to head to Gary's parents for the night. Weak, yes. :) The power came on later that night and all has been well.

Thursday was a crazy cleaning in and out day as we were having my family up for the long weekend along with Gary's family. We wore ourselves right out with all that we did. That night, my family showed up from a long trek through Chicago to Grand Rapids traffic/construction.

Friday was a fun day filled with Allendale based activities, which was wonderful! We hit the pancake breakfast at a local CRC church for breakfast - very good - and it was Anna's first introduction to eggs and pancakes. She gagged most of the time, but she's already coming around with eating adult food so much better! Then we had lunch at the homestead and headed over to the park behind the township hall. They had a chainsaw wood carver, garden tractor pulls (which have their own website to promote such envigorating events) and a decent size car show. Anna had a great time on her first swing ride and sliding with daddy. She loved it! We headed back home for a cookout complete with burgers and porkchops, caramel apple salad and corn on the cob! Then we sat around and chatted for a bit until we packed up and headed back over for fireworks. Anna did great despite it being way past her bedtime. She enjoyed some cotton candy as well. She sat in a dazed state on Grandpa Tiemens lap and watched the fireworks.

Saturday turned out to be a big walking day. We headed to Grand Haven for the day as dad and Martha had never walked the pier before or to Grand Haven at all. We headed to downtown GH for some window shopping and to show them what store my cards are in (The Saltbox) and ending up at The Kirby for some woodfired pizza. From there, we continued down the boardwalk, stopping for some ice cream and finally reaching the end of the pier. We tested the waters once again with Anna and the lake, but again she freaked out and wanted nothing to do with it. We headed home after a long day of walking and being in the beautiful sunshine.

We finished off the weekend with church and a new recipe for dinner - grilled chicken bruchetta - and it was delicious! After everyone left on Sunday, it was too nice out to sit inside so I busted out Anna's new pool. She had the same reaction as the lake at first, but she got used to the colder water and eventually loved it! Daddy joined her and that made it that much better for her! All in all, it was a great weekend.

Love,

Gary, Christie the Boog