Tradition! Tradition!

It was a BEAUTIFUL year for the Grandville Fourth of July Parade.  It was sunny, gorgeous, and mid-70's.  Amazing.  In all the years I've been going (and Brenda and Leah, for that matter) I can't remember a better year of weather for baking in the sun by the asphalt.  And to top it off, we had great "parade neighbors" -- people with nice, sharing, giving kids who didn't hoard or block the candy / view.  It was perfect (not to mention, my kids are at a great age for it).

The rest of the day was lovely with lots of baseball (I think Sam played all afternoon with the big boys), a little slip-n-slide action (it was almost too cold with the hose water), and lots of family time.

The next day, we went to the Holtvleuwer cottage at Indian Lake for another great day with the Ploegs'.  All the boys had fun in the water -- going down the slide, jumping off the dock to cousin Tony, fishing on a boat with daddy and Grandpa Doug (Brenda's dad), jumping on the trampoline, and playing in the sand.

All Aboard!

A few weeks ago, I took the boys and Grandma & Granpda Ploeg on a train ride (the Coopersville-Marne Railway).  I had found a Groupon so I bought the tickets early this spring and waited for a good day.  Well, the day was only so-so (rainy) but the boys were super-excited and had a lot of fun.  My only "complaint" is that it is just a tad long for a 2.5 year old as Lukie was ready to be done at about an hour and 10 minutes (it's an hour and a half).  The whole thing is really cute though -- the conductor is all dressed up and comes an punches your tickets on the train (which they learned about on Dinosaur Train and couldn't wait for).  Overall a total success and the boys have asked multiple times when we are going back to ride the train.
All aboard!