Another year of Camp VLugt is in the history books. This year, we rented two cottages at Big Star Lake right on the beach. The setting was perfect, the "Camp VLugt" shirts were perfect, the weather was perfect (well, pretty much), the company was perfect. My children, however, were NOT perfect.
Lucas, while usually a relatively decent sleeper, was up every three hours at night. (Thankfully, now that we are home he is sleeping even better than before we left -- usually 830pm to 600am!). Tyler was a ridiculous mamma's boy and would NOT touch foot in the sand, let alone play in it or the water. We even bought him a kiddie pool to put on the grass, but that was only sort of fun for him for about a day. Sam was a little better at the beginning but must have taken cues from his brothers and became a cling-on by mid-week too. Granted, they are always mamma's boys; but this was at a ridiculous level. And let me tell you, that is exhausting!
In addition to the crabby-ness, we had yet another boo-boo. Ty was playing with balloons inside and bumped his two front teeth very hard on a table -- enough to make them a little loose. We went to a dentist, was told they may or may not fall out (but should not affect the adult teeth), was told to not bump them again, was told no more paci's, and was told to lay off from eating anything hard. Awesome. Easier said than done with a 2 year old -- especially the not bumping them again.
There were moments of fun during the week though: the twins loved the swings, they loved playing with Joshie, they loved the airplane teeter-totter thingy, they loved the paddle boat (but not a regular boat). We celebrated Kristin's birthday with a fun treasure hunt for the kids, we had lots of campfires and smores (my favorite), and lots of other good food and good times with family.
This wasn't particularly a fun vacation for me or Jack, but it was still worth it to be with family. We are incredibly blessed.
Ty, Josh, & Sam enjoying a juice box break
Baby boom
Sam & Ty at the ice cream shop (with their slushie)
We were so excited for our annual trip to the Conference Grounds to visit the Ploegs but this year, the weather just didn't pan out: for the first time in weeks, it was less than 80 degrees and it was rainy. Since we were all packed in the van with no where to go, we went to a playground with the kids to burn some energy. Sam was playing superman on the swing and suddenly went down ... face first into the dirt. While getting dirty is still not either of my twins' favorite past times (at least yet), that wasn't the problem. The problem was that he has a nice overbite and his front two teeth went thru the skin right under his bottom lip. So ... off we went (as a family) to Alger Peds to get checked out. A little glue and some hugs later, we were all fixed up. For those counting, that makes two boys with Dermabond in about two weeks. And if we aren't parents of the year in your book yet, just wait: Lucas has a sweet black eye. We think it's from taking a ping pong paddle to the face while chasing after the twins. Yep. Our baby has a black eye. Awesome.
Here's to no more boo boos!
I love when they look at each other and jump at the same time on the second jump. It makes me think of just how fun it is to have a twin brother to do such silly-business with!
And then here they are, after a day at the pool just totally spent.
The Fourth of July is filled with traditions for the VanderPloegs: the men go golfing, the women go to the parade with the kids, we eat burgers and potato salad for lunch, play wiffle ball in the back yard (9 innings, at least), run through a few sprinklers / slip 'n slides, and eat popsicles. All around, it's generally a pretty fantastic day. And while it was fantastic this year, it was also 100 degrees. My sisters, who usually join us for the parade and to watch Grampa Ploeg's trains, decided the lake was a better fit given the weather (good choice). The parade, usually fun times filled with candy, bands, floats, and a fighter-jet fly-over, was ridiculously hot and ended in about 20 mintues with Tyler terrified of the noises. The rest of the day followed the script and even with the deviations from the norm, it was a fantastic day.
Tony cheering on the twins
Tyler having a riot on the slip 'n slide
Sam & Auntie Brenda
Daddy and Tyler ready for wiffle ball
Sam ready for wiffle ball
Lukie -- Born in the USA
Oh ... and it's official: Lucas is crawling. And not just scooting, which he has been doing for a few weeks now, but actually crawling on all fours!
What a day! Yesterday was a busy, crazy day. And while, in general, that is the norm over here, yesterday was a little more amplified than normal. We started the day with hair cuts by mom and some Backyardagains (I just couldn't take the shaggy-ness anymore). Then it was off to the Holtvluwer cottage (sans Jack, plus Uncle Brian) for the day with all the Ploegs. We went for boat rides, watched a ski show, ate some hot dogs, played in the sandbox, and splashed around in the water. It was a beautiful day for fun at the lake.
Mommy & boys
Tyler watching the ski show
Sam watching the ski show
Then we raced home for a long-awaited kid-free night with friends. I was upstairs with all the boys by the train table when crocs and carpet caused a head vs. table injury on my sweet baby Tyler. The timing was perfect (is that really the word I'm looking for?) as the sitter literally showed up 3 minutes later and Jack and I were able to leave together for the ER and leave the other kids with her. Tyler cried, of course, but it wasn't a hysterical cry, nor did it bleed badly ... but it was certainly a nice gash smack on the middle of his forehead. The children's hospital is great, the people were great, and as far as first encounters with the ER go, this was about as good as it gets. Ty was calm and snuggly, we got away with glue instead of stictches, and the green slushy at the end perked up my little guy. We went home, ended the day with some more Backyardagains, put the kids to bed and still made it out to see our friends for a few hours. What a day!
