visit from Nana...

So you know how when you have a kid, all of a sudden you cease to exist in your parents eyes?  They are not coming to visit you, but the grandkids?  This post is kid of reverse of that.  My parents came to visit over a weekend in July, but they brought Nana along, and all of us kind of started looking at it as Nana's visit.  =)  I love my Grandma K so very much, but don't see her often enough.  And when we go to visit her, since she lives somewhat near my folks, they are usually afternoon or evening long visits.  So when she is able to come and stay by us for a few days, as she has over some holidays and this summer weekend, the visit is extra special and the kids really get to know their great-grandma, or Nana.

Our Saturday started off with soccer games for all the big kids at the same time.  We set up in between the two fields so we could watch Carsten to the left, and Grace and Willem to the right.

Henry would give Nana high fives whenever something exciting happened, and sometimes even when things weren't exciting!

We came home and had Edgerton bakery doughnuts and then the kids cleared the table for a game of Bird Bingo with Aahma and Nana.

Then we had to get some work done.  There was a potluck at church Sunday, so the kids helped Nana make "Nana's fruit salad."

After lunch though, we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon playing and visiting both inside and outside on the patio.  

Henry had SO much fun going back and forth between Boppa and Nana!

Grace and Aahma playing Ode to Joy!

kids with Aahma and Boppa

kids with Nana

20 month old Henry especially warmed up and got to know Nana over this weekend

We love you so much Nana (Grandma K!)!!  Thank you so much for a wonderful visit!

soccer 2013...

The kids (or maybe momma) were just not ready to start a rec league soccer program that started while school was still in session.  I hemmed and hawed over this for a long time trying to find something reasonably priced (camps are ridiculous!) that took place just in the summer.  We also felt that they didn't get much instruction at all in the program that they took the summer before, so we were looking for something that would give them good instruction and the basics of the game.  We found a program that fit most everything for that, it was just 25 minutes away.  But we signed up with friends from church and had a number of pleasant (although HOT!) evenings chatting and watching the kids play.

Still the herd mentality at Carsten's age.  =)  Going this way...

...then that way!

Carsten and Bella had so much fun playing though and learned a lot compared to last summer.

Go team!

 the cheering section!

A little bit of the herd mentality for Grace and Willem's group too...

...but they were getting the spread out an pass concepts too.

It was near 100F for this game, so Steve was misting the players on the sidelines.

Go team!  (not only were Grace and Willem excited to play with Arielle, they were very surprised to have 2 of their Calvin classmates on the team with them too!)

 Henry thought he should really be playing too.

Carsten

Willem

Grace

 DY and B soccer players 2013!

Soccer is super fun on its own, but even better when played with friends!

aukeman family reunion in WI...

Fall 2008

Summer 2013

Steve's Grandpa Aukeman loved his family dearly and prayed for all of us daily.  We have had a number of times when all of us have been able to be together when he was alive, but Steve's mom and aunts and uncles knew that after he passed away in 2011, we would have to be a little more deliberate in our planning to still get the family together every so often.  So they started right in and planned a family reunion for July 2013 in WI, halfway between MN and MI. 

27 out of 29 of us were able to come, and what a wonderful weekend we had together.  They rented a farmhouse at Windever Farm near Plymouth, WI, that was large enough to sleep almost all of us!  And it had a big enough kitchen and diningroom/gazebo for us to all be able to cook and eat together (each of us signed up for a meal).  We planned a few activities for each day and also enjoyed a lot of time relaxing and visiting together.

Carsten, Uncle Daryl, Owen and cousin Kevin

 We all arrived on Thursday afternoon/evening and enjoyed brats on the grill and an evening of exploring the farm we were staying at.  Including a short walk to the nearby pond.

As always happens on trips, the kids don't sleep well at all on the first night, and Thursday night was no exception.  Topped off by Henry waking up at 6 and refusing to go back to sleep.  The ONLY bright side to this was a beautiful morning sunrise view and a nice chat with Uncle Daryl (who is always up early).

(cousin Caroline and her boys Caleb and Owen)

 Our first activity on Friday morning was a short drive to Sheboygan, WI, to visit the Bookworm Gardens.  This was a delightful garden filled with beautiful trees and plants, and areas representing 60 different classic children's books.  What a fun place to go for everyone!  It was so fun to see the kids react to all the different books that they knew.

And of COURSE there are books to read too (all in plastic protected pages).  The kids wasted no time in asking Aahma to read them one...

Here is Pooh's house from Winnie the Pooh!  A cute little tiny place that the kids tried to fit as many as they could in.  Willem, Carsten and Henry are in there behind Owen and Logan!

Here is the log cabin from Little House in the Big Woods.  This was Grace and Greta's favorite spot!

Carsten and Willem driving the covered wagon!

OK, I take that previous statement back.  The fairy house area was Grace and Greta's favorite spot.  I think they would have stayed here all day if Jeff and Steve wouldn't have moved them along. =)

Willem on the cow outside of Charlotte Web's farm.  I didn't grab a picture, but they had a metal web inside with "SOME PIG!" in it - so cute!

They even had a Magic School Bus!

"all aboard for an adventure!"

cousin love

After a while at the Bookworm Gardens, we all drove across town to a beach on Lake MI.  We started the afternoon with a picnic in the park...

...and then headed for the beach!

The water was a bit cold yet (and full of little dead fish!), but that didn't stop the kids!

They did spend most of their time building sand castles and dams and rivers though.

Henry had a lot of fun in the sand!

The farmhouse had a great backyard patio with a fire pit, so s'more's were a nightly treat. 

"One more Momma?!!

Aunt Jalaine and cousin Kevin playing ladder ball

We also got out some lawn games and frisbees.

Since Friday was such a big day and everyone went along to the gardens and the beach, we purposely didn't plan a lot on Saturday so it could be a much more laid back day.  Most everyone had a relaxing morning either sleeping in, reading and playing and exploring the farm and area a bit more.  By afternoon the kids were ready to do something again though, so a big group went to the little water park in Plymouth.  But Henry was fussy and ready for some chill time, so he and I went with Christy and Kaatje to check out the street fair that was also going on in Plymouth.  Lots of fun little art booths...

...and homemade ice cream!!!  I think that was Henry's favorite part. =)

Saturday night we ordered pizza in, played some games...

got breakfast ready for the next day...

and of course had some more s'more's!

Grace tried a cookie s'more, yum!

Willem and Henry were experts at relaxing by this time!

Everyone took off after breakfast on Sunday morning.  We had a great weekend all together, and you know it must have been a good family reunion when everyone left saying we need to do this again!

fun fridays, rest of summer 2013...

The rest of the summer in 2013 was filled with lots of trips and special activities and a lot of them fell on Fridays, which was super nice because then fun fridays were built right in!  But rather than trying to break each Friday out separately, I am going to just blog about our trips and stuff.  I hope they will resume their regularly scheduled programming (or slightly condensed/combined) after I blog about the rest of our 2013 summer.  Here is a sneak peek of what is coming:

family reunion in Wisconsin
soccer
visit from Nana
crazy trip to IA, NE, MN & SD (might need a couple posts for this one!)
camping 
grace's birthday
baby shower for Lucas and Jessica