Summer 2011

What a summer!

It’s been so long that I had to read my last post just to see where I left off!

I’ll just keep it to the highlights….
Mariada is a permit carrying teenager…that’s right she can drive with an approved adult…currently her dad is the only one that will drive with her! I find this to be funny since when it was Ben the only person that could teach him without incident or argument was me….I don’t know what that says about parents and kids but I must say that it’s nice to not have the stress of teaching another child to drive on my shoulders! OK still a bit of stress, on our way to church last Sunday there was a forgot the car was still in reverse and almost went through the fence moment that was a bit stressful!
Days after drivers training ended Mariada was off to Wisconsin for a soccer camp, she LOVED it and wants very much to go to the even longer camp next summer in Boston. Then she was home for a few days and we left for a two week boat trip, one week with good friends and the second week with Ben and Sara. It was warm and sunny both weeks but the waves really kicked up the second week and Sara and Mariada get sea sick so we decided to not go as far as planned and stayed in Michigan this year. Swimming and soccer started while we were still on the boat so Mariada missed a few practices. Since being back she has been very busy with both, she has already had two swim meets and a soccer tournament. I really wish fall sports would start in the fall, but no one asked so I guess it’s just me that doesn’t like summer to end ;)
We also had a big day of laser tag and beaching it with a gaggle of girls for Mariada’s 15th birthday. She had tons of fun and is thrilled to be starting high school in a week! High school was much of the discussion at the birthday party and its fun to listen to the chatter about how different it’s going to be this year! Cute.
This week I take Ben back to Ann Arbor, he’s going to be a sophomore in collage, and I cannot believe that he turned 20 years old this past month! After returning from California he helped around the house building me a beach shed and just hanging out with friends. Since he didn’t have an official job he came on the boat trip for a week with a friend and it was really fun to have them, listening to the conversations of your 20 year old son and his friend was quite something for Bob and I. I know everybody says it, but they really do grow up fast!
Sara is so busy with her summer jobs and training, but it was great fun to have her along for the boat trip as well. She has her race schedule for next winter and will be spending a month in Montana training. She is thrilled to have a sponsor this year ( as our we) much of her equipment will be given to her, which is really great since this year they changed the kind of ski’s you can race on and she was looking at having to buy all new ski’s.
We had such a fun and busy summer and I still can’t believe it’s coming to an end. We had many great weekends on the beach with friends and even had a few perfect weather nights to go down to the beach a build a fire to roast hot dogs and smores!

Lewis had a blast on the boat trip! I have to download the pic's from the camera, so maybe the next post :)

Mariada showing of her mad skills at camp.

We took the kids to see U2 at Spartan stadium, Mariada was blown away, along with the other 72,000 people!

Summer is finally here!

Let’s just jump right in to updates, oldest to youngest…

Ben wrapped up his freshman year in late April and I went and helped him move out of his apartment, it was a beautiful day and he was really ready for school to be out. He ended his year still in the engineering school and is planning on staying with it next year. He is planning on moving next year to a different place and living with more people to bring down the rent. Bob and I both noticed a more mature son but for the most part he’s still our Ben! He was home for two days and left to go to Illinois to work on one of our rigs, this was pretty big news since up until now none of our kids have ever shown an interest in working for Dad! He worked out on the rig for three weeks, came home for the a weekend and has been out in CA fulfilling his ROTC duties for a month, so even though he’s been out of school for a while we haven’t really seen him much. He will be home in a week until he goes back to Ann Arbor in late August.

Sara, busy like always! She ended her ski season happy with her performance and looking forward to next year. She added a few more credits with school and is enrolled in classes this summer so she can graduate on time. She’s working two jobs this summer saving up for all that training next fall and continues to do dry land training this summer. She’s driving now and is so happy that her wonderful uncle gave her a car for a VERY good price :)

Mariada, continues to “grow” she ended her school year with all A’s which was so impressive, she really worked hard. She ran track and played for her travel soccer team all spring both of which she enjoyed. School ended on a Friday and on Monday she started drivers training, which she is currently doing, she has driven twice now and according to her it’s no big deal! (Dad has taken her up and down our dirt road a number of times) She is also babysitting quite a bit and is REALLY REALLY looking forward to soccer camp in July!

As always we continue to be so blessed and are enjoying staying busy with work and kids.

Spring

Ok it’s finally starting to feel like spring here in Michigan! I would have to say that we are about a month behind, but since we have had about three days in a row of rain free weather I am not going to complain ;)

So time to catch up a bit, I had a very busy April spent all over the country. We had our spring break planned months ago, which was great since things don’t normally work that way around here. We had planned on going to Mission Ridge Washington to watch Sara race in the western regional’s. I had found us a house to rent up on the mountain, Mariada had invited a friend, since Sara is so busy with races and what not we thought a friend would be a good idea. Everything was worked out, life was good. All we had to do was wait to find out if she was going to qualify. Three weeks before we where to leave she received the conformation, she was in! So I get online to book airline tickets and something tells me to recheck the dates of the races, yup they were pushed back an entire week!! UGH, really!? So now if we want to go Mariada and her friend will have to miss a week of school? Well that’s’ not such a great idea, so what to do? I had started to look around on what we could do for Spring Break with three weeks’ notice, after a few hours we decided that I would take Mariada and friend with my mom to Disney! Yup Disney over Spring Break, I am crazy :) There was no way Bob could take two weeks off and he really doesn’t like Disney so much so I figured I would knock it off the list now rather than later. An added bonus was that our school band was going to be down there which meant Mariada had lots of friends to hang with giving my mother and myself a break every now and again. Mariada had a blast she loved it and although it was crazy busy it was so great seeing her reaction to the magic of Disney. We covered some serious ground that week seeing all four parks and one water park, as well as a cirque du soleil show! Once back she started track and soccer, so now we are in full sports mode. She’s doing great and has a very full summer planned.

I literally got off one plane and walked to the other side of the airport and got on another one with Bob and Sara headed out west. I was tired but so happy that I had the chance to see Sara race! She raced against two girls that represented the US in the last Olympics and a total of nine girls from the US ski team! Not to mention the other 90 girls that qualified! She struggled in GS but ended in the middle of the pack in slalom. That ended her season this year and she is now working hard at washing boats as well as waiting tables in order to save for summer camps and fall and winter trainings!

Easter was nice and quiet, we went to my parents and grilled out in the brief moment of sunshine and just hung out, Mariada worked on a piñata for Spanish class while mom and I watched the sound of music. It was a very relaxing day.

Last Friday I went to pick up Ben! He ended his year well and enjoyed the weekend at home, but is already in Illinois working for Dad. He will be back in a month for a few days before he has to go on his “summer cruise” to fulfill his ROTC duties. Then he gets to lounge for about 5-6 weeks before heading back.

So I don’t know about you, but I am ready for summer!!!



Spring Break with friends! Does it get any better?
Love that mouse!
On the plane home , Mariada looks at me and says, "Mom Disney is magical!"

What?! It's March

Yikes, who took February?! Man have we been busy, since I last updated this, we had our winter fest weekend here in our great little town and once again we were in the cardboard sled race, first the kids and Mariada made the local news which was lots of fun. The kids however came in second to last place so they didn’t move on, but when it was the old peoples turn with the sled, well we of coursewe kept winning our heats and ended up in the finals where we took fourth! To be honest we almost threw the second to last heat, because we were all pretty tired of carrying that thing back up the hill!

Just after that Bob and I took a quick “just us” trip to the Dominican Republic, it was wonderful to spend some time together just catching up, surfing and playing in the 83 degree sunshine! We came home and spend the following weekend taking out a gaggle of teenage girls to pizza and bowling to celebrate one year of having Miss Mariada home! Her first time bowling, she loved it. Then it was off to Springhill for a youth retreat for a weekend of skiing, rock climbing and concerts!

A few days after that and we took Sara out west for a big ski race, got to stay with some dear friends as well. She really held her own. Then back home for Mariada’s volleyball games and exams. And in the middle of it are indoor soccer trainings two days a week, profession of faith classes once a week, consoling once a week, volleyball games twice a week and youth group every Sunday as well as Bible Study for Bob and I! Oh and a sleepover just about every weekend! Yup our newest and youngest loves to stay busy.

Mariada is doing so well, it’s crazy how some days it seems like our trip to bring her home feels like yesterday, but she fits in our family as though she’s been here forever.

Off to pack for a weekend “up north”.

Sweet Sixteen

I cannot believe that Sara turned sixteen this month. But besides the actual shock of another child driving, we are so happy at the wonderful and beautiful young women she is. We weren’t sure when we would be able to see her, but because of a pretty tough fall on a practice run she skipped a race in Minnesota and came to visit us instead. Not to worry she is doing fine and even came in 1st place in last weekend’s race! So far she is having a very strong year.

Mariada finished up swimming and is already on to volleyball. Swimming was not her favorite sport but she wants to do it again next year because she says it keeps you in very good shape. Overall she did really well considering this was her first time and we are happy that she wants to swim next year. We had her in a fotsball training this past month as well, ever Tuesday and Thursday night which she really enjoyed; her coach has asked her to practice with the girls from Cornerstone collage (he trains them as well) in Grand Rapids so we are trying to fit that in as well. She also enjoyed a retreat with her youth group last weekend and had “the best time of her life” with lots of eighth graders. In English last week the teacher had everyone write an essay for a contest and Mariada’s was chosen to move up to the state level, she was so happy since English is her hardest class, she’s been working really hard and we are so proud of her. She’s also taking profession of faith classes; needless to say she and we are keeping busy.

Ben is doing great at Michigan and is working hard to move his GPA from 3.5 to 3.7 so he can apply for a dual major program. He is also planning a trip out west with some friends for his spring break, we are happy for him but also a little sad this will be his first spring break without us. Bob thinks maybe we should just go with him! HA, I am sure that five college guys would love a set of parents on their first spring break! Although if we offer to buy dinner maybe they wouldn’t mind so much ;)



The retreat at camp Geneva! It was really cold that weekend, but they still had a blast. She has made some really great friends.

Go Lakers!
Sara is SIXTEEN !!! Time goes by so fast!

Christmas, New Years and the New Year...

I hope you all had as wonderful a Christmas as we did. It was full of friends, family and lots of memories. We were so blessed to have all the kids this year, even if it was for just a few days. I drove over to Ann Arbor on the 21st to get Ben and Bob drove up north on Christmas Eve to pick up Sara! They got back just in time for Christmas Eve service, after which we went back north (just north) to my parents Christmas Eve party. When we all got back home around ten, it was hit the coach for some Christmas movies and off to bed for a good night’s sleep before a long Christmas day! My parents, brother and Grandmother were here bright and early, I made breakfast while the last “kid” rolled out of bed and was quickly told to get to playing Santa! We opened to many gifts (Grandma to blame) and started dinner. After dinner we said goodbye to my side and loaded up the truck to drive south to eat some more and sing carols with the Gezon side. Honestly we ate so much that day I am full just thinking about it! We spend Sunday going to church and having lunch with the kids, then Sara and Mariada took off to the ski hill and Ben went to visit friends! I think Bob and I came home and took a nap on the couch :) Monday morning Bob loaded Sara up and drove to Canada for a FIS race. Her first race against world cup skiers! She did great, came in about the middle of the pack which is pretty awesome for a 15/16 year old. When I spoke to her that first night you could hear the amazement that there where racers from around the world, even girls she and her coach had just watched on TV the month before. Bob says she just continues to get stronger and stronger. Mariada had swim practice so we had to stay home; she also had a babysitting gig for that week watching the cutest little 18 month old, she loved it.

New Years Eve Mariada was oh so happy to be able to go to her girlfriend’s sleepover party, but there was zero sleeping! She had so much fun, with exception of Monday morning coming way too soon. She’s had two swim meets this week along with indoor soccer training on the other nights, needless to say she is one busy girl this month. I left the camera sitting on the kitchen table for both meets, so next week I will put a post-it on the door!

I gave Bob a stand up paddle board, he had to try it out, we watched from the house.
Sara doing her thing in the big leagues!

Sara with her new purse and Ben reading one of the many books he got.
Mariada was so happy, she has been wanting a guitar since she got home. She would always ask Ben if she could play his, but when he left for school it went with him. She begged but I told her she was way to busy with school and sports! She loved it!

Life is wonderful!

Over the last moth we have been busy, really the last year has been a blur, and it amazes us that it has been a year since we left to go to Albania to meet our amazing Miss Mariada. Since we left on Thanksgiving Day last year and had a Christmas apart from each other we made sure to do it up this year! My mom had Thanksgiving at their house and we are doing Christmas here. Thanksgiving weekend we took Miss M to pick out a tree and put it up that Saturday, we usually wait a week or two but we are feeling the spirit this year so why not?!

We have already had a Christmas party and been to the Jingle Bell parade with party afterwards at a good friends house, we have a few more to go to over the weekend, so needless to say Miss M thinks Christmas in America is great, she loves to stay busy and for the “no Kid” parties well that means babysitting money! She has picked up a few extra clients and is saving for “high school” her big brother Ben told her that things get costly in high school and she wants to be prepared ;)

As far as school goes, that all A report card she was working so hard for came true, she aced every exam and ended the tri with a 4.0! She is so very proud (as are we) when picking her up from school she got in the car and said “Mom, did you know of the paper on Principal E’s window, honor roll, I am on it!” Yup, honey you made the honor roll! Just think how happy she was when I told her it would be in the news paper as well! She also went to the 8th grade Christmas dance she did the entire girl thing, got ready at a friend’s house, spent the night at another friend’s house and had a great time! Now we get ready for swimming, she can’t wait!

Another week we will have Ben and Sara and it will be Christmas, all together :)




After Dance Fun!

8th grade girl power!



Yes, Life is Wonderful!