Memorial Day Weekend Camping at Burlington Koa

Yep this is our Motorhome.  We are trying the "camping" thing now since it is pretty expensive to fly 6 people anywhere!  We left on our very first camping trip as a family of 6 in the motorhome on Friday after the kids got out of school.  We didn't have to go too far to get to the Burlington Koa.



Lane Dykstra, Brody Bouwman, Gannon and Trey Bosman making Mud balls and Mud pies!



Some more kids joined in the muddy fun... Gunnar, Annie Zylstra, and Libby Bouwman

Everyone buckled in tired and ready to head home!

It was Grant's birthday the day we got there... so that night he got a little treat!

Gunnar, Tyra and Daddy enjoying the hot tub

All 21 kids that went along ( except for Macy Bouwman... she was taking a nap)!  Six  families went along... Tom and Bridgett Zylstra and their two kids, Corey and Julie Feenstra and their 4 kids, Monty and Shawna Bosman and their 3 kids, Chris and Jess Bouwman and their 4 kids, Jeff and Shannon Dykstra and their 4 kids and Us and our 4 kids.  It was a really fun group and all the kids got a long great!  A big thanks to the little girls that were there who played with Gunnar, and also to the girls who "babysat" Tyra taking her for walks in the stroller!  We played LOTS of baseball, a little basketball, some track ball, paddle ball, did some swimming, made some "mud" castles, roasted smores, and stayed up late!  Our first camping trip was lots of fun!  We didn't have any rain, but the campground was a little muddy... so just hoping our next trips will be a bit cleaner... I finally got done washing everything today!

We knew our cat Silver was pregnant... we thought she was getting close to having babies... so the first thing we checked when we got home was the box we left in the garage for her.  We were so SURPRISED to find 6 baby kittens all healthy and cute and Silver being a good mom for being only 9 months old herself!  If anyone wants a kitten let me know... this picture makes them look really dark... but 4 of them are mostly grey with stripy markings, one is calico, and one looks pretty dark... maybe black.  They are ADORABLE!  Let me know!

SOCCER

Gannon's team picture

Gannon's team

Daddy and Tyra

Tyra playing soccer at her brother's games

Gannon

Gannon scoring a goal

Griffin

Griffin and Cousin Lane

Gannon

Griffin and Gannon

Gunnars REAL birth day and Griffin's field trip

Gunnar's real birth day on May 15th!  My big 3 year old!  We just celebrated at home with opening a few presents... a new basketball, a nerf hoop for upstairs in our house and also to take along on our camping trips, new swim shorts and shirt!

We ended the night with cake and ice cream!  Gunnar is having his birthday party along with Griffin on June 5... so more pictures then!

Griffin had a field trip to Berthusen park last thursday and I took all the other kids along to.  So Gannon jumped in and played with all the kindergarteners. and Gunnar had all the kindergarten girls chasing him playing tag!   Picture above of Griffin, Gannon and Tommy.  May is a BUSY BUSY month!  Lots of school projects, field trips, finishing up soccer, and end of the year stuff!  On top of that we are trying to get ready for our first camping trip in our new "old motorhome" we bought this year!  We will be going to Burlington KOA over memorial day weekend... then coming back Monday to get ready for Griffin and Gunnar's birthday party here on June 5!

The class getting ready for their "nature walk" in the "rainforest"  Of course Griffin and Sophia hand in hand :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO GUNNAR!!!

Happy Birthday to our baby boy Gunnar!  I cannot believe he is 3 already!  I can barely remember him as a baby!  I remember calling him the tank because he drank a lot of bottles!  Gunnar is our loudest boy, he seems the most aggressive too.  He loves tractors, any sport someone will play with him, he loves being outside riding his skitter, jumping on the trampoline, or playing with water and dirt.  He is our biggest snacker/ candy lover... if he gives you his "sad eyes" look, he can pretty much get away with anything!  He is our smartest boy at this age... he pretty much knows all his shapes, letters and lots of songs... including a couple of his favorites "yooo hooo"(by gwen stefani) and hey now your an all star...  He likes to get attention from all his older cousins by making them laugh at him when he does naughty things.  We love you SOOOOOOOOOO much Gunnar!  Happy 3rd Birthday!

Field Trip

I went along with Gannon's class on their field trip to a farm for the "Great American Egg Drop"  You have to build something to support an egg so when you drop it from the top of the barn on the cement the kids get to see if their egg goes splat or if it survives the drop!

Gannon and Trey both carved a hole out of a nerf football to put their eggs in!  Gannon made his into a rocket ship... this isn't a very good picture, but the rocket ship turned out great!

Both of their eggs survived!

SO SWEET...

I got to go to Mother's Day Tea in Griffin's classroom on Thursday.  It was sooooo cute!  The kids and moms all had to be dressed up and when we came to the classroom our kid came out with a flower and we got our picture taken together.  Then their classroom was all set up with white table cloths and fruit flowers, it was adorable.  This picture he drew of me and him :)  I guess I have big lips :)  The kids took us into the gym to do a dance with them.  Thenwe got to watch a slide show of TONS of pictures of the kids throughout the year... looked like they had lots of fun!  After the slide show the kids had to serve us moms with cake and juice.  Then it was time to open presents...

Griffin's face getting blocked by the fruit display.

Griffin and Sofia Rader

The little presents we had waiting for us

The butterfly magnent he made for my fridge.

A calender with different hand print pictures for each month.

The card Gannon made at school

I do not know why this picture turned out sideways... but Gannon did a really good job on the bunnie's face I thought.  Its been a good Mother's day so far and the real date hasn't even come yet!