Full to the brim Tuesday

Today was a day filled with so many new things to do and places to see! First the kids went to VBS with their new "cousins". They had great fun and are eager to go tomorrow. After learning about Nazareth all morning we were all off to see Uncle David in Grand Rapids, to see what he does all day at work. His lab at Van Andel was so interesting and even though some of the details were a little gross, we enjoyed seeing this really exciting place.

Next we were off to see Auntie Carole at her house. She is in the process of moving so we got to choose a huge box of books to take with us. She greeted us with rootbeer floats which tasted delicious!

Then we dropped Julius off at Calvin and got a great tour of all his favorite places there (especially the soccer field). He will be there till Sunday morning and will will miss him a lot.

Then back to pick up Auntie Carole and go to Reeds Lake for dinner at Rose's. We enjoyed the beautiful time at the lake and a wonderful meal. By now, we were exhausted and ready to head back to Hudsonville. We saw the fire flies were coming out when we got there so we collected a jar full and then released them again.

Its been hard to sleep with all the excitement and new experiences but hopefully sleep comes soon and we will be ready for another adventure tomorrow!

Thunderstorms, Mosquitos, Fire-Flies, Ice Cream and Cousins

Our first full day in Michigan was great. It started with a few thunder storms that we rarely experience in BC and ended with the kids catching fire-flies in their pajamas and giving them to Uncle Chuck to put in a jar.

Tonight the kids met Heidi's cousin Bob and Amy's kids (Sarah, Jacob and Anna), and Heidi's other cousin Kara and Harold's kids (Will, Tyler and Alyssa). It was a crazy night of the kids playing tag, fuseball, getting bit by mosquitos, and all in all just having fun getting to know each other. They anticipate spending more time together throughout the course of the week including Vacation Bible School in the morning, the beach and going to Kara and Harold's Cottage on Friday.

Tomorrow we head to Calvin to drop Julius off for the rest of the week at his Van Lunen Fellowship. He is looking forward to it ... but he will miss the excitement of the week. And we will all miss him lots (he is really good at a newly made-up form of tag).

It has been neat to connect with family we haven't seen in years and connect our kids with theirs as they run and play in the yard. We look forward to what the rest of the week holds. And the Hudsonville ice cream really is that good. Thanks Uncle Chuck and Aunt Diane.

We've landed safe and sound

We arrived in Hudsonville MI, at Uncle Chuck and Aunt Diane's house this evening after another successful day on the roads. The kids have been troopers as we've passed by everything that looks remotely interesting with the comment of "we'll stop on the way back". Our only stops have been gassing up and a dinner stop each evening (give or take a bathroom break here and there). The News Boys has been the music CD of choice, Penguins of Madagascar the movie of choice, and the Adventures of Oddyssey again is the favorite story CD.

We are certainly thankful for the safety we experienced and for the health of everyone (Sofie is close to her usual self). Your prayers have carried us.

The kids are quite excited about being in a new place, meeting new family members and all the beautiful spaces to explore. Tomorrow we want to catch fire flies in a jar and have the famous Hudsonville ice cream. Sounds like a good day.

4 states in one day- what a ride!

We've made it to the east side of Minnesota late tonight. It was a day of crossing time zones and seeing 4 different states. From our neat travel books we learned about state trees, capitals and saw lots and lots of land. Eliot said at one point "There just isn't anything here, Mom". He seems to of grown accustomed to being surrounded by mountain peaks in Abbotsford. Sofie also chimed in with "all I see is cars and cows". She's our city girl for sure. Toby sat in his nest in the back seat and would nap only to wake up and wonder when we were going to stop and eat. Our car ran well today and even though the car repairs are still painful to think about, we are so happy to have air conditioning. The kids got their first dose of humidity today and they were surprised by it. We found some really cool bugs at one of our rest stops and for some of us it was our first time to see fire flies. We were pretty excited. Toby and Eliot seem to be feeling so much better and Sofies improvement from yesterday is good. We are grateful for Bioxin. Tomorrow we arrive in Hudsonville, MI which will start our next phase of this adventure. Its been good so far, but we are eager to get to MI. Time for bed...

Big Sky Montana - Evening of Day one

Day 1 on the road-a few bumps....

So grateful to be on the road at 6:30am with 3 cheerful children. We zoomed over the border and into Washington state. What happened next, includes a crabby police officer, Meridian Rd. and a few miles over the speed limit. Ask the kids what happened, they can't wait to tell you. With our trusty new GPS (with our driving speed clearly illuminated), we went through Idaho and into Montana. Over the course of the day is became obvious that Eliot and Toby were feeling much better due to rest and meds, but Sofie was not. So in her words "this has been a hard day for me". The winding roads and congestion were hard on her, but we are happy to report that at 1am our time they are all tucked in bed and no coughing. We hope for a quiet night and a great drive tomorrow full of license plate hunting and new stories to hear. We hope to arrive in Albert Lea, MN a little earlier than tonight. Good night.