July 23 - 25: Davies Family Weekend at a Best Western

This is the second year we've had a Davies family reunion at the Best Western in Grand Rapids.  Both times we've been fortunate enough to have Aunt Elise and Uncle Jono (pictured on the right...Aunt Elise is holding Brielle) in town from Williams Lake, British Columbia.  It's always good to see them, as short and sweet as our time together tends to be.  We also were glad to spend one evening with Great-Grandma Davies from Holland (see picture below; with Grandma & Grandpa Davies)! 

The hotel has a pool which is great fun, especially for the kids.  Koen and Tysen had a wonderful time showing off their newly acquired swimming skills and enjoyed playing with cousin Isaac. 

We also spent time at the Grand Rapids Children's Museum.  Koen and Tysen were there earlier this summer, but still loved going back.  They even saw things we had missed during our first visit -- the train table and bee hive being the favorites. 

Within two hours of arrive home after the hotel weekend, Koen and Tysen took off with Daddy, Uncle Jono, Auntie Elise, Grandpa D., and Grandma D. for the Tinklenberg Reunion in Minnesota!  A whirlwind weekend!

July 20: Anderson & Girls Orchard

During our camping trip, we took a day for an excursion to the Anderson & Girls Orchard.  This place is AMAZING!  Our friends, the DeBoers, had found it a year ago and had told us about it, but it's in Stanton, MI, which is a bit of a hike from our house.  It's much closer to the campground we were using, so we took part of a day to head out there.

This place is wonderful!  First of all, it's TOTALLY FREE!  Love that!  They have amazing animals for kids to see:  reindeer, emu, camel, zebra, sloth, kangaroos, parrot, and warthog, just as examples!  Then, kids can play on an old firetruck, use the ski boat sand box, slide down the tube-slide, feed the goats (and other animals...just be sure to take your quarters to buy the food!), and touch the pigs, bunnies, and sheep. We could have spent more time there than we did simply because we went on a hot day, and everyone got tuckered out after about two hours. 

They do have a store on the property, but we didn't make it in there so I'm not sure what that holds.  We did, however, treat ourselves to some ice cream from their ice cream shop after our picnic lunch.  They have $1 cones for soft-serve ice-cream...what a deal!  Of course, Koen needed to have the Superman ice cream (not on the $1 list), and Ty just mooched off from Mommy and Daddy's ice cream. 

(Below pix:  The slide & Ty in the firetruck)

I wish this place was closer to our house as it'd be fun to go back with other family and friends!  I'm sure we'll get there again someday!

(Can you see the kangaroo in this pic?)

July 17-July 21: Camping at Lake Wabasis

While I do not consider myself a "camper," my husband and many of our friends from church look forward to communing with the great outdoors.  This is the forth year (I think) where a group of our friends from church has stayed at Lake Wabasis Campground together for an extended period of time.  There is a core group who stays for a 10-day period and others of us who join in at one point or another. 

This year, our family of five stayed longer than ever before:  five nights!  The first two nights were in a tent...a borrowed one since we've outgrown our tent now that we have kids (thank you VanDrunens!).  The final three nights were in a borrowed camper (thank you Oostindies!).  I was extremely thankful for our other VanDrunen friends who had an air-conditioned trailer where I could nurse Brielle in the heat of the day.  It was heavenly! 

Lake Wabasis Campground is a great place for families to camp!  The beach has a great sandy area for kids to play, with a playground in the sandy area as well.  The water is shallow and warm near the beach...perfect for kids to splash around in.  In the past few years I've become more of a shade-lover and one who avoids the sun.  So while the beach is a fabulous spot, Brielle and I hung out in more shaded areas. 

I highly recommend camping with friends, especially if they are like our friends who are amazing and helpful!  It was so nice for our kids to play with their friends all day, every day.  And minus one brief thunderstorm, the weather was great!  A little hot and sticky, but that's better than rain!  Overall, a successful camping experience!

July 15: Pudding Bread -- a day late

While we arrived home on Tuesday after our time with the extended Smits family, we had no energy or desire to bake.  So Wednesday became this week's baking day which worked out well since Seth and Dad were working on the basement and needed some refreshments. 

Since we'd been away for so many days, I hadn't gone grocery shopping which limited the number of recipes that were even an option.  Koen had suggested we make pumpkin muffins, but the last time I was at Meijer they didn't have a single can!!!  Next time I find some I'll be stocking up on pumpkin!  I sifted through some other muffin/bread recipes and came upon Pudding Bread.  We had everything in the house except for the vanilla pudding, but we did have butterscotch pudding, so it was a simple substitution.

Ty is always excited about helping in the kitchen; he loves to lick the spoons and beaters.  Koen wasn't going to help with this recipe, even when I reminded him that the rule was you had to help make it to help eat it.  Ty and I had mixed everything and he had started in on his beater when Koen decided he wanted to lick a beater as well.  Fortunately for him, the cinnamon and sugar still needed to be mixed.  After he made the mixture he enjoyed a beater of his own.

Here's the recipe should you desire to have a taste:

Pudding Bread
1 box yellow cake mix
1 box instant vanilla pudding (or a flavor of your choice)
4 eggs
3/4 cup oil
3/4 cup water

Topping:  3/4 cup sugar
1 & 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Beat together for 8 minutes.  Grease 2 loaf pans.  Pour layer of batter in each.  Sprinkle 1/2 of the sugar mixture over the batter. Pour in remaining batter and sprinkle with remaining sugar.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes.  Let cool and enjoy!

The butterscotch pudding version received rave reviews...Seth said it even reminded him of Friendship Bread.  

July 12: Monopoly

We haven't been faithful with our schedule due to the fact that Jane, Mark, Evan, and Annika are in town, but we did fit a game in this Monday.  Koen and I searched through Grandpa and Grandma's games and Koen picked Monopoly.  We've played this before at our house, though it's a modified version.

To start out, Koen and Ty argued about who would get to be the train for the game.  Seth and I finally helped them decide that Koen would simply use his Thomas train for his game piece and Ty would get the train game piece.  Win-win!  In our version, we roll the dice to go around the board, but if you land on a property you automatically get the card.  You can go around as many times as you want to, but this time we just went around the board once.  Koen reached "Go" first and had the most cards!  This kid seems to win all the games fair and square!   

This revised game is good practice for counting, both the number you roll on the dice and the squares you move ahead.  The money concept is a bit advanced for our kids at this point, but as long as they have fun playing together and enjoy the family time, I'm satisfied!

July 10: Last swimming lesson session

Today was the last day for Koen & Tysen to have swimming lessons.  They both received certificates for their work, and Koen passed on to the next level!  Both boys have improved greatly and are a little sad that the session has come to an end.  We've been able to swim quite a bit lately in other pools, and Koen has become so confident in the water, in part due to the lessons he's had.  Ty isn't always as excited to be in the pool, but he does fine and I'm sure will become more confident and excited about it as he grows older.

July 9: The Zoo!

It was a beautiful day for our whole family to visit John Ball Park Zoo.  It'd been a year since our last visit so the kids didn't remember it much and were excited to go check it out!  As of June, the zoo is home to a HUGE alligator, Big Mike, who weighs over 800 lbs. and is 13 feet long -- impressive to see! 

Koen's favorite thing at the zoo was watching the monkeys, while Ty liked the bears best.  I liked the petting zoo where the kids could pet the goats.  In the reptile house, one of the zoo volunteers had a snake out and Ty and cousin Evan were brave enough to touch it!  I know there are other opportunities at the zoo to hear talks and learn about the animals, but we kept it pretty simple with little kids in tow. 

We were at the zoo just over 2 hours and saw about everything...the perfect amount of time for an outing made up of young kids and their parents.  I'm glad we went in the morning when it was slightly cooler as it was getting pretty hot and sticky as we left.

July 8: Playworld

We have visited Playworld in Grandville, MI  a few times, and the kids love it!  For one relatively low rate you can stay as long as you'd like.  They have a number of things for the kids to climb in, slide down, and explore.  Ty isn't quite as brave as his older brother when it comes to some of the larger play pieces, but he still manages to have a great time!  This particular visit was with our cousins, Evan, Annika, and Henry...all visiting from out of state. 

It can get busy (especially when a daycare group arrives) which makes it difficult to keep track of your kids, but overall it's a great experience.  Some parents let their kids go play while they sit and read a book etc., which bothers me a little bit.  I guess I may be a bit more protective of my kids, especially when bigger, unsupervised kids are ramming around.  It obviously bothers me more than it bothers my boys since they always have a great time.

July 7: Egg Carton Caterpillers

 

The night before this "project day," I had no idea what we were going to do.  I had plans to scrapbook with my friend, Kelli, and her son, Ian, was coming over to play, so I didn't want anything too fussy or time-consuming.  I found a package of pipe cleaners in the craft supplies bag, so I went online to see what I could find.  I came up with this cute spider idea using egg carton pieces.  

 Of course, Koen didn't want to make a spider; he wanted to make a caterpillar instead.  Fortunately, I had cut up the entire egg carton and had plenty of pieces to put a caterpillar together...or should I say three caterpillars -- one for Koen, one for Ty, and one for Ian.  They didn't turn out too badly for being an impromptu project.  Ty & Ian showed off their creations for the camera, but there's no picture of Koen since he chose not to cooperate.

July 6: Grandma Davies's Snack Mix Recipe

With lots of family time coming up, lots of food is needed.  This snack mix recipe, given to us by Seth's Grandma Davies, makes an insane amount of food, and it is fabulous!  We'll eat some of it while hanging out at Mom and Dad's with the rest of the family, and the remaining portion will be offered for others to enjoy at the Smits's Family Reunion this Saturday.  The kids were happy to help with this super easy recipe...besides, it's fun to dump the entire contents of a bag or box into a garbage bag!   

Koen dumps pretzels into the garbage bag.

Here's the recipe for you to try.  You can always make a half-batch if you don't want so much, but it's great to share with friends!  We make it at Christmas to give away to teachers and bring to Christmas parties. 

You will need one large garbage bag (13 gallon) for mixing.

Choose your ingredients:  Seven boxes of snacks...wheat thins, oyster crackers, pretzels, Goldfish crackers, salted peanuts, Bugles, cereal squares (rice, corn, etc.) BE CREATIVE!

Dressing:  1 package dry Italian dressing

7 oz. peanut oil

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. dill weed

Mix crackers together in a garbage bag.  Mix dressing, oil, and spices; shake well.  Pour over crackers.  Tie bag and shake well.  Let stand 24 hours and SHAKE FREQUENTLY. 

If you add too much cereal, etc. the flavor gets weak.  Make and add another 1/2 of the dressing recipe. 

Share and enjoy!

Ty mixes the dressing while Brielle hangs out in the Bumbo seat.

Potty Training Tysen

We've taken a short hiatus in our planned activities in an attempt to potty train Tysen.  A friend of mine had purchased and used the 3 Day Potty Training method by Lora Jensen.  It worked for her, so I thought it would work for us, too.  Why wouldn't it?  Someone I know personally had used this method with success, thousands of others have used this method with success, and it's guaranteed, but we have not been successful.

We just finished Day 6 with Tysen and still seem to be no where near being potty trained.  The website says even stubborn and difficult children can be potty trained with this method.  While Ty is stubborn, he can't be more stubborn than other kids out there, can he?  Granted, Tysen is a full year older than the 22-months of age recommended by this author as the age to potty train using this method.  Older kids, she states, can take longer and be more difficult to train, but when you're told potty training will be done in 3 days and you do EVERYTHING the program outlines, let me tell you, you will be frustrated, disappointed, even angry.

But to keep things in perspective, Koen took over eight-months to potty train.  I figured if I could do it in three days I'd be thrilled!  I didn't think about the fact that eight-months of frustrations would be crammed into 3 days (and then more!).  Don't get me wrong, we have had some successes -- few and far between; this just isn't what I planned on.  I said to Seth that this program should be renamed, "How to Potty Train in Less than One Year," and then when it worked for people in 3 days, 6 days, or however many days, people would be ecstatic!  He didn't think it would sell as well.  

So we're still not there yet, but I'm praying it'll take less than eight-months to potty train Ty.  Who knows...maybe tomorrow is the day it'll all "click" for him!  And honestly, I've already thought about trying this method with Brielle...when she's 22 months.  Maybe it'll work at that age...  

I'll keep you posted on this.

June 29: Gummy Candy

So this wasn't technically baking, but we were in the kitchen, and I thought the kids would enjoy it since they love fruit snacks!  This is a recipe for gummy candy that I got off the "Sandy's Spot" blog on www.grkids.com , but I couldn't find it back and I'm not currently at home so I'll have to post it later.  

Koen and Tysen took turns stirring the gelatin but kept asking if they could lick the spoons.  We stirred it up, played while it sat for 10 minutes, heated it, and then poured it into the candy molds.  This recipe made a lot of candy!!!  I chose grape jello since that's one of the kids's favorite flavors, but I personally would have preferred strawberry or raspberry.  The candy only needed to be in the fridge about 10 minutes before we could enjoy it.  Instant gratification is always good. :)  You can see a few of the shapes in the picture below:  airplane, helicopter, banana, strawberry, pineapple, etc.  The bigger pieces are on top since that's what they want to eat first.  We also had more bite-size pieces in the shapes of hearts, flowers, numbers, etc.

The kids (and the neighbor girls) really like them.  Ty keeps licking the candy before he eats it...I guess it lasts longer that way and it's not messy since it doesn't melt at all. We'll keep this recipe to make again...someday.