Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Busy month of August

phew! it's hard to believe that August is almost over. and what a full month it has been. i will try to catch up as best as i can, but most likely, it's going to be more like a list of things we did and photos of our various trips and activities.

first of all, we had many celebrations in August. Phil and i celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. we celebrated my father's birthday, my nephew Amoz's birthday and my birthday.

we went on a trip to southern California. we drove to Zeeland, Michigan--it was our girls' first long road trip. we had a great time in both places. in CA, we met up with our friends Mary, Martin and their baby Camille. we visited the beautiful aquarium at Long Beach and played on the beaches. we ate lots of delicious Korean food.

the drive to Zeeland was hard for the girls, but they survived. we broke up the ride a little for them by stopping in Chicago for lunch with Phil's parents on the way to and then for lunch with friends on the way back. Zeeland is close to Lake Michigan and so we were able to visit the beach there and it was beautiful. it was great to visit my parents' new home in the States. it was great to see them settled and to see the community they live in.

and on top of all the travelling, we have been busy getting ready for the school year. we registered Skye for kindergarten and learned who her teacher would be for the year. we have visited her school several times to get her used to the environment, and we go back to the school tomorrow for open house where Skye will be able to play in her new classroom and meet some of her classmates. it'll be quite exciting! i've been busy getting ready for Claire too. i've signed up for a music class with her and will be busy setting up playdates for Claire so that we can keep busy while Skye is away all day!


here we are at Griffith Park in LA. Skye enjoyed a pony ride and Claire and Skye loved the great carousel!



the girls enjoy some down time...


beach time!



enjoying the beautiful jelly fish at the aquarium




with our friends, Mary, Martin and baby Camille!










in between our trip to LA and our trip to Zeeland, we had a few days back in Madison for some down time. our neighbour stopped by one day and asked us if we would have any use for some very large furniture boxes. i spent one morning working on the boxes and voila! except now i'm not sure where i'll put it when we have guests over...


in Zeeland, MI.
Skye goes fishing! but those sneaky little fish...they gobbled up the bait and refused to get caught! but we did end up enjoying feeding the ducks and the geese who also occupied the pond.


the beach at Holland, MI


the girls had a fantastic time with grandparents. they even endeared themselves to my parents' neighbour who gave the girls each a piggy bank from her rather large collection of piggy banks. here are the girls each holding their pigs.

2 comments:

ErinOrtlund said...

Wow! That's wild that your parents live in Zeeland! Did they move there from Kenya, or from somewhere else in the states? I can't remember where they were before. Small world!

SL Kim said...

yes, they did move to Zeeland from Kenya, although they spent a few months in New Jersey before moving to Zeeland. they have friends there who were also missionaries in Kenya. well, you'll have to let me know the next time you make a trip to Holland. who knows, we may be visiting my parents again!