Favorites This Trip

Here are a few of Gerrit's favorite things to play with on this last trip to MI:

He loves the boats (which were Max's - over 10 yrs old toys!) and taking Woody and Buzz for boat rides kept him busy for hours - they sometimes went skiing too, riding Max's old bike (Mia let him borrow it for the week) - minus a helmet - he went slow!, swimmies and the alligator at the pool (needed some sort of floatation device on in the kiddie pool), Uncle Jeff's old toe truck (that's at least 40 yrs old!) and the wonderful knight helmet he found in Uncle Jeff's garage that he was able to keep. (Uncle Jeff spent the whole time we were together telling Gerrit that he should wear that helmet on the airplane - it would keep him safe! He was just trying to get me annoyed and look silly with a kid and a knight helmet on the plane. We actually forgot it in MI - not on purpose. So we will wait till this fall when Oma/Opa can bring it.)

Sunday Service

Ya, I've been on vacation again. I flew back to MI with the boys so I could help throw a bridal shower for my sister, see a few friends including one that lives on the East coast and one on the West coast. Needless to say, flying with 2 boys isn't quite a vacation (Adam had the better deal!). Anyways, I enjoyed Sunday's service for a few reasons...1) the guest minister was great, 2) Emmit hung out with Auntie Marion (friend of ours) and took a nap on her lap, and 3) Gerrit was entertaining himself with Oma:

I think Woody and Bullseye make great earings!

VBS

Gerrit was not too excited to go Backstage with the Bible this week at VBS. I was soo excited because the church a block away was doing Go Fish's curriculum and I have wanted Gerrit to be part of it. We even skipped swimming lessons this year so he could attend.

Monday morning came and he wasn't going to go. I pulled out the Go Fish t-shirt I had been saving until it fit him (still too big) and that helped a little. He refers to it as his "Jamie t-shirt" as well as all the music is "Jamie music" because he knows him. Anyways, Gerrit kept asking if he could take the pencils home after vacation Bible school - I think he was hung up on the word 'school' which reminded me of a backpack I had gotten free when I bought some books. So, I pulled that out and then he was ready and willing to go! (by 8:30 and it didn't start till 9)

I thought I'd do the mom thing and take a picture of him ready to go - like the first day of school:

That didn't go over too well, so I snuck one in while he couldn't see me. He wanted to ride his bike the first day which was fine, it was only a block up the street:

Needless to say, his excitement wore off by the time we got to the door of the school/church. He did not want me to leave him. We waited for his friend Abby and he even saw a former playmate from daycare that would be in his class. Still, he wasn't going to let me leave. But I did anyways, as he was screaming I bolted for the door. I did stick around long enough to make sure he stopped (I didn't want to leave the teachers with a screaming kid for 2+ hours!).

It was a great experience and he loved every minute of it. What I loved was the teachers are the preschool teachers for the school and they did such a great job of making him feel welcome and get his mind off of me leaving and joining in with the other kids. (He'll go to this preschool next year.) It only took 3 days for him to go through the whole crying bit as I left. Thursday and Friday were a breeze! He asked if he could line up with the other kids and everything! Made me so proud!!

Today they had a little program where they talked about what they learned each day and sang a few songs. Here are Abby (in the coral skirt, blond hair) and Gerrit waiting for the program to start - in their t-shirts they made this week:

Love the zoom lens and cheesy smile! (he's ready for school pictures)

Wait! Where's Gerrit? Oh ya, as the program began and the little kids sang their first song, Gerrit bolted for the pew and sat by me!

Look! He's back...ran back up front and sat down and even joined in a whole group song!

Missing again, we sat too close to the front - made it too easy for Gerrit to go back and forth!

And he reunites with the group again! He never did sing with his age group - just the large group:

And some times refused to join in and do the motions:

Sometimes he felt the spirit and joined the group with the motions, usually a little delayed. Lucky for him, he knew most of the songs as he listens to the CDs every night as he falls asleep. My favorite is the B-O-B-O-E (also knows to others as the BIBLE!) its so cute the way he says it!

And after a week going backstage with the BIBLE:

It was a Matter of Time

before Gerrit realized how easy it was just to start the night out in Mom/Dad's bed rather than his bed!

He always asks to sleep in our bed and we tell him, no he has a great bed of his own. So he goes to sleep in his bed but usually joins us early morning sometime.

The other night I went up to bed and this is what I found. The night light was on and everything! He decided our bed was better than his.

When we asked him the next day about it, he said our bed was bigger - he had more room.

I love how he brought Buzz and "Moody" - Woody to the common folk with him to bed!

Track Meet

Every Tuesday night in Rochester they have a kids track meet. We've forgotten all summer and finally remembered! We rushed out the door and met up with our friends the Rockne's only to get there and Gerrit wanting nothing to do with the whole event! I quickly got him in line for the 50 m dash and when it was time to run, he wouldn't so I held his hand and ran with him only to have him start crying! Yep, he cried the whole time - thank goodness it was only a 50!

We tried getting him to get in line to do the long jump but again, he wanted nothing to do with it. So we said we'd leave (after all the work getting there on time!) but he wanted to stay and watch. He finally wanted to run with dad - on the grass:

He then warmed up to the idea of running on the track - of course, opposite of the events where no one was around:

Finally he was ready to give it a try and run...unfortunately the 3 yr olds had already run the 100m! I told Adam to just get him in line, who cares if he missed his age group - the kid wants to run! So Adam goes to the starting line with him:

Can you guess what age they were up to when Gerrit ran (in the above picture)? 6 yr olds!

Here he is, happy as a lark running the 100 m dash:

The gang taking a break between races:

Gerrit wanted to race again so we waited for the 200 m dash. This time he did run with his age group.

Dad is in the lead....Gerrit checking out the competition and Dad counting how many kids he's passed (who's competetive?).

Getting a smily face at the finish line

Taking a much needed drink after that long 200 m dash

Gerrit finally wanted to do the long jump and luckily the line was much shorter than the 1st time we tried to get him to get in line. Check out that air! His furthest jump (all of 2 jumps) was 2'6"

We decided it was time to head home (even though I think Gerrit would've ran the 400 if we let him). As we were walking to the car we passed a ball diamond so the kids had to run the bases (Matt's idea)

Gerrit was safe at home, thanks to great umping by Matt and Abby

The big ribbon Gerrit received for partcipating in the track meet.

I think we'll go next year, just not on the last meet of the summer as it was pretty busy. We decided that in order for Gerrit to warm up to soccer camp (which we paid for), I'll have to brin him early enough to see what is going on and give him a chance to get use to the whole idea. Once he tries things, he loves it and has a great time, its just getting the kid to get started that is the challenge!

My Little Music Machine

The trumpeter

the audience

live show

totally entertained

audience participation:

Guard Dog

While I was hanging laundry on the line, Emmit was chillin in his bumbo seat. Mrs. Putney heard Gerrit and came over to check out what the kids were doing. She loved that Emmit was at her level and gave him lots of kisses (which Emmit wasn't too sure about).

Mrs. Putney decided to lay next to him and keep an eye on him. (I got Gerrit to join them for this photo.) She is such a sweet dog and loves it when the boys are outside. We hope her joints feel better and she lives a long time!