First BMX Race of the Season

Here are a few still photos from the first BMX race:

Gerrit had a full moto. He even did well without having someone hold his rear wheel. (He needs to work on his pedal placement but did great for his first time this season.)

I love these two pictures of Gerrit and Luke:

 Taken in the same section of the course and they have similar looks!

Gerrit did well despite finishing the first moto last. He took 1st in the 2nd moto and ended up 4th in the finals.

Strider Race:

Emmit and his competition - all 2 of them in the 3 and under race!

Wipe out (this was what was missing in the video!)

A close up 

Adam was on his way to help him up so there was no need for me to put the camera down! :)

 No wipe out was going to stop him!!!

BMX Video

We finally made it to a BMX race! With rain outs, poor track conditions (due to rain) and our schedule, it took until the end of June for us to make it to race night!

I didn't take the video camera but took video via my phone - which is why there isn't a 'zoom'. (Maybe I need the iPhone 5?)

Here's one of Gerrit's races. He didn't take hardware home tonight but raced without trepidation which we were happy to see. He 'crashed' his first moto and took last place. The video is of the 2nd moto. The finals he was way behind and actually made up a lot of ground to almost clinch 3rd. We realized after the races that he had his feet wrong for the starts. He was way behind from the start due to this. Guess it is something he can work on this week!

Emmit was so excited to race. He asked about the race all day and wondered when it was his turn. He waited patiently till intermission and then it was his turn to shine. He took a few practice laps and then lined up. They ran them in 2 groups - by age. Emmit was in the youngest group despite how tall he is (the started didn't believe he was only 3). Anyways, the video will show you the results:

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(OK, after watching the video for the first time - disclaimer -- I had Luke take the video so I could get still shots - guess he forgot to hit record! So its only 1/2 of his race!!)

Home Sweet Home

 In 3 days we went from selling our house to buying a new one! If all goes well with the inspections, we will close mid July. Here are a few pictures I took with my phone:

I forgot to take a picture of the front of the house so this is a photo of the brochure:

When you walk in the front door, the formal living room (which also could be a formal dining room) is on the left:

The closet at the front door:

When you walk in the front door, this is what you see in front of you: 

(brochures for the open house which was later today)

(The deck  is on the other side of the table)

To the left of the kitchen table is the kitchen - love the stainless steel appliances:

I'm excited for more cupboard space and counter space. The counter color is not my first choice but I can work with it.

Ice maker, large fridge and room for frozen pizzas! (I'm not a fan of my side by side b/c I have to rearrange my freezer every time I buy a frozen pizza!)

To the right of the kitchen are a few steps down to the family room (wood burning fireplace).

Off the family room is the guest room:

Across from the guest room is a bathroom. It needs a little work, but it is livable for now.

Just beyond the guest room and bathroom is the mud/laundry room. I would've liked a little more room here but I can't complain. This also leads to the garage. There is a nice space carved out opposite the washer/dryer that we will have lockers build and put in that spot.

Big surprise we came across today (after we put in the offer)

LAUNDRY SHOOT!  Yeee ha! I've always wanted a laundry shoot. So in the little broom closet in the laundry room is the picture on the left. The photo on the right is the little laundry shoot that is in the hall closet upstairs.

 There is not a hallway, rather a landing for upstairs. This is a picture of the master bedroom. I wish the window seat w/ pillows was a bit wider - not quite big enough to sit on so I'm not sure what that will become - other than a spot for junk! 

 The master bath was recently updated. It has a large shower. We love the double sinks and high vanity.

A fairly large master bedroom closet too. :)

One of the boys' rooms. Both claim this is their room but it will be painted before we move or shortly after we move everything. 

This is why they are fighting over the other bedroom:

Who wants pink and purple???

The bathroom upstairs between the boys' bedrooms. This too could use a little work but again, it is livable. (I think the only areas in the house NOT redone are the 2 bathrooms and laundry room.)

Next to the bathroom (off the family room) is the stairs to go to the basement. We have found a home for Wilkinson's pool table!

A little room to the left of the air hockey table. I think this will house my crafts etc. There is not a closet or windows so it can't be considered a bedroom but will make a great craft room with some additional shelves! :)

In the backyard is a nice fire pit. It looks like a lot of the lots have fire pits.

Here is a picture from the edge of the backyard. Under the green tarp is wood for the fire place and fire pit. We are hoping they are willing to leave it :) They just bought stain for the deck and will leave that for us as well. It is in need of a little stain too. 

My next mission is to figure out how to cover up the underside of the deck in a tasteful way....

We are pleased with our choice and excited to do the closings back to back. Mid July gives us time to get settled in before school starts up for Gerrit and I. 

We are minutes away from the grocery store, restaurants, etc. which will be nice. I'm only 20 min (max) from school and Adam about 40 (which is why we never looked at the house before - but the price was right). We are hoping he can find a route that is less traveled by others that might be faster than the main roads w/ stop lights....

I feel like I can breathe and am happy we don't have to keep the house up anymore! I have 1 week left of school and then it will be major packing time for me! 

Gerrit is really happy to be done with this house business. He thinks all my spare time is spent on the computer looking for houses. He's very observant! :)

Cycling Update

I needed a few still photos to document the big event of riding a 2 wheeler:

Its amazing how much Emmit has improved in a week!

He can start on his own (he picked up that much faster than his brother). He still is working on stopping but that is improving with every ride too.

He likes to 'hot dog' it down this hill and weave down the sidewalk. Its pretty funny to watch because you know he is trying to show off!

I attempted to go for a run this week when it was just Emmit and I after school. I tried real hard to use the stroller but Emmit insisted on riding his bike. So off we went....a whole mile with many stops in between. It was a good effort on his part and a nice way to ease back in to running. I'm really hoping he'll choose the stroller next time so I can go a litter farther with fewer interruptions, but I'll take what I can get!

Let the Season Begin!

We finally had some decent weather, so the boys went to the driving range. I had to tag along because this was the first time Emmit went to hit golf balls too.

It was cool and windy, but that didn't stop the boys from swinging!

Still working on getting Emmit's grip correct (Gerrit did the same thing at that age).

Gerrit loved using his driver and being able to hit as hard as he wanted to! (He's limited to chipping and putting in the back yard due to the historical church - with large windows next door and our own house!)

Here's hoping to many more golf outings - where mom can stay behind and have some peace and quiet once in a while!

Birthday - Army style

Yes, these pictures are over a month old...life got in the way, what can I say.

Uncle Travis and Millie came over a few days after Gerrit's birthday. {We had a 'team beat celebration for Gerrit's birthday and to welcome back Travis.} Anyways, Travis gave Gerrit his birthday present:

The largest army tanker balloon and of course more pieces to add to their army set he gave them for Christmas.

 And Gerrit's own army uniform, including his own name badge!

Gerrit wanted me to make a MSU jersey cake for his birthday. Knowing it was going to be a lot of cake, we invited team beat to come eat it. Yes, he is 6 and there are 6 candles, but his favorite player is #5 - hence the 5 on the jersey.

 It was a fun night with everyone over - including Bill and Tricia from BVI (who are here for the summer). It was sad to think we wouldn't be hosting team beat gatherings in Z-town much longer but hope they are willing to travel to the cities once in a while so we can host up there!

Emmit's Milestone

The Big E has joined the two wheeler club!

He has been begging us all winter for the grey bike (Gerrit's old 12"er). We swapped bikes with friends this spring and have had it in the garage since early April. (Not that the weather has been cooperative until recently....) He sat on it but had very little interest in the bike which had me concerned. We decided not to put training wheels on (we did for Gerrit for a short time) and see how he would do.Gerrit was riding at his age and here Emmit didn't want to touch it! 

Until tonight...

Adam and I looked outside (to see what trouble the boys were getting into) and Emmit had the grey bike on the sidewalk (without a helmet) and he was pushing it like it was his push bike. I grabbed Adam's shoes and the phone and said this might be our window of opportunity. Adam ran for the helmet and they were off! It sure helps we have a slight hill on the side of our house - which is where this was shot. 

He has a ways to go but is getting the hang of it. If he would concentrate on watching where he was going rather than watching the cars, it would help. Oh - and understanding that pedaling backwards will stop the bike rather than ride into the grass - but that's minor.

We delayed dinner to take advantage of the bike riding. Finally at 7:30 we sat down to dinner (luckily we stopped next door to show them Emmit's new 'trick' and walked away with homemade pasta sauce ala' nick! Bonus!!

The evening ended with a family trip to DQ for ice cream in honor of Emmit's big accomplishment. Some celebrate potty training and in our house we celebrate riding a 2 wheeler!!!

(I have a lot of pictures to download from the camera, but this was too good to pass up writing about tonight!)