One bite takes me back.

Today while at the commissary on my grocery shopping trip, I ran across something I hadn't seen in years. Voortman's Windmill Cookies. I had to buy a sleeve and as soon as I got home and put the rest of the groceries away I ripped open the package. To my surprise they'd changed the design of the cookie, and I admit- I was a little disappointed. But when I bit into the snack, I was instantly transported back to my gramma's kitchen in Wyoming, Michigan. I was once again a carefree, eight-year-old little girl sitting at the 50's era kitchen table with it's plastic tablecloth, Bible and "Our Daily Bread" devotional sitting next to the napkins and salt & pepper. I was flooded with memories of my sweet grandparents and how much fun we had with them...whether it was at their house up north or down at our house in Florida where they'd spent about a month every winter. Then I thought about how I wish I'd have asked more questions and really taken in all their stories. My grandma was one of 15 kids born to farmers in Marne, Michigan. Her parents were marriedi n 1900 and both came from "the old country" of the Netherlands. My grandpa grew up in Chicago during the mobster era...I remember one story he told (very vaguely of course because my sisters & I were young and impressionable) about seeing a mob hit go down while he was walking home from school. My grandparents survived the Great Depression and World War 2. I remember them speaking Dutch around us when they didn't want us to hear what they were talking about. They taught us a couple of little rhymes and finger plays in Dutch, but unfortunately I only remember little snippets. They both passed away in 2003 and were as much in love then as they had ever been. I miss them every day, but especially when I look at my kids and think "Man- they'd sure get a kick out of them!" We were fortunate enough for them to both meet Noah when he was a baby, but they never got to meet Jonah or Sophia. Jonah was the first great-grandchild born after they both passed, and we derived Jonah's name from my grandpa, John. Isn't it amazing how one little bite of a simple ginger cookie can bring back such memories?

To make you smile.

I love my kids. Sure, I complain about them sometimes. Okay, alot. Take my facebook status the other day for example. It read: "Sometimes I wish I had earplugs surgically implanted into my eardrums."

But then come the times where they make me smile.

• Yesterday while driving home, the boys & I were talking about how the Air Force, Army, etc were called "branches" of the military. Now, I have to stop here and point out that yes, some of you may think that's a crazy topic for a mother and her 6 and 8 yr old boys to be on, but when you're a military family it's nothing. Really. Anyway, my 8 year old third grader piped up and said "Oh! Mom! That's just like in the government." Good to know he's paying attention in school. "The government has the legislative branch, the jude-i-kull branch, and the excuse-a-tive branch." A smile instantly crossed my face and it was all I could do not to laugh. I just gently agreed and repeated the words to him the correct way.
• My little princess was sitting at the table earlier having a mid-morning snack. Holding her peanut butter celery she looked up and said, "You know what mom? Deese sings are super nummy num num. I looooove butter salad."
• Over the weekend we had a rare few hours where it was daylight and we were not at the hockey rink. The boys were outside in the backyard playing ball with the hubby while I was inside doing mom things. Jonah (barely 6 yrs old) came bounding in the house, out of breath, and said "Mom, I just smoked dad in baseball. I should play in the pros."

These moments are ones that I live for. I could be having the worst day/week/month ever, but all it takes is one of those great, kid-only phrases and I'm instantly happy.

Favorites

These are my absolute FAVORITE pictures of our trip.

A Week in the Adirondacks. Part Six.

Fourth of July was a very bittersweet day for us. It was wonderful because we added another family member by way of a marriage proposal (Nick & Justine we love you!) and had a fun day with family. But it was sad becuase it was our last day in Indian Lake, and none of us wanted to leave in the morning.
The town of Indian Lake had a fishing derby in the morning, and the boys participated. Even though they didn't catch anything, they had a really good time hanging out with their cousins and aunts. And they even won brand new fishing poles from the raffle!
Here's Sophia and one of her new favorite people, "An Day-bee".

Fishing Derby time!

Hubby's niece Jennie and Sophia were inseperable most of the day ;)

Jonah in the casting contest.

For lunch we had hamburgers and hotdogs. Sophia decided that she wanted the bun from the hamburger, and just the hot dog. She'd take a bite out of the bun, wash it down with some diet root beer, and then take a bite out of the weenie. It was pretty funny. (And yes, it was just a bit windy.)

After the derby we hung out with all of the family, had some delicious food for dinner, watched fireworks, and had a fire. It was a great way to spend our last night in New York. We can't wait to go back again!

A Week in the Adirondacks. Part Five.

Kayaking on Lake Abanakee.

Part of an animal skull the kids found on their hike with Nick (hubby's nephew).

Nick and Justine (Nick's fiancee as of the 4th of July-yay!) brought their ferrets along with them when they came for the weekend. The kids L-O-V-E-D them! Sophia called them 'carrots' and wanted to hold them, until they actually came near her, then she'd squeal and back away.

Eventually, though, she warmed up to them enough to smother them in kisses. The boys even slept with them the first night. (yuck!)

A Week in the Adirondacks. Part Four.

Wednesday we went to the Adirondack Museum, where hubby's brother-in-law Mike works. I was expecting a small, one building type of place, but I was wrong. This place was great. There were lots of different exhibits, all in their own individual buildings scattered around the property. We spent all morning and part of the afternoon there, and if it weren't for the kids being hungry, I could've stayed all day. If you are ever in the Adirondacks, I highly recommend it. It's kid-friendly, too, which is a HUGE plus.

(Please forgive the quality of some of these pictures. My camera batteries died midway through the trip, and the gift shop was OUT of AA's. So I had to rely on the camera from my phone.)

This is the main entrance to the museum. It's so rustic and beautiful. And no, I have no earthly idea what Jonah is doing.

Yet another big chair. I swear I could've filled an entire album of Big Chair pictures with all the ones we saw throughout the week.

Sophia really enjoyed 'cooking' over the campfire in the kids exhibit.

Noah & his (stuffed) fish.

Jo caught one too!

One of the old railroad cars on display. The kids could ring the bell and play in the engine room.

Going for a canoe ride in the pond.

The boys loved this tent......and this lean-to.

A beautiful view of Blue Mountain Lake from the observation deck on one of the exhibit buildings.

These beautiful swings were in the playground outside of the old schoolhouse. They had lots of great, old-fashioned games (and I mean OLD games...like ones they played during the covered-wagon days). The boys and Bobby were playing with some of them when Noah, very innocently, asked "Dad, did you play these games when you were a kid?" Debby and I laughed SO HARD. Hubby is the youngest out of him, Debby and myself, so when they asked him that, of all people, we couldn't contain ourselves. Oh did we laugh about that for days!

Noah & Jonah made paperbag puppets in the classroom and sat in the desks. They were really amazed that there was only one room and kids of all ages and grades were in the same class.

A Week in the Adirondacks. Part Three.

Tuesday we made a trip to Lake George. We had been planning on spending the day down there on the 4th to watch their fireworks, but since Mike had to work on Saturday, we decided to go on Tuesday instead. And it's a dang good thing we did, because it turns out that the holiday fireworks were going to be set off on Friday, not Saturday. I'd have been mad!
On the way to Lake George, there is a big 'ol wooden chair on the side of the road, and it is one of the things I remember most about my first trip to New York back in 2001 when Bobby & I were newlyweds. I had strict instructions from my mother to take a picture of the kids in this chair. So, here you go Ma! Mini-golf was a big hit for all the kids. But I think I enjoyed it the most, becuase on Hole #9, I got a hole-in-one, y'all!! Hubby claims he didn't see it, and so do the boys (of course), but Debby's got my back. Don't ya Deb?!

Next was a carousel ride. The boys have their ears covered because over the music there was a horrendous grinding sound that lasted the entire time. It was bad.

Beautiful Lake George.

I think that the general consensus from the kids was that the arcade was the highlight of the trip. Sophia's favorite was the "bowing addey". She got so excited! Now, Debby's probaby going to kill me for this one because I don't think she knew I took it. But it was so cute of her & the boys that I couldn't resist. I love you Debby, I promise!!

And a trip to Lake George is never complete until you've had some Martha's ice cream. Sophia enjoyed hers ALOT.

A Week in the Adirondacks. Part Two.

On Sunday, we headed up to Indian Lake, to spend the rest of our vacation with hubby's sister Debby and brother-in-law Mike. We had so much fun with them. The boys thoroughly enjoyed throwing their watermelon rinds over the bank behind the house so the bears could eat them (we didn't see any in person, thank God!). They loved roaming the woods by the house in search of the perfect marshmallow and weenie roasting sticks.
We did alot of swimming on the lake and in the river. (And when I say "we", I mean the kids and Debby. It was WAY too cold for me!)

Mike, Jonah and hubby skipping rocks across the river.

Sophia loved the water in the river until she fell over in it. She wasn't much of a fan after that.

We had a fire almost every night and we roasted weenies and made countless S'mores. Even Sophia got in on the action!

Sunday Brunch

Today we skipped church (awful, I know!!) because my sis wasn't feeling so hot. Instead, my parents took us all to Cracker Barrel for brunch. What better way to start the week than sittin' a spell in the rocking chairs, playing checkers and eating some tasty food?

Life's a beach!