May Moments

As Tulip Time was fast approaching we decided to hit Veldheers Tulip Farm before all the tourists came into town...it is odd how close we lived to these tourist destinations growing up and didn't go to many of them. Ella seemed to like the Tulips...a little too much...we had to make sure she didn't start plucking the flowers. Here are some pictures of our trip to tip toe through the tulips.

We also ventured out to Art in the Park during Tulip Time week...

Ella taking in the dutch dancing with Daddy...

and Mommy (as you can see she was tired...meaning Ella has this weird thing with holding my hair when she gets sleepy...I tend to get really sick of it but try to remind myself that soon enough she will grow out of it and I will miss this little Ella-ism:)

Enjoying her first ice cream of the year from Kilwins downtown with Daddy, Superman of course:)

Before catching some more dutch dancing one night we met Betsy and Jake and Lily for dinner downtown and ventured out to Centennial Park for some pictures with the girls in their costumes. We also got to meet up with Bryan and Daysha and the kids...gotta love those cousin pictures when they are all dolled up!

Classic dutch gal - blond hair and blue eyes:)

Ella and Lily

Dancing a little jig to the music playing in the park...future Dutch dancer maybe?

Taking a moment to stop and smell the tulips

Pics with Mom and Dad

Our little Dutch (& a little German) family

Gotta love those moments of pure silliness and giggles:)

I wonder what is going through their little minds...maybe how much faster they would be able to run around without those get-ups on:)

Striking a pose

Ella and Kennedy

Getting a hug from cousin Kooper

oops - must have missed the pic with Kolter in here:(

Ella playing with some friends after Dutch Dancing...Missy and Fin

Loving on Auntie Daysha who did an awesome job dancing...such a cute hat!

Giggling with Jacee

Thursday's parade was lots of fun, especially since Brad's family all sat together to watch...Ella just sat there and took it all in

Ella with Great Grandma Essenburg, Grandma Koning, and Great Aunt Vicki

May 8 was the River Bank Run and a bunch of us supporting Youth for Christ (a lot of people were from Victory Point where we go to church) bussed it out to GR to run the various races of the River Bank Run...it was a ton of fun training together and riding together to the race.

Unfortunatly I had some problems with my knee right before the race and didn't think I should run on it...as bummed as I was that I didn't do it, I had fun learning to run (since I never really did it before) and got to know some of the girls better. Brad ran the 5k...that's what we both signed up to do originally. He did a great job as well as everyone else! I stayed on the sidelines and cheered our team on and took pics...it was a cool experience to be a part of and I hope someday I will participate in it for real! The whole group that ran to support Youth for Christ

My husband out there making me proud

Mother's Day was a great day. I got to spend some quality time with my girl in the morning...

We spent lunch with Brad's family to celebrate Brad's Mom ...

some more alone time in the afternoon....

and had supper at night at our house to celebrate my Mom!

On May 14 Brad and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary. We decided to make a stop at the place where it all began before we went out to celebrate our anniversary. We went to Calvin's campus and took a walk to the Seminary Pond...a place of deep meaning for us. It is a place where I prayed to God to bring someone into my life, where the next night we took a walk there and hung out for the first time, where I heard him sing a song he wrote for me for the first time, where we kissed for the first time, where we talked all night long for the first time, where we truly fell in love for the first time, and where he proposed to me...this is the place our love story truly began and I was so glad that we visited it to reminisce. I am truly blessed to be married to my best friend and I pray we have many more years together.

The following weekend we had our special day with our niece Kennedy. It was her turn to do something fun with us to celebrate her 5th Birthday. We decided to take her on a dune ride in Saugatuck.

Kenz and Ella before the ride:) She is such a sweet big cousin to Ella.

Me, Ella, Brad, and Kenz on one of our stops on the dunes

Kenz with Uncle Brad

Ella checking out the sand dunes

Kenz and I together before we ran down the sand dune

It was a twisty, turny, bumpy ride but it was super fun. It was us and a group of girl scouts on the dune truck...which meant lots of screaming...that really freaked out Ella and Kennedy, but they were able to overlook it and have fun for the most part...they just held onto us for dear life:)

The girlies on the dune truck

It was a great day with our Kennedy - we followed that up with a trip to McDonalds and the park. I hope we get to spend many more special days together in the years to come.

Later that day Brad, Ella, and I ventured out to Grand Haven with our neighbors to try and catch the kite festival. Unfortunatly all the festivities for the day were over and it was very foggy, but we still had fun walking on the boardwalk and pier together.

Grah, Carrie, Chris, Ella, and Brad (and baby Lili in the stroller:)

What a little beach bum:)

One hot afternoon we decided that since we never bought a fun sprinkler for Ella to run through (since last summer she was still learning to walk) we would just turn on our yard sprinklers. Ella had a ball running through them and trying to fill up her watering cans at the same time.

Ella has been enjoying coloring a lot lately. We are almost past the phase of wanting to eat crayons and markers so it is more enjoyable for everyone involved:) Notice the cool hot pink pencil box...my mom just found it in her basement and it was mine in elementary school...now it can be put back to good use:)

Like I said, we are almost past the eat the crayons and markers phase:)

Our Wednesday mornings with the my niece drew to a close since her mommy is a teacher and has summers off, so here is Ella and Lil playing in the sprinklers outside on our last morning together. Lily was totally fearless in the sprinklers and ran through them back and forth and even when she walked directly in front of where the sprinkler head was and it knocked her clean over, she just giggled and got back up for more - she is so cute...don't you love her makeshift bathing suit...Ella tank:)

One day Ella and I were just sitting outside doing bubbles and I had the urge to get some close up shots...although Ella was too hyper to really let me take them like I intended, I still couldn't help posting some that I did get. She is growing up so fast, and I never want to forget this little face.

We also said goodbye to Ella's Friday afternoons at Auntie Daysha's house since my work schedule changed (as well as her mornings with Auntie Betsy). Here is some cute outdoor pics Daysha took when she was there in May.

Ella and Kolter

Ella loving her first big popcicle all to herself

Memorial Day weekend kicked off our first summer visit to Brad's parents cottage up north at Big Star Lake. Here is some of the pics I took of Ella enjoying the cottage with the fam

Ella and Lily enjoying putting their toes in the water..gotta love the miniature chairs

Floating around with Daddy in the lake

Digging in the sand

Sporting her new suit and sunglasses

Taking her first sea doo ride with Grandma...

Let's just say Brad was a little nervous about this and leave it at that:)

But of course Grandma was a slow and safe driver and they made it back with big smiles...apparently after a minute or so Ella didn't want Grandma to steer at all, she wanted to do it herself...looks like we have one independent girl on our hands - yikes!

Later on it was Grandpa's turn to take Ella out...he didn't go as slow as you can see but he was of course careful. She loves riding on them and whenever we say sea doo she says "ohhhhh" and "vroom vroom"??? like she is asking if she can go on them again.

Grandpa Koning also did something else special with Ella for the first time...he took her fishing off the dock. Of course it only lasted a little bit but she liked just sitting with him and listened to him explain the process...it was cute to watch...I think he enjoyed it just a little bit too:)