Ice Cream Truck!

How much fun is the ice-cream truck?! We are super thankful to have a truck that comes down our road about once a week. The excitement that high-pitched "Popeye the Sailor Man" song delivers is immeasurable! We have even hopped on our bike to track him down to ensure he comes down our road. I always make sure to tell Mr. Dave (the driver) that he brings great joy into our lives, and so many others, with his arrival. :-)

Lyddi the Swimmer!

Lyddi learned to swim with a life jacket all by herself! What a fun day!! As you can see, her joy can't be contained about this achievement.

The result of an afternoon in the pool. :-)

The Foursome Duo!

Getting together with old, great friends is always a treat. Adri was in town so Jodi, Laura, Adri and I got together for dinner. What a special night to re-connect....and boy, did we laugh!

We've been friends for over 20 years...wow, that makes me feel old!

Zoo!

Lyddi is at a perfect age for the zoo. We have gone several times this summer, and it's so fun to watch her learn and see her curiosity about God's creatures. One of our zoo trips was with Lindsay and her son, Levi.

Seriously cute.

Another zoo trip with cousins, Blake and Bryson.

Another perk of the zoo....treats!

The pink flamingos are one of Lyddi's favorites. Unfortunately they are super stinky and we can only stomach about a minute of viewing before moving on.

John Ball Zoo has a great little petting zoo. I caught Lydia singing, "Baa Baa Black Sheep" while petting the sheep. 

Bookie Bee 2014

I've finally downloaded pictures off my camera from the past few months...lots to catch up on. I've been very busy the past 5 months completing my capstone project/thesis for my Masters degree (more on that later) and delighting in our two lovely kids. That is why our blog has been so neglected these past months. Prepare for an onslaught of posts....here we go!

Our summer started off with a bang. Thanks for our wonderful husbands agreeing to watch all of our children, four dear friends from Jarvis make the hike to GR to spend a girls weekend together. These girls and I were all part of a book club in Jarvis, so we called our special weekend, "The Bookie Bee!" They arrived and I greeted them with a goodie bag of American gifts...to welcome them to my home-land. 

We enjoyed a lovely and delicious dinner at FireRock Grill. It was so easy to catch up and pick up where we left off a year ago. We laughed, chatted, laughed some more and ate good meat together.

We then headed to my parents cottage. We enjoyed a truly delightful weekend which included: a walk  (or death walk) around the lake, laying out chatting, swimming, pontoon rides, jumping off the boat acting like kids again, card games and many new fun memories. We ended the weekend by attending worship at East Leonard and then had lunch back at our home.

Thank you Bookies!! You jump started summer with an AWESOME weekend. And THANK YOU hubbies for watching our kids, giving us this enriching time of refreshment! 

Misc. May Moments...

Below are some random pics from the past month...

Lyddi all ready for church, with Bunny and Blankie of course.

Carrie is notorious for losing her socks so I found these little things called, Sock-ons, which keep infants socks on. They work really well, most of the time. Somehow our little Sock Houdini managed to lose her sock, while keeping her Sock-on on! Maybe we have a future magician on our hands...

Lyddi is a big fan of helping Daddy bake bread.

 Grandpa stopped in one afternoon. Lyddi was insistent that he please read her a story before leaving.

 We did a lot of yard work this past month. We got Lydia a kid set of yard tools so she can help us. Below she is helping Daddy spread mulch.

 Carrie in a sink bath.

Lyddi taking stock of our groceries.

 Carrie all ready for church.

 Care playing with her buddy, Camden, in the nursery.

 Lyddi and I reading a story together while Care plays in the background.

Our neighbourhood hosts a bunch of wildlife. We have seen deer, skunks many birds and other common animals. One night we spotted 5 rabbits literally frolicking around together outside. They were jumping vertically and chasing each other around. It was really neat! I caught just a bit of it on camera.

And this is just classic. I'm sure every mom has been here, probably to a greater degree. :-)

On to June!!

Firsts!

This month brought some big first moments for the girls. 

Care learned to crawl!

After mastering the crawl, Carrie quickly learned how to pull herself up! Here she is giving it a shot...

 She's up!!

 Up again- with the tongue!

Care getting a pep talk from her big sis.

Lyddi had a first as well. She got her face painted at a church fundraiser.

 
First fort!

Another big first: Carrie's first time swimming!

 Another big family first...Our first time going out for dinner all together! The girls did great, and Zach and I ate very quickly. We did it- Triumph!!

Way to go girls! We delight in watching you learn, grow and discover more about the world around you. You're both doing such an awesome job!!

Play Date!

We headed out to Coopersville one morning to visit our good friends, Julie and Steve, and their 3 boys. Steve and Zach spent the morning/afternoon playing in a golf tournament while Jules and I took care of the kids. Below I am trying to get a picture of the girls together....not an easy task.

 We'll take it!

 After playing inside for a while, we headed outside to play in their new sandbox.

 Below Julie is collecting 2 runaways. :-)

Thanks for a fun morning Jules! It's always great to see you and spend time with your boys. 

Tongue

Our Care Bear cracks us up. She loves to poke out her tongue. She does it quite often too! Below are some shots we got of Carrie and her tongue. 

 What a cutie. We love you Care!

Field Day!

Another exciting event this past month was Field Day! We travelled to Holland to watch Lyddi and Carrie's cousins participate in their field day. When we arrived I was asked to stay with Rachel since she was a bit unsure of being in a group by herself. Lyddi and I ended up staying with Rachel and her group of 3 year-olds the whole time. And the leaders of the group were gracious enough to let Lyddi participate in all the events! 

As you can see, Lyddi was a bit more interested in looking at the ants than watching the runners.

 More bugs!

Here Lyddi is doing the horse race!

Here is the whole gang. It was so much fun and so sweet to watch these girls participate.

Riverbank Run!

This past month I ran a 5K run with some friends. It was pretty fun to be part of such a grand event. It was a gorgeous day to run and I finished (with no training)! The girls and Zach were hoping to come cheer us on, but we were finished running by the time they woke up. 

Cottage Visit!

Wow, May has come and gone quickly. It was a fun month here at the Olson home. One highlight was  visiting the Westras at the cottage. Lydia had a blast with her cousins. Below they are all having a nap together (this lasted about 8 seconds).

 Lyddi and Sarah hanging out.

Playing by the water.

Thanks for letting us come out Anne! We had a great time playing and chatting with you guys.