Baby Bella!

Just a quick post for those of you who aren't on Facebook (where more pictures are posted): Baby Bella has arrived and is as cute as a button! Proud Mama Katie is over the moon with excitement - looks like this one is a definite keeper!

This and That...

Just a few random thoughts from happenings around here during the last couple of weeks....

Garage Sale = Good weather Friday, bad weather Saturday, but overall sold around $300 worth, and also gave lots to Goodwill after all was said and done. Best part? Dave, Rachel and Ally were home for the weekend! So good to see all of them. Rachel was a big help during the sale, and Dave was nice enough to help Scott start building his shed in the backyard on Friday. As is usually the case with those kinds of projects, what Scott thought would take about 4 hours is still a work in progress. Of course the weather on Saturday made it impossible to continue working on it, and so he has been fiddling with it over the last couple of days. Getting close to being done - way to go, dear. It will be nice to have some extra space for all that clutter that accumulates in the garage... We also enjoyed seeing Brenda at the sale both days - thanks, honey, for all your help, too!

We also enjoyed going to the movie "Angels and Demons" with the kids (it was excellent, even though Scott fell asleep in the beginning), and then out to Pereddie's for a nice meal. We hadn't been to that restaurant in a long time, but then took Rachel there for her birthday; she thought Dave would enjoy it, so we all went Saturday (and he did). Grandpa enjoyed seeing the kids on Sunday, when we had him over for dinner after church. It was a perfect day for a barbecue!

Prior to Katie starting her new job, she was in town for a few days, and we met up for supper at 84 East with my friend Lynne and her daughters Katie and Chelsea. Had a night full of laughs and literally shut the place down. The waitress was nice enough to take a picture of all of us (see above).

Speaking of Katie's new job, she has now been there for almost 2 weeks, and so far is really enjoying it! She loves her new boss (night and day difference from her old job with "The Senator") and she is loving the casual work environment. She is meeting lots of new people, who she says are all very friendly, and her boss flew in from Seattle for two days this week to spend some time with her. Her other big news is that little Bella, her puppy, will be flying in from Iowa this coming Saturday morning. She can't wait, Dave & Rachel can't wait, and even we can't wait - we're all very anxious to see her. For those of you who went on the website to see the pups, hers is the light brown female (there were also two darker brown ones). Those pictures have now been taken off the site, though, with only pictures of the 3 remaining male puppies that are left.

Scott and I will be at the Reed's Lake Art Festival in East Grand Rapids this Saturday. Come on over if you're looking for something to do!

Cousin Dave Nykerk is in town for the month of June. He called to let me know that he's hoping to put together a party for the Nykerk cousins out at his cottage - probably during a week night evening, so will let you know...

Enjoyed seeing First Reformed whup up on the other team at the Monday night game. Of course, the Nykerk boys did a fab job! Great idea of Jim/Rachel to bring dad in his wheelchair - that's quite a walk for him to make, otherwise.

That's about it for now - keep those great family blogs coming - the pictures and tidbits that everyone posts are SO much fun to read!

Enjoy the weekend - love you all!

Check It Out! Our Garage Sale Info on Craig's List

I'll also publish something in the Holland Sentinel to run later this week, but here's the Craig's List Posting:

Huge 8-Family Garage Sale - 4641 Pine Drive in Holland (southside, w. of 64th b/w 146th & 147th)
Reply to: sale-ccxbq-1211184463@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]Date: 2009-06-08, 11:57AM EDT
Huge 8-Family Garage Sale! Items accumulated from last 15 years. 4641 Pine Drive (south side of Holland – Laketown, just west of 64th St., between 146th & 147th Ave.). Friday, June 12 from 8am-6pm; Saturday, June 13 from 8:00am-2pm. Vera Wang wedding gown – size 10; assorted bridesmaid dresses, duck decoys, painting tools, many baby and child items – including high chair, toys & clothes, beautiful (some designer) clothes for adults & children, furniture, camping equipment, tent canopy, weed whacker, wet vac, books, CDs/DVDs, jewelry, home accessories, dishes/silverware, miscellaneous way too numerous to mention… We’re cleaning house - everything must go – great prices!
Location: southside, w. of 64th b/w 146th & 147th
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
PostingID: 1211184463

Great News! + Could One of These Cuties Be Bella?

We are SO happy and relieved to announce that Katie has received a job offer from Thomson Reuters (http://www.thomsonreuters.com/) in Evanston (10 miles outside of Chicago), and will start her job next Monday! Her job will be very similar to her old one at AON - as a sales analyst - and she'll be working in their HealthCare division. Whew! In this economy, we feel very fortunate that she was able to get something so quickly after leaving AON, but the last month has been difficult, as you can imagine. Katie is JUST as excited about her other big news - she's getting a puppy! Yes, a chesapeake bay retriever. She will be getting one of three little girls that are left from a litter in Iowa. Here's the link to the kennel: http://goldeneyeschesapeakes.com/Puppies_TRPX.php

If you scroll down the page, you'll see puppy pictures listed under "Puppies of Jenny & Tator." Two other people have dibs on the puppies, and Katie will be third to choose, but she can't go wrong, because all of them are adorable. She hopes to have the puppy home within the next week or two.

Also, a reminder that next weekend is our garage sale! If you have anything that you'd like to sell, just drop your things off at our house during the week. Dave, Rachel and Ally will be coming home on Thursday evening to stay for the weekend, so they'll be available to help (thanks, kids!) and Brenda and I think maybe Rachel N. will be helping out, too!

It's been a busy week. One more thing that happened is that we bought a new car, and are trying to sell our red Grand Prix. So, if you happen to know anyone......

We should try and have a family breakfast again within the next couple of weeks. What do you think?

"On the Corner of Michigan and Trumbull"....

I remember when Ernie Harwell used to say that phrase when he broadcast the Tigers games on the radio. This is a short post, but thought you might enjoy seeing Scott's latest picture - Tiger Stadium. I think it turned out well. We're hoping it will be popular with all the Tiger fans out there! Enjoy the rest of your weekend.....

Art Fair and Tulip Time Fun!

Last weekend Scott and I had a booth at the Tulip Time Art Fair, and we had a great time! Could not have had better weather - sunny and warm each day, and we were located right on the corner of 12th and Central, conveniently right by where our delightful niece Brenda happened to be dutch dancing! Then, last evening, we went downtown to visit Lake Effect Gallery in it's new location (in the old Hutchinson's childrens' store); as you probably know, Scott has some of his art there. Great new location, and the gallery is beautiful! The owner, Carrie, happened to mention that she had met my brother Bill the day before. He and Jean were there, because she has sold a few furniture pieces to Carrie that are now in her store. Anyway, after that we went to watch Brenda dance (great job!), and enjoyed sitting next to Jim and Rachel - good to have you home again, sis! Enjoy the pictures, and I've even added a short video from Brenda's dance last night....

We're Home!

I'm on vacation! Here's a shot of me taken on the porch of the first placed we stayed, the Ashley Inn, in Charleston...


We got a kick out of LaVerne (on the left), who took good care of us at the Ashley Inn in Charleston. She had many a story to tell....


Getting ready for the Battle of Charleston...

Old graveyard next to a church in Summerville, near Charleston

Typical houses in Charleston....

Our friend, the gator. She's a big girl, huh? Thought she might have me for lunch.

Walking in the "low country."

Breakfast at the "Rhett House Inn" in Beaufort

Me and my buddy, Paula Deen, y'all.

The place we stayed in Savannah - The Ziegler House Inn.

Well, we had a wonderful vacation in Charleston, Beaufort and Savannah, and made it home last night a little after midnight. So much to tell - we experienced so much, it seems like we've been gone forever! You know how it is when you're on vacation, time seems to be suspended, and even though we were only gone a little over a week, it seems like more, even though at the same time, the time flew by! Let me start by saying that the weather was picture perfect every single day - 75 to 80 degrees and sunny without fail. That alone made the trip seem like a vacation. Our drive down and back went very well, too, so that was nice.

We started in Charleston, which is really our favorite place of all. It's like stepping back in time to the late 1700's, early 1800's every place you turn in the downtown area, as the entire town is listed on the National Historic Register. Most of the houses look like they did 200 years ago, and the dates when they were built are on little gold plaques attached to the house. There are moss-draped trees everywhere, and the original cobblestone streets are still intact - really the only way you know you're in modern times is by the cars parked on the streets. Gas lanterns line the streets and light the houses, even during the daytime. Horse-drawn carriages are always around, as this is one way to tour the town. We enjoyed doing that last time we were here, but this time we just walked around. There also happened to be a Civil War battle re-enactment going on last Sunday outside of town, so we took that in - very interesting, with soldiers in their gray and blue, cannons, horses, the whole thing. We stayed in the Charleston area for about 3 days, and then on to Beaufort, a tiny town between Charleston and Savannah.

Beaufort is beautiful in its own right. They call the whole area down there "low country" and that's exactly what it is. Lots of little islands off the coast, with lots of swampy, marshy area to drive through. On the way there we drove through a place called "The Botany Bay Plantation", which used to be a cotton and rice plantation back in the day. Old slave quarters and the ruins of the plantation were still intact. (Actually, there are several plantations in the area that are completely restored, but we didn't stop at any of those on this trip.) Our girls will understand when I say that we went on "one of dad's little nature trips", which is what we used to do a lot of when they were growing up - exploring little out of the way places in nature. The place we stayed at in Beaufort looked a bit like something out of "Gone with the Wind" - it was a lovely old historic home with a wraparound porch, where we ate breakfast. Far and away the most memorable part of our trip to Beaufort took place on one of our "nature trips." Scott saw some white birds (egrets, I think) that he wanted to take a picture of, so we stopped along the road. I stayed in the car; all of a sudden he ran back and said, "you've got to see this!" As he was taking pictures of the birds, all of a sudden he looked down, and about 10 feet away was this 6-7 foot alligator, along with two little baby ones! Yikes! We were standing a couple of feet above her on the road, and she was in the marsh below, standing like a statue looking at us. She never moved a muscle for like 10 minutes; I kind of felt like she might charge us at any moment, but we were confident we could get to the car in time. It was exciting!

On to Savannah - another lovely old historic place - a lot like Charleston, only smaller. My favorite part about it is that the town was laid out like a grid and every two blocks they have what are called "squares" - little parks with fountains, statues and such, including plenty of old oak trees. Good thing to be able to get some shade, because it was blistering hot there - in the 90's, even though it's only April. We took a trolley ride there, to see the sights, and we ate at the "Lady & Sons" restaurant, which is Paula Deen's restaurant, where she serves lots of southern dishes liked fried chicken, grits, collard greens, etc. The eating was great everywhere we went, and of course I gained back a few of the pounds I had lost, but back on the Medifast diet today. I wouldn't have passed up those pecan pralines and all the great food for anything! It was worth it.

We relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, but of course it's true what they say - "there's no place like home." We are happy to be back, and glad to see that Spring has Sprung in Holland, too!