Helping Out

Today, Ryan was working on a few projects in the backyard. Levi loves being right next to his "dada". He wanted to try to do whatever Ryan was doing whether it was raking, moving dirt, or shoveling. Levi gets very frustrated when he can not do it himself. He really enjoyed just being "all boy"...picking up rocks, eating dirt and laughing. It was pure enjoyment to him to experience a project with dada. When I brought him inside to have lunch and clean up he screamed dadda dada till we where inside. It is such a blessing to watch Levi and see him enjoy life!

Millenium Park

Yesterday, Ryan,Levi and I went to Millenium Park. We spent time at the Splash Pad, playing in the sand and spending time in the water. Levi also enjoyed his treat..a snowcone he said num num to that. It was a beautiful day to spend in the sun with our family.

Levi spent time with Daddy at the Splash Pad. He liked "driving" this car the best. When he plays with cars or trucks now..he makes the vroom vroom noise. How do little boys know how to do that?




Here are some pictures of us at the beach area...Levi loves his shovel. One night a few weeks ago when coming home from Grandma Roedema's house he would not let go of it. He ended up sleeping with it in his hand till I put him in his crib.

NO! NO!

Levi has started to say "no" to us when we tell him not to touch or do something. Lately, he is trying to be independant in that he wants to do things himself like with eating..he wants to use the fork and spoon and food goes everywhere. He also is doing this temper thing where if he does not like what we tell him he slams his head into the floor...or table or your head or knee or whatever. I will have to google what that is all about. He is a shot of a typical reaction to no.

Pups, Popsciles and Pigs

The past couple of weeks have been fun. We are keeping busy this summer and enjoying the time we have together. Ryan has finshed his masters class for the summer and is currently not working any extra jobs so when I am off from work we have been trying to have some sort of activity planned. We headed out to Grand Haven last week and walked the boardwalk and played in the sand. We had a pinic out on the lawn to watch the boats and the many people. Levi saw alot of uoff uoffs (dogs) and babies..(in strollers)...he talked alot when he saw them. Levi also had his first pronto pup and his first baby icecream cone. Levi also has been enjoying spending time in his pool...most of the time he is out of it but loves splashing and playing on the deck with his toys. This week we went to the library together. Levi loves playing with the toy train set that is at the library and interacting with all the kids there. He is not afraid to go up to kids and say "hi". We also went to the Berlin Fair. We have been reading alot to Levi and many of his books are about farm animals. He loves the books...but was a little scared of the real things. At the fair, we touched and saw goats, cows, chickens, horses, and bunnies and pigs. Levi started bawling when a goat let out a huge sneeze in front of him. You could tell that he was trying to take in all the sights and sounds of the farm.

Flowers, Bees and Butterflies...

So while up at Crystal Mt. this past weekend my mom and sisters and I loved looking at the landscaping around the resort. They have the coolest flowers and arrangements..we took a walk one night and just looked at all the cottages and the way they had the flowers arranged at the resort. We saw some butterflies and alot of bees.






Some of the cute cottages... Levi was bored..hanging out with us

Crystal Mt. Weekend

We had alot of fun last weekend. We spent the weekend up north at Crystal Mt Resort with the Roedema family. On Friday, Grandpa and Grandma and Levi's aunts and uncles watched him while Ryan and I spent the afternoon canoeing on the Pine River. We usually go kayaking but this was a fun trip because it was on part of the Pine River that we have never been before. On Saturday, the guys went golfing and us girls..and Levi went on a walk through a nature garden and browsed through some stores in the town of Frankfurt. In the afternoon we spent time at the pool. On Saturday night we went to Traverse City for the evening. We headed home on Sunday morning. We had a great time eating, drinking...:)and visiting with each other. It was fun to have Levi in a better mood than last year and to see him and Katelyn interact and talk with each other. Ryan and I loved taking Levi in the water and watching him toddle around and eat...he loves to eat!


Levi giving Grandpa Roedema a big hug...he loves to do that lately




At Crystal Gardens






Family Shots