The Koopmans

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Boulder Ridge Safari Park

Last week we had an outing to Boulder Ridge Safari Park in Alto. It was ton of fun with all the Roedema cousins and Grandpa and Grandma. The kids saw and petted a lot of different animals. They had giraffe, peacocks, wildebeest, ostrich, antelope and zebra to name a few and whole lot of little reptile and spiders. We went on a safari bus ride and played in the sand box before a picnic lunch. We had a few seconds where we thought we lost Maci but just so happens that when the safari bus stopped she got off before the rest of us and was waiting for us by our strollers. Levi didn't want to get off the bus until Katelyn and Grandpa did. Luke tried to sound like a little monkey when he saw all the animals..he just takes it all in.

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Ludington State Park Camping June 2013

We had a great time camping this year. We left Luke home with the Grandparents so that we could enjoy some time with Levi and Maci and with past experience we knew that taking him along would equal alot more work and stress. We camped for two nights and ended our trip a little early due to forecasted rain. But the two days that we did have we so much fun. The best part was seeing how much the kids just enjoyed being dirty, outside, how they played with each other and experienced the little joys of the camping trip. We started out and stopped in New Era to County Dairy Farm. It broke up the ride a little for us and the farm tour was fun. We got to see the whole milk process right to where they bottle the milk. The highlight was the endless samples of fresh chocolate milk to try.We had Levi pack his bag himself and we usually check it but did not and he only packed one orange t shirt. They were also were scared of going in the shower with us so no baths for a few days for them. I did tried to wipe them down at night.:) We set up our tents and Levi was more than helpful to help Daddy with that part. We had a campfire both nights and Levi probably asked 50 times each day when we would start the fire. He loved doing this and now claims that he is the best smore maker. He would get so upset when I would get the stick too close to the fire with the marshmellows on the end. The first night they went to bed around 10pm because it was so light out and so much noise around us. The second night we all had to take cover in the tent around 845pm because of rain and stayed there till morning. We colored, played games and told stories to past the time and they were so content doing this.They went to sleep easy that night. We stayed mostly dry but everything else around us was wet. They were not scared of the rain Levi and Maci both loved riding their bikes and we took longer bike rides with them in bike trailers. I pulled Maci in her " princess carriage" and Ryan pulled Levi. We saw racoons and deer on our rides. Levi and Ryan bought some worms to attempt to fish but no luck. We saw a ton of fish but no bites. We also went to the lake to swim and Maci was so tired afterward she fell asleep in the bike trailer and took a two hour nap in the tent. We went out for supper and breakfast to make meal planning easier and ate lunch at the camp with alot of snacks in between. On the way home, we stopped in Silver Lake for a dune ride a sort of compromise for leaving early..Levi was so upset but there was no way we were going to spend another night in the rain. It was beautiful day there and the dune ride was fun for everyone. Levi and Maci both were tired after this and slept in the car all the way home.

Levi will you marry me? Levi: Mace will you come talk with me by the fire. Maci also holding her "tiny" . Here "she is drinking me" as Maci would say. Maci was really listening at the dairy farm

So scared of the cows

Me and Maci by the fire

Silver Lake

Fun day by the beach

Loved camp fires and smores

Getting ready to cast..into the woods, weeds and sticks. Levi got better at it and finally moved to the bridge where he could just drop the line in.

Levi wanted to take a picture of Mom and Dad. Good memories made!

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Luke's First Haircut

Luke was blessed with an awesome amount of hair from the day he was born. Dark black hair that lightened up and never fell out just kept getting thicker and longer...fast. Last week, I took Luke over to my neighbors to get his first cut.He needed it. Luke was scared at first but I held him during it and he was fine. He was so relaxed that he closed his eyes a few times during the cut. He looks so big and grown up now.

Looking Like Bozo..ready for a trim, scared that I left him in the chair

All done! Big Boy!

Stop taking pictures..I want lunch

Met Dad and Kids at Park afterward..then home for lunch

Ice cream

It is not s summer night until you have ice cream. It seems like we have ice cream alot in the summer.
We love ice cream and I love these pictures of the kids.

The Best Dadda!

Love this One!

We SCREAM for ice cream!

Luke Ryan One Year Old June 6, 2013

It is so hard to imagine that Lukie is one already! What a fast and enjoyable year it has been watching Levi and Maci turn into such a great big brother and sister and also as we transitioned into a family of five. Not saying it has not been crazy, messy and loud at times but once the craziness passes we then then realize how blessed we really are. Luke is loving being one. He claps all the time, waves by by, makes a monkey face, loves ice cream, is moving along furniture, wants to be outside all time, gets into the cupboards, loves doggies and hits his sister and brother to stand up for himself. He makes all sorts of babbling noises and says, hot, ut oh. We had a birthday brownie and ice cream on his birthday night with hot dogs for supper, one of his favorite meals which he has been know to eat 2 hot dog at a time. He got a Duplo block set from us which all the kids really like playing. Luke likes the truck parts and will push that around and also the dog piece.

Happy Birthday to You!

Was a proud and Happy Boy when we were singing to him

Pointing to the Doggie on the box of Blocks

Levi's 5th Birthday June 2, 2013

On Levi's real birthday morning we had cinnamon rolls at his request and opened more presents. Levi got to use the red "you are special plate" and loved that it was his special day. We were excited to give Levi his "new" big petal bike. I actually found the bike at a garage sale and Ryan spruced it up a bit, new pedals from the store and it was a perfect surprise for Levi. Levi was worried that he would need training wheels to ride it but we told him that since he had been riding his balance bike he would be good to ride this bike. He didn't want to try at first but with Daddy's help and a few pushes to get some speed he got it down within a few minutes. We were impressed and he was so proud. NO training wheels for him. What a big boy! He was tired out the first few days on it but now he is Mr. Speed. It is fun to see him go. After breakfast that morning we went downtown to the Construction Truck petting zoo. They had all sorts of trucks open for viewing, climbing and honking horns. Levi was scared to climb in any trunk but Maci was more daring. Luke just took it all in. They had snacks and activities for the kids and Levi loved that he got a free truck coloring book to take home.

New Ride

Checking out Garbage Truck

In the snowplow shovel

A little nervous in the dozer

Birthday Celebration

We had a joint birthday celebration over Memorial Day Weekend, for Levi, Luke and Alexa this year because their birthdays are only a few days apart. We celebrated with a breakfast party at John Ball Zoo. It was supposed to be at Millennium Park but we didn't realize that there was a run going on that day. We diverted everyone over to the zoo park and it worked out really well. The Roedema's, Kramer's and Koopmans' sides were all there. It was a beautiful morning to be outside and play and celebrate and enjoy our kids. We had all sorts of breakfast treats, donuts, casseroles, cheeses, fruit and drinks for the kids and so many fun presents.