Adoptive Families at Koetsier's Greenhouse for Halloween

This is an annual event put on by FFIC where internationally adoptive children living in west Michigan have some fall fun. This is our second year attending the event. Tonight we met a very nice family and their son who was adopted from Astana, Kazakhstan.

Matthew had so much fun with all the activities. We started out on a hay ride through the woods and around the farm while enjoying a very tasty apple. We saw a mini farm with goats and chickens - or "chicken nuggets" as Matthew calls them. We just finished the hay ride and got inside just before it started raining buckets!

We had a nice dinner of hot dogs, chips, veggies, candy, apple cider and more. Matthew enjoyed playing in the corn kernels, riding the tractors, playing in the bounce house, walking through the indoor "corn maze" and haunted house, tossing the bean bags into the pumpkins, painting a pumpkin and saying "Cheese" a million times as I took about 200 pictures.

It was so much fun and is so nice that the Koetsier family allows us to enjoy this while meeting with many other internationally adopted children and families.

Fun at the Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City

Yesterday and today we had a great time at the Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City.

Our Church had a group of parents with young children go on this over night retreat. It was about a 2 hour drive from our house. Michelle, Matthew and I arrived shortly after noon and had the opportunity to have fun in the water park right away.

Matthew had fun playing in the water, stepping on the holes that shoot water up and sitting on daddy's tube as we went around the lazy river. He also loved watching the huge bucket of water splash everyone below.

My camera isn't waterproof so I wasn't able to get any pictures of us playing in the water, but during Matthew's short afternoon nap I went back down and took some pictures of the water park.

After nap we all got together and had dinner at the resort. Matthew and all the kids loved watching the "talking moose-head" that would occasionally say something while we were eating dinner.

At 8PM all the kids got together in their PJ's for story time in the lodge. One of the characters told the children a story before bed. Unfortunately the battery in my camera was dead so I could only take pictures with my cell phone which isn't the best.

Saturday morning we parents got together for about an hour talking about how to Shepherd our children in the way they should grow and love our Lord. The kids played in the other room with a couple of the youth group girls.

We headed home around noon and enjoyed all the beautiful fall colors on the way.

It was a great time getting away and having fun with Matthew!

2 years 9 months old

Look who is 2 years 9 months old.

He's so darn cute!

Adoptive Families at Schwallier's Country Basket

Today the west Michigan "Adoptive Families" group had a fall party at Schwallier's Country Basket in Sparta.

There were farm animals for children to pet, a hay ride, pumpkin patch, corn maze and a lot of other fun things for the children to do. It was fun to see so many adoptive children and their families.

Matthew had a lot of fun petting the baby goats and picking out his own pumpkin from the pumpkin patch.

What a beautiful fall day to have fun!

Finding bugs together

It seems that I haven't blogged in a long time. Not because we don't have anything to share, but because we are just so busy having fun together!

Today after work Matthew and I went in the back yard to find bugs to put in his bug-box. We found a bunch of ants on his slide. It was so cute watching him pick them up that I had to run inside of the house and get the camera.

What a cute little boy! I'll find bugs with him every day! I love him so much!!

The simple life

Sometimes the simple things in life are the most fun!

I never knew how much fun a simple cardboard box could be. Mattew has had so much fun with it.

Lowes Build & Grow

Today we went to Lowes Build & Grow where childen get the opportunity to make something fun with a hammer and nails.

The project today was the Shrek Dragon Ride. We had fun making it together, Matthew even pounded in a few of the nails with my help.

These activities are a lot of fun for kids. This is our second one at Lowes and we have also done two at Home Depot. He even has an apron from each store. Once he completes a project he gets a button or iron-on-patch for his apron! Matthew gets so excited the night before when I tell him that we are going to build something the next day. He will say "Hammer?" and when I say "yes", he will say "bang, bang bang". He loves hammers and tools!