Summer vacation - part 2

On Tuesday Annika and I headed with my sister and nieces to John Ball Zoo. Lee stayed behind to get some more work done for VSU - this semester is a lot more time consuming than last, and most of our "vacation" was spent with him reading while Annika and I had lots of fun! It was a beautiful day at the zoo and Annika loved seeing all of the animals. She says that her favorites were the penguins and goats. And the monkeys and the bears. And the alligator...


On Tuesday night, we met up with the rest of the family and walked the Zeeland Zoom 5k. It was perfect weather for this too, and had fun as a family. I think we will definitely do more evening races! It was also Kevin & Sandy's 26th wedding anniversary, and we're so glad they joined us on "their" day! And, it was Mom, Mary and Auntie Alie's first race. Mom even placed first in her age group - at age 74! :)

Auntie Alie, Lee, me, Mom, Mary (my sister), Kevin (my brother) and Sandy (my sister-in-law) ready to start the Zeeland Zoom.

On Wednesday we spent the morning at the Holland Farmer's Market. We got some fresh cherries, rhubarb (that I used to make Orange Rhubarb butter as soon as we got back to Georgia) and syrup straws. Yum! We visited my dad in the afternoon and then Annika spent some time with her cousins on Wednesday night so that Lee & I could go out and enjoy dinner at New Holland Brewery.


Thursday we headed to the Grand Rapids Children's Museum to see the Curious George exhibit. Annika loved it and was so excited to meet the famous monkey in person. We went out for lunch and then headed back for a quick nap before taking my mom out for dinner. Then the car was packed, and we got a good night's sleep before the looooooooooong ride back home in holiday traffic. We made it back safe, and definitely had a fun, but busy, trip! It's great to be home!