Soarin' high in the clouds

Yesterday I experience another first...I went flying with my dad as the pilot.  It was so different from any other flight I have taken before.  We took off at Tulip City Airport where my dad stores his plane and headed east towards Hastings.  As we flew it was so fun to recognize so many different buildings, houses and landmarks.  The last thing that we flew over before headed back to the ground was the farm in Freeport and our house.

My pilot for my short flight AKA my dad

taking off at Tulip City airport

the farm

our house...it's good to know that you can't see how long our grass is or how many weeds are in my gardens from up here.

another view of the farm

heading in to Hastings Airport

almost back on the ground

After we landed my dad took 3 of the boys on the shortest flight possible...I don't think they were up in the air for more than 5 minutes, but the boys LOVED it.  Thank You Grandpa!!!!!

Brendan as a hands off co-pilot.

taxiing out to the grass runaway

Grandpa and the boys

Remembering those who have served.

Today was a great day....we started off with an early start and headed to Zeeland for a parade.  I thought it was important for the boys to see why we celebrate Memorial Day....it remember and recognize all the men and women who have served our country.  The parade was full of marching bands (a few who even played the same song as when I was the marching band), lots of kids on bikes and scooters all decorated with streamers and flags, many old tractors, the city's Fire trucks, and of course many veterans.  

After the parade we had some time to kill before we needed to be at the Annual Lucas Memorial Day Picnic, so we stopped by the Drenthe CRC pancake breakfast.  The boys and Mike had a second breakfast for the day with only a big hour until we would feast again at the picnic.  We caught up with Mike's parents for a while and the we headed off to the city park.

(Just had to take this picture...Mike and I both wore these same blue jackets when we were in kindergarten at ZCS. ) 

At noon we met up 50 some family members of the Lucas Clan.  We had amazing burgers, party potatoes, lots of yummy salads, chips and ice cream cones....not a good thing for someone on WW.  After eating, My mom thought we needed a family pictures...nothing professional looking but just something that G & G Lucas could show off.  Here's a quick sample...the real pictures were taken with my cousin's camera.  definitely a fun day, it's amazing how the family has grown and continues to grow.  God has surely blessed this family.

Dutch Village

Last Wednesday, Brendan and his class headed to Holland for a visit to Dutch Village.  It was a beautiful day for a Field trip....oh wait a minute, that's wasn't the beautiful sunny day that we had this week.  Actually it down poured.  There wasn't any outside pictures by the Tulips, or the wooden shoe slide, or the horse statues.  Instead we ran from building to building to keep from getting too wet.  

BUT WE HAD FUN!!!!

We learned about Delft Pottery, cheese making, wooden shoes; both why they wore wooden shoes and how they were made.  We also saw a couple ladies making some amazing candles...truly a work of art.

Plus we saw some Klompen Dancers and get to learn a dance...definitely not the same that I did as a Dutch Dancer in high school and beyond, but non the less it was still neat to watch them.  Check out this video of Brendan dancing.

Fresh Country Smells

Those were the smells that were smelt during Connor's last field trip yesterday.  Of course being a country girl myself, I didn't really notice the smell until we got to the pigs...not to fond of  it.    The field trip was at a classmate's farm, Ridgeview Farms.  It was tons of fun, but once again Connor had a "I could care less" attitude and kept running off with Nolan (who had a "this is boring, I already know everything about the farm" attitude.)

We saw goats & chickens by the house, then we headed across the road to the barns where we saw the cows, a massive bull, lambs and pigs.  

After seeing all the animals we went back inside the barns, where the kids planting seeds, either veggies or flowers.  Connor was actually interested in getting his hand dirty and planted some lettuce.  Hopefully it will grow and I can put it in my garden. 

Finally we had a big cookout and the kids played on the play set.

What a fun day!!!