A Holiday Weekend

What a beautiful Michigan weekend! Our friends the Klavers invited us to come out to their cottage on Lake Michigan Saturday. It was one of the nicest days I've seen here. We had a great day relaxing by the water!

We boated out to a beach near a big dune.

Scott and the kids ventured up this huge dune. It was quite a challenge.
We thought this was hilarious!



Pete grilled up fajitas for us for dinner. Scott assisted.Pete took the kids for a tube ride after dinner.

New Family Pictures

I just thought I would share some of our new family pictures (heading and side). We decided very last minute to try to do them in California while we were there. My brother arranged to have a friend of his take some pictures of our families at Natural Bridges State Park. We were thrilled with how great they turned out! This photographer is just starting out and I think he has a great career ahead of him!

More Fun With Friends!

We were blessed with a visit from some friends from Buffalo, NY. We began our friendship with the Weber family in the Bay Area of California several years ago. It's great to keep these friendships going over many years and many miles. These are some shots of us at our favorite ice cream place during their stay with us.

Back to Michigan!

We just wanted to let everyone know that we have made it home safely after a summer of traveling. We flew into Chicago from CA about 10:30 pm last night and had a wonderful welcome from our summer neighbors in Palos Heights. They graciously loaded us up with coffee and goodies for the road and we said our goodbyes. We made it to GR about 3 am after running into some construction and slowdowns on the highways. We had a great summer and will be jumping back into the school routine shortly!

Santa Cruz

At the end of our CA trip we headed to the coast to see Dan, Nesha and Emma. We got to enjoy beautiful, cool weather and take in a day at the beach!

We also made a couple of stops at Mt. Hermon, one of our favorite places. It was a little weird because all of the conferences were done and it was pretty quiet. We did run into some people we knew and just enjoyed being on the grounds again.

More Visalia Shots

We were in Visalia a week, and it was a whirwind of activity. It was sooo good to see so many friends. Scott enjoyed preaching at First Church. He also had a blast golfing with his small group guys (thankfully he didn't lose!) and participating in the Fantasy Football draft. We got to stop by school and catch up with teachers and kids that were around. We are so grateful to the Bommelje's for a wonderful place to stay and relax between our activities. We have been very blessed by so many people in this community and will continue to love this place.

We got to meet little Emily Diane and enjoyed spending time with Kevin and Sharon too!

We had a wonderful welcome at the the Westra families' coffee time.
Troy, Zachery, and Nathan enjoyed being together again.
Kam and Sadie
Kamryn and Troy enjoying Bommelje's pool.

Troy actually learned to swim!
Elgersma and Girard kiddos.
Good friends.
Fun at the Westra lake. (Kamryn said she could easily live here!)

Back to Visalia

We are back in Visalia. It feels great, although a bit surreal. We arrived Tuesday evening and have already seen many people. Tony and Rochelle De Groot blessed us (and about 200 of our closest friends!) with a lake party Wed. evening. What an awesome time! This "lake" is next to their home near Hanford. It felt just like old times. (It was even typical Valley weather-over 100 degrees!) We appreciate everyone coming out to see us. Here are some pictures.

Troy and friends are out on the lake trampoline. I love the corn in the background around the lake!

A group of kids.
People hanging out.
A view of the lake.
Scott chatting with good friends.
Scott easily fell into his old role of leading in prayer before dinner.

Troy gets a ride on the jet ski.

Kam, Sadie and Jessica get a tube ride.
Scott and some old youth group kids.

Good-Bye, Palos Heights!

We have now completed our first summer Seminary Internship. As you know we have been in Palos Heights, IL. We have had a wonderful experience and will look back at our time here fondly. It is sad to leave, but we are looking forward to our vacation now in Central California where we will visit friends and family.

We enjoyed experiencing many Chicago traditions during our time here. One of these traditions is lemon fluff cake. It is a special part of celebrations here (so we heard). Scott had mentioned in a newsletter article he wrote that he had not gotten a chance to taste lemon fluff cake yet. So after his last sermon this past Sunday a lady from the church had a special box just for him. So now we have gotten the full Chicago experience!!
Pastor Scott and his lemon fluff cake!

Visit to the Bike Tour

This afternoon we hopped in the van and drove about 70 miles west to check in with the CRC Sea to Sea tour. Scott's mom and her husband Hank are riding on bicycles across the country with this tour. It was great to see them and hear the stories of their trip so far. We got a tour of their tent camp at a local highschool and then went out for dinner. They will be stopping in Palos Heights tomorrow, but we will miss them because we will be on our way to CALIFORNIA!

Troy got a ride on Pastor Len's bike.

This is our friend, Alyssa Raterink's parents. Just wanted to show Alyssa that they were doing well! It was fun to meet them.
Hank wandering through camp.