Family Reunion at the Beach

Yesterday the kids and I drove down to Oceanside to meet up with some friends and some of my family who were gathered there. We had a wonderful day hanging out at the beach. Kamryn and Troy caught the boogie boarding bug and spent most of the afternoon catching great waves. Although we missed Scott, it was a perfect way to spend a summer day!

Soccer Camp

Last week Troy participated in a soccer camp put on by our local AYSO organization. He was a trooper in the 90 degree heat each morning for 3 hours. Actually he loved it! Soccer is definitely his thing. This camp is run by college-age coaches from the UK. It's really fun to hear all of their accents and different ways of saying things. I didn't get any action shots, but here are a couple from the last day of camp.

Happy Dad's Day!

I think Troy's homemade card he presented to Scott this morning, summed things up well: "Thank you for being my Dad. Your a fun Dad. Your a laughable Dad. Your a crazy Dad. But most of all your the best Dad." (We'll keep working on spelling!)

We're thankful for our fathers and the fathers in our lives. We realize it's also a difficult day for some. Our thoughts and prayers go out to and for you.

Rehoboth Trip

Our family recently spent a week on a service project to Rehoboth, New Mexico. (This is a 100 year old mission with a Christian school, church and hospital with an outreach to Native Americans.) It's difficult to describe the trip except for it being a wonderful experience! The staff of our church did a superb job of organizing our group and keeping us busy with projects, fellowship and fun. We all worked either at job sights around the campus or VBS at the church during the mornings and afternoons. Then we had different learning times either about the Navajo or Zuni cultures, local history, trips into Gallup,etc. It was so neat to see the bonding between all ages with our own group and also new friends that we made in Rehoboth. A special thing about this trip was that it was inter-generational ranging from toddlers to a 90 year old grandpa, singles, families, teenagers who came by themselves, etc. (There were about 115 of us who went.) Many people said they enjoyed getting to know others from our church who they had not really known before (even after attending the same church for many years). God blessed us with learning, growth, fellowship, memories and safety. There is now a bond between many of us from The River and a special place called Rehoboth.

Our fam on the last morning.

Troy found a fun slide.

Us after our worship time up at the cemetery.

Worship time in a beautiful setting.

Scott preaching.

Troy with one of his VBS leaders.

Kamryn with her afternoon drama group.

Scott and Grandpa Wagner working (?).

Garret on dish duty.

One of our meals in the fellowship hall.

Eva worshiping at VBS.

Two of the cuties I got to work with.

Part of my VBS group.

Entrance to the soccer field where Troy spent his afternoons at soccer camp.

An evening shot in the cemetery.

Walking back after soccer camp.

Troy and Trevor taking a break from an intense soccer game.

The gym.

Had to include this shot of Troy taking a header.

Bring On Summer!

School is officially out for the year. Eleventh, fifth and first grades have been completed and passed successfully by the Elgersma children. The kids all had excellent teachers and adjusted extremely well, for which we are very thankful. They have all made great friends and have wonderful memories of the past school year. I'm still not used to the fact that we get out of school mid June, but I guess that's how it goes. The last week of school each of the classes has a pool party at one lucky parents' home. I attended both Troy and Kam's. Here are some pictures from each. (Katie and her friends made a video in preparation for their SENIOR year. I'll have to post that later.)

Troy and his fellow first grade classmates on this super-cool waterslide.

Fun times!

First graders with popsicles in a spa. How much more fun can it get?

Kamryn and her fifth grade classmates. (A more subdued group!)

A Weekend Project

Last Saturday morning we awoke to find many yard sales going on in our neighborhood. We noticed that the people across the street had a nice dining table for sale. After checking it out and negotiating a great price, we decided to purchase it. The table top needed to be refinished and the fabric on the chairs needed to be updated, but after some cleaning would be in great shape! We then decided to clean our current table up (also a yard sale find) and set it out on the driveway to take advantage of the neighbors' yard sale traffic. After a couple hours and many browsers we got an offer we couldn't refuse and sold the table. Anyway, yesterday Scott and I took a trip to our local fabric store looking for some fabric for the chairs. We decided to buy a curtain panel which was "my red" color and had a nice, heavy-duty texture. We easily recovered all six chairs out of the fabric and felt good about our little project.

Scott removing the old fabric.

Chairs under construction.

Old fabric.

Newly recovered red chair cushion.

Finished product.

Out of order...recovering with red fabric.

Say Yes To Michigan!

The fifth graders at Kamryn's school recently hosted a state fair. Each student was assigned a state that they had to research. The project culminated with a fair in the gym where the kids shared their boards and a food from their state. (Scott said it reminded him of Costco.) Kamryn, after some creative switching, ended up with her second favorite state (after California!) Michigan. She did a great job getting it finished (over Memorial Day weekend!) and even making fudge (as in Mackinac) to share with 250 friends. (Yikes!) She did a great job sharing about her state and enjoyed sampling many of her friends treats also.