Delusions of Granduer

Yesterday, we were driving to Costco to pick up pies for Thanksgiving.  I had woke in the middle of the night with a fever and spent the morning in bed trying to get better.  By 2, I had given up hope of that and decided that those pies weren’t going to wait for a healthy me.  We piled into the car… the kids looking adorable and me, looking like death warmed over.  I felt like pooh but couldn’t help but have my spirits raised when I heard this conversation unfold.

Emma: “Gerrit, I need to talk to you about your ears”

Grand Rapids Marathon 2009

Cheri & I after the race

The morning of the marathon, I woke early.  I drank some coffee and continued deliberating in my mind what pace team I was going to try to stick with.  The pace teams are separated by celebrities marathon race times.  If you’re only doing the half marathon, you can divide it in half to see your ending time.  I was stuck between Will Ferrel’s time and P. Diddy. 

Precocious

Apparently, the housing market is so good that even Emma is looking for her first home. 

It started about 2 wks ago.  The house across

Cottage pro

I believe I was born to cottage.  I really do.

I’m sure most people think that they were too.  I’m also sure that most would never recognize the degree of skill and fortitude it takes to cottage like a pro.  They might think that they could handle the intense level of vacationing.  They probably believe that they have the stamina to maintain that perfect balance of fun & relaxation mixed with a tinge of work.  But I believe it takes an extraordinary amount of  focus and desire to achieve a perfect harmony in what I have deemed ’cottaging’.  It’s not camping, it’s not being on a cruise… it’s cottaging.

I believe I have achieved a near perfect recipe for doing so.  It will be my life’s work to

Call me the breeze

The core of me is filled with fear… well, correct that… it used to be filled with fear.  It seems like my whole life, I’ve battled with being afraid of things.  Some are rational fears (like heights) and some have been ridiculous fears(lawn mowers).  I’ve tried to work on both the big and little ones over time.  They say the best way to overcome a fear is to just do it.  I can officially add riding a motorcycle to the list of fears overcome.  Here’s some pictures of

My granola don’t crunch

I might be on the verge of becoming a tree hugger.  While the likelihood seems impossible, I feel the stirrings of it beginning.  In my constant quest of becoming and evolving into the better me, I feel myself dipping into the stereotype.  It just might be an inevitable turn of events.

It started with an intriguing book

Refinement

For a short time, approximately 3yrs ago, we owned the house next door.  We already had a rental on the north end of town, but this house would be to ‘flip’.  Buy it cheap, fix it fast and sell it quicker.  We had a solid game plan when we purchased it but without a psychic friend Cabrina, we had no way of knowing

In pursuit of a family picture

We decided to take advantage of Holland’s 4th of July celebration yesterday since we are going to a friend’s party today.  I really didn’t want the kids to miss out on the big fireworks and the family time spent alone together. 

While there, we tried to take a family picture with the aid of the self timer in the camera.  We set the timer for 10 seconds & didn’t realize that it took 3 rapid shots in a row.  Now, any family picture normally takes a few tries but here is our progression.

Attempt #1