Sandy the Penny Horse

This summer, we discovered Sandy the penny horse, at Meijer. Since then our shopping trips have never been the same! The boys love riding Sandy and we do it every time, as long as they were good.

Karl's first ride Aug 12, 2016

 Karl's first ride, he didn't do much. He was really in awe at this new experience of riding the big toy horse. But, now he likes to say "giddy-up" and "yee ha," and pretend like he's beating me in a race. He also likes to pretend to give Sandy a carrot after every ride.

One of Jared's first time's riding. :)

Jared more likes to just look around and hold on the reins. He likes looking at the pictures on the wall of different kids riding Sandy in the past.

Karl putting in his own penny and getting ready to ride!

Emmaline's first time riding in the cart, instead of buckled in her car seat.

 In September, Emmaline got to have her first ride on Sandy. I felt like she was too little, but on this day, we had just gone horse back riding that morning. Emmaline was strapped in the baby carrier with Daddy so she could ride with him. I think she was remembering that experience when we were at Meijer later that day and she saw the boys on Sandy. She watched them from the cart and started getting really excited,...

so I let her have a turn riding with Jared. She seemed to love it and, of course, was upset when I had to take her off.

 

Jared and Karl riding together Nov 12, 2016

 This is the boys riding Sandy recently. I would've given them each their own penny, but they really enjoy riding together lately.

Jared's Village

August 7, 2016

 

 Jared had a day when he was really getting into setting up a little village. He was very intricate and imaginative about who everyone was and where they lived. Karl would come sit down and ask Jared to build him a house. They were having a really good time of it, so I had to take a couple pictures.

 Jared also invited me to sit down and build a couple myself. =) It's so fun playing with these boys! ...and Emmaline!! She did a very good job of playing with her own blocks and not messing up Jared's. :)

JR Company Picnic

Thursday, July 28, 2016

This summer JR Automation had their company picnic at Windmill Island here in Holland. The island is famous and we were really looking forward to going.  The first hour or so of it was pouring rain like crazy! So, we stayed inside the pavilion where we were offered cookies (because the grills outside wouldn't work in the rain and wind) and musical chairs to entertain the children. Soon after we got inside and sat down, a lady came over and asked to hold Emmaline. She seemed nice, so I let her, then she went and sat back to her table and played with her for a while. Haha! As a mom it's always nice when someone else asks to hold or play with your baby for two reasons: because it's gratifying to have someone else notice and adore your baby and it also gives you a break for a few minutes.

Jared enjoyed watching the musical chair games that were going on, but he was too shy to join in. Finally for the very last game, when it was starting to get sunny again, he was ready to go try it. Luckily there were two other kids who wanted to play still. Jared made it through the first round and sat smiling on his chair. He lost the second round, but he was still happy he got to try it.

The first thing we did when the sun was out again, is go for a windmill tour. This windmill has five stories that we were able to tour. The sixth and seventh floors were narrow and you could only get up there by ladder. But, it was really neat. We even got the tour from a true Dutch lady from the Netherlands.

(I did not take this picture, but this is about how it all looked that day.)

The boys were pretty good during the tour and looked at all the interesting stuff. This windmill kept up with it's traditional ways of grinding wheat; it was impressive. Before leaving each floor the lady, Thea, would ask if there were any questions; there usually weren't. But when we got to the fifth floor she asked and... Jared raised his hand. Thea hadn't noticed, so another lady pointed it out to her. She asked Jared what his question was and he quietly and bashfully asked, "How much longer do we have to do this?" Some people laughed, but Thea couldn't quite hear him and asked what he had said. Ryan smiled and said, "Oh, nothing," so people laughed again. The lady closest to her told her what Jared said and Thea kindly told Jared that we were all done now and he could be the first one to go down the stairs. Jared was happy about that (I think he really wanted to get to the bounce houses) and our family started down. Come to find out, Jared is afraid of heights. He struggled to walk down the stairs and, since I had Emmaline strapped to me, a nice lady offered to hold his hand. Jared didn't want to hold a strangers hand, so Ryan turned back and carried Jared and Karl down the stairs. It was a fun little adventure!

Once we got out on the lawn, Jared and Karl booked it over to the bounce houses. Karl loved the teetering ladder and the big slide. He was very slow at climbing both, but people were patient with him, and he had a blast!

Jared really liked this ball you could get inside and run around in. Ryan helped push him around.

 

Before we left, Ryan got back in line for the ball. When he got in he ran all the way down the mat by himself. ;D Haha! He looked like he had a lot of fun with it.

That's not something you get to do everyday! :)

There was also a really good bbq dinner and I think we all had a great time. =)