Silver Lake

For the past several years our family has spent a long August weekend (Thursday - Sunday) camping at Silver Lake State Park. The grandkids love going to the beach, playing catch, and having the freedom to "ride around the circle" on their bikes and scooters.

We have enjoyed some beautiful sunsets, and also made the best of some windy and rainy days.

We always toast marshmallows over the campfire to make s'mores and grill burgers, hotdogs 'n brats; and Nathan cooks up a delicious hot breakfast each morning.

On Saturday evening the extended Vriesman Family are invited to join us at our campsite for food, fellowship and yummy homemade "hand-cranked" ice cream with lots of laughter around the campfire:)

Of course, you can't go to Silver Lake without spending some time climbing the dunes and watching the dune buggies. One year we even went on Mac Dune Rides . . . But THIS year, Nathan loaded us up into his suburban and drove THAT into the dunes! I must admit, there were a couple of us who were a little squeamish (okay MORE then a little . . .  should I say terrified?) driving UP and DOWN the steep sand dunes! I won't name names. Suffice it to say it was mostly those of us lacking in testosterone.

Our most anticipated tradition, however, does not take place in the dunes . . .  It's going to Craig's Cruisers. The grandkids can hardly wait!

Mini golf . . . Ice cream and candy . . . Go-carts . . . Bumper boats . . .

We get a little WILD and CRAZY!!

Actually, THEY get a little wild and crazy . . . Jade and I enjoy watching from the sidelines :)

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Thursdays with Jade

     Every Thursday I get up early and leave the house at 6:10am.  I'm on my way to Middleville for my special time with Jade.  While her Mommy and Daddy are at work, I get to spend the whole day playing with my precious little granddaughter.  Such a blessing!

     Sometimes, if Papa doesn't have to work, he comes along, too.

     We spend our day playing with toys . . .

     Going for walks . . .

     Reading books . . .

     Emptying drawers and checking out Jade's latest wardrobe . . .

     Playing outside and exploring new things . . .

     And sometimes we need a nap:)

Learning To Use Blogsy!

Since we will be leaving on our next traveling adventure in September, Mark has been after me to figure out how to post trip updates for family and friends from our ipad to this newly created blog. After doing a little bit of research, I decided to purchase the Blogsy app. So far I am impressed with all of the support the creators of Blogsy offer for beginners like me! So . . . this is an experimental post to see what I can actually do from my ipad and may appear a little random to those of you who end up reading it:) Please bear with me and feel free to send me any thoughts, tips or feedback.

We want to be able to include photos, so I am going to try adding some pictures from various places where they are currently stored.   Let's see what happens . . .

This is beautiful, snow-covered Mt Rainier viewed from Paradise during our Fall 2010 trip to Washington and Oregon. The colors were gorgeous!

Okay, that took awhile, but I think I got it! That photo was from my Flickr file. Let's try one that's already stored on my ipad . . .

This is a photo of our sweet granddaughter, Jade.

I had to upload it to Picasa first, but it wasn't difficult.

I think I will try downloading some from my camera next and see what happens . . .

Our son, Nathan, is running for Kent County Commissioner. On Saturday we walked in the Byron Days Parade. You can find out more at NateVriesman.com.

"VOTE FOR NATE!!"

Emilia and her friends

Nate Vriesman

Walking in the parade.

All those red shirts are Nate supporters:)

I downloaded the pictures from my camera, did a little cropping, then needed to upload from my camera roll to Picasa before I could drag and drop into my blog post. I think I'm getting the hang of it.

Well, I think that's enough practice for one day. Now the challenge is to see if I can actually post this. If it works, Mark will be so proud of me:)

Success!!!!

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