Highlights from Holland: Part 3

The second week of our trip was somewhat less busy since the wedding events were over and Micah was gone as he flew back to ABQ the Sunday after the wedding (someone has to work to support the family!). As I mentioned in my last post, the babes all had colds and unfortunately I caught it as well so for a few days we stayed close to home as I didn't have much energy to go out and do anything. Although the babes have had four colds in four months this is the first one I caught from them. I was happy that I had the help of my parents with the babes while I was sick. Towards the end of the week we got out more but it was still relatively low key.  Here are some pics from our second week in Michigan.

Hanging out at Grandpa's and Grandma's house. The window seat was the perfect height to stand at and look outside

We met up with two of my aunts and two of my cousins for lunch so that they could all spend some time with the babes. 

We spent a lot of time hanging out with my brother's family. The babes loved playing with their 7-year-old cousin Adelle and 9-year-old cousin Brayden!

There is a monkey at a local garden store so we stopped there one afternoon for a quick visit. The babes enjoyed watching the monkey eat and run around his cage.

The babes also got into mischief! Two books were destroyed and the duck puppet lost its hair. I guess we should prepare ourselves for more destruction in the future!

We spent one evening at Ottawa Beach on Lake Michigan and all three enjoyed putting their feet in the water and exploring the sand (and Faith liked to taste the sand).

Grammy and Alexis

Alexis

Grandpa and Jack

Jack

Faith (and Grandma)

Faith and my mom's friend Barb

The inflatable pool continued to be a hit, even without water

More cousin fun!

Brayden, Adelle, and Aunt Jodi sung many animated songs to the babes and Faith was really serious about listening

Crawling around Grandpa's and Grandma's living room table was so much fun!

Our last lunch before hitting the road

We had a few apple cider donuts while we were in Holland (yum!). These were the last ones before leaving. Besides crackers, this is the first thing we have let them eat whole and they did a great job! Maybe we can do less cutting in the future!

Jack and Alexis holding hands while driving back to the airport.

One last pic with Grandma and Grandpa before hitting the road! L to R: F, J, A

Throwback pic from last October: Grandpa and Grandma with J,A, F...what a difference 10 months makes!

We had a great time in Holland and we were sad to leave our family behind. We are looking forward to our next trip to Michigan....maybe Christmas?!

Highlights from Holland: Part 2

Our second weekend in Holland was consumed by events for my brother's wedding. Micah and I were both in the wedding party so we went to the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner on Friday and Saturday was spent getting ready for the wedding, taking wedding photos, the wedding itself, and the reception. Micah's parents were a huge help with the babes so that we could attend these events and we are super thankful!

The wedding was actually in Grand Rapids, which is about a 45 minute drive from Holland, so it took a little planning to get everyone where they needed to be at the right time as we had to factor in drive times (especially with the babes' current schedule with two naps a day).

On Friday Micah and I left for the rehearsal right after putting the babes down for a nap and we got home just as they were going to bed for the night. On Saturday I left at 9:00 a.m. for a hair appointment and I was in Grand Rapids for the rest of the day. Micah came to GR around 11:00 and Micah's parents drove the babes to GR around 1:30 so that they would be at the church in time for family photos.

Our whole family! I can't believe how much it has grown in just a little over a year with the birth of our babes and my brother getting married.

 During the wedding the babes played in the church nursery since they were too young to sit through a wedding ceremony. They were so excited that the church nursery had a kitchen set since they hadn't been home to play with ours in over a week.

After the ceremony we brought the babes outside so that family and friends could see them before everyone left for the reception. Micah's parents then brought the babes back to Holland for dinner and bedtime. Although it was fun to have the babes present for photos and to see them for a little while on the day of the wedding, overall it was great that they were being well taken care of by their grandparents so that Micah and I could focus on being part of the wedding party and enjoy the events.

The wedding party went on a trolley ride after the ceremony. Here is a pic of me with my brothers Kyle and Kent (groom) on one of the stops during the trolley ride.

Highlights from Holland: Part 1

A few weeks ago we traveled to Holland, Michigan to visit family and attend my brother's wedding. There was a lot of activity packed into our 17 day trip and it's hard to remember it all, but here are some of the highlights.

When we went to MI in May we had a 6:00 a.m. flight out of ABQ and we did not give ourselves enough time to get through security, get diapers changed, and make bottles, so for this trip we allowed much more time which was much less stressful. Last time we brought all three car seats through the airport with us and gate checked them to prevent damage, but this time we decided to buy two inexpensive car seats that we would leave in MI so we only brought one with us through the airport. We talked to the gate attendant when we arrived and he was able to move our seats around so that we were in an empty row and could install our car seat! This was great since we didn't really want to gate check our seat at the risk of it being damaged, and it gave us extra arms to take care of babies. Plus, we knew we would have to install a car seat on our return trip since we would only have two adults to three babes, so this gave us good practice installing a car seat. We actually ended up having a seat for the car seat on both flights, which was awesome (thanks Delta!).

Our flight left ABQ around 2:30 which was perfect for nap time. Both girls slept fairly well, but Jack had a little more trouble. On the second flight we fed the babes dinner and did our best to entertain them. Overall, everyone did well on both flights.

Jack sleeping on our first flight from ABQ to MSP

Faith and Lexi sleeping in Micah's and Grammy's arms

We arrived in Grand Rapids around 9:30 and we were greeted by my parents and Micah's dad (he had drove to MI from CO). After getting our checked bags we installed the third seat that we brought with us (my mom had already installed the two inexpensive ones that we bought for MI which was quite the task but I'm thankful that she figured it out!) and drove to Holland. We arrived around 11:00 p.m., fed the babes a bottle, and put them to bed. [We are so thankful that they slept great every single night! There was not a single night waking, which is pretty much amazing since we've had one almost every night since we got home!]

Saturday we spent most of the day hanging out at my parents house and we went to my grandma's apartment (the babes' great grandma) for an afternoon visit.

Lexi reunited with the big Mickey Mouse and bear that they met in May

First stroller ride in our new triple stroller! My parents found this at a garage sale 1/2 mile away from their house so we decided to buy it so we would have a great stroller for walks in Holland.

Trying our best to keep the babes entertained at Great Grandma's apartment. Since her place really isn't baby proof, we resorted to taking out her newspapers.

Jack playing with newspaper fliers at Great Grandma's

On Saturday evening Micah and my dad were in charge of taking care of the babes as my mom and I were at my new SIL's bachelorette party. Here is a pic of my mom, Jodi (SIL), Emily (new SIL), and me. I'm excited to have another SIL!

On Sunday we went to Manistee to have lunch with Micah's mom's side of the family. Micah's second cousin has twins that were born 3.5 months before our trio was born. Her babes also spent some time in the NICU and she was a great resource and support while our babes were there. Although we felt like we already knew each other from writing each other messages, we had never actually met so it was fun to hang out and watch our babes play together (okay...they didn't really care much about each other at this age but I'm sure they'll have fun at future family get togethers!). Both of her babes are walking so it also gave us a glimpse of our not-so-distant future with multiple babes running different directions.

Lydia (left) and Alexis "playing" together

Fatih, Jack, and Alexis playing after lunch

Triplets and twins! Faith, Jack, Alexis & Lydia and Max

 On Monday morning we went out to breakfast with my mom and everyone did well. This was day 1 of 3 going out for breakfast. We decided since we were on vacation and we had extra help, we might as well get some practice with bringing the babes out for meals.

deBoer Bakery

There were so many fun places to explore at my parents house! When we were there in May Faith was crawling but the other two were belly crawling and no one was going anywhere that fast so it was fairly easy to keep them in one area of the room. Not this time! Every nook and cranny was explored (and quickly baby proofed!).  

Alexis crawling under the coffee table. This was a daily ritual. Jack playing with the TV cable. This was soon blocked off so the babes couldn't get at them.

The slider door from the house to the porch. Jack was on the porch with my mom and Alexis was super curious.

Day #3 of breakfast with Micah's parents and my mom. This was at The Bisuit. Day #2 we went to Jackie's Place with our friends and their parents, but I totally forgot to take a pic!

My friend Katie and her husband Ryan were also visiting family in Michigan while we were there, and it was great to see them a few times. Since Katie's parents have a pool we took the babes there for a short afternoon swim between naps. They loved the pool, but their dog was an even bigger hit as he also swam. The babes were mesmerized!

Micah and Faith, sporting her post swim mohawk. She is watching the dog's every move.

A small toy wagon quickly became one of the favorite toys at my parents house. It's perfect for putting things into, pushing around like a walking push toy, and for riding in! Here is Alexis enjoying her first ride while Grandpa pulled her along.

Micah and I had our 9th wedding anniversary while in Holland, and my parents offered to babysit so that we could go out to dinner. We had a great dinner on the patio at Boatwerks in Holland! Unfortunately we didn't remember to take a photo of us together, but here are a couple of snapshots from our dinner spot.

Although our babes were not in my brother's wedding, we still found them super cute outfits to wear for the family photos. I found matching white dresses for the girls at a consignment sale for only $7 each! Faith wore a corral headband and Alexis wore a navy one so that they coordinated with the wedding party. Jack had a snazzy vest and tie! I wanted to see how the girls' dresses fit since I hadn't tried them on since the end of May, and they fit great!

Faith modeling her dress a few days before the wedding. She's sitting in an inflatable pool as this was also a favorite toy at my parents' house. It was purchased for swimming, but since it was too cold most of the time we were able to get a lot of use out of it inside.

 Here are a few more pics from our first week in Holland:

Faith being pulled around in the toy wagon by Micah

Brayden, the babes' cousin, pulling Jack and Faith in a wagon

Jack riding the horse that my parents found at a garage sale

I almost forgot to mention that the babes got pretty bad colds at the end of our first week in Holland. Although it is frustrating that they keep catching colds, we know it's inevitable now that we are bringing them to so many places. Here is a snot blowout Jack had during a meal.

We made it back to Micah's grandma's nursing home for a short visit. Here is a pic with Micah's grandma and grandpa and his parents.

 Stay tuned for Part #2 and Part #3 of our trip to Holland!