maple syrup fest

I plan to make the maple syrup fest at Blandford an annual tradition. Here's the fun from this year!

Learning about animal tracks

Checking if the sap is running

Boiling it down the way they used to

The last step in the process

Fuel for making the syrup

Easter and My Birthday

Playing catch-up: first egg hunt, and my birthday.

I turned 32 on April 11. Jude helped with the festivities!

Seidman Park

One of our most loved places, since we discovered it in our college years, is Seidman Park. Naturally, it is one of the first places we've taken our boys for hikes as babies. (Here's a link to Jude's first hike at Seidman.) On Sunday it was Theo's turn for his first hike in the woods, and an opportunity for the rest of us to remember what it's like to be outside without our extremities going numb.

Jude is obsessed with blowing on dandelions, so we spent a good amount of time waiting for him as he tromped off the trail to pluck one and blow on it until every last fluff-topped seed was gone. Even the shot I took of Jono and Jude sitting on a branch in the middle of the stream, you can see he has a dandelion and is still going at it.

Theo was game for a tromp through the woods, and after the thrill wore off, he cat-napped in the carrier. (It's the only kind of nap he takes - light and short.) Nothing says "special occasion" like a hat with bear ears on it, in my book.

The woods were beautiful and full of spring green. Jude was thrilled with the trail and the fresh air, and we're excited to make a habit of this now that it has warmed up a bit. Cabin Fever season is officially over :)

Hiking for 'Shrooms

Here are a few pics of us posing in front of trees during our weekend up in Cadillac with Jono's dad and step-mom. We went to a seedy flea market in Mesick, ate in a tacky/fantastic diner called Jeri's Mushroom Inn, and hiked a new section of the North Country Trail looking for morel mushrooms. (These are the kind you eat because they are delicious, not the kind hippies eat for, well, you know.)

The North Country Trail runs from New York to North Dakota. We didn't find any 'shrooms, but we did find turtles, cormorants, horse poo and a muskrat. Good times!

Jude in a Hat (@Tulip Festival)

Though I've received a hat or two since my last post, this one is truly the last Jude in a Hat installment (unless I find myself rolling in hats again in a few months... then it might make a comeback).

This is Jude in a little Dutch hat. Yes, I finally caved and owned up to part of my heritage. I honestly never thought I would be dressing my progeny in Dutchy things, but here I am doing it. I have a weakness for squeezing Jude into outfits that make him look fatter/shorter/koosier, so there you go.

My parents are now living in their third town that annually holds a Tulip Festival, so of course we had to partake in the festivities. (And yes, as a result of this Dutchy hometown-hopping, we love to play Dutch Bingo.) We went to the "kinder parade" to watch my dad and his fifth grade class march. They all dress up in Dutch costumes and each class has a gimmick. One section was "Dutch Art" and they walked with banners of paintings by Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Vermeer. (One thing I'm proud of being Dutch for is how meticulous they are, which has produced some serious artistic genius.) Another section dressed up as pigs and carried vats of fake cheese around. My dad's class pushed themselves along on scooters and did scooter tricks. It's all very quirky.

The teachers take up the rear of each section to make sure no one goofs off or falls behind and gets trampled by a marching band. Dad had been begging me for a week to let him carry Jude in the parade, but I balked at first because I thought he might go deaf from the drums and trumpets and what-not. Dad assured me there were no bands marching behind his class, so I agreed.

What followed was hilarious. My mom and I ran alongside Dad and his class, so we witnessed the crowd (especially the above-60 set) flipping out over the baby in the Dutch costume. Old folks got up out of their seats, screamed and clapped hysterically as they passed. It was like the crowd was doing the wave as Rose Park's fifth grade made its way down the route. Dad had the biggest grin on his face and kept pointing at Jude and saying "This is my grandson!!" to anyone who glanced in his direction. Hee hee!

Anyway, I'm sure you're chomping at the bit to see pictures and video of this (I mainly refer to Jude's extended family), so here are some.

To wrap this one up, I need to tell you what our new Friday installment will be. It's called Jude Makes a Discovery. Here is the first one:

Jude Discovers a Yellow Tulip

(see elbow dimples)

Tree Hugger

I don't know about you, but our weekend was fantastic.

On Saturday we went to the farmer's market for opening day of the season. Jude wore his spiffy knit mukluks (Thanks Aunt Jessie ;) The Schnitz Deli is on our way over there, and there was a couple sitting at a table out on the sidewalk. As we passed the guy said, "Look at that." His girlfriend said, "Oh my gosh." Then they both started laughing. We have to be careful. He may cause car accidents in these.

We went for our first Spring hike together on Sunday. We even skipped church to do it (shhh). I promise you we did not brain wash him into this, but it's official: Jude is a tree hugger. Now that he can face forward in his baby carrier, his new thing on walks is to reach for everything we pass and try to grab it.

He also has taken to sputtering with delight on every walk. It's hard to describe what sputtering is, but he gets so excited that he starts making a "pbbthhhht" sound with his lips. Spit starts flying everywhere, the droplets airborne and glistening in the sunlight. After a good sputter he gets a sloppy grin on his face. You can hear him doing it for a second in Part I of the video footage (below).

Here are a few pics of our tromp through the woods at Seidman Park.

See that green stuff? What is that?

Jude is looking in the river.

Tromp tromp tromp...

Tromp tromp tromp...

See, I told you!

I took some video footage out there too. You can probably guess what my subject was.

Hike Part I:

Hike Part II:

Hike Part III:
(Turn up the volume on this one.)

Spring II

I'm posting even more pics of Ty's visit because they turned out so dang lovely.

We went out to the lake for sunset one night, then went home and ate chocolate cake to celebrate both of our birthdays (tyler: march 31; me: april 11). I spent the next day hanging out with my parents in Holland.

(Yes Grandpa K, there are shots of Jude in there too :)

Spring!

Tyler was in town over the weekend on his way home from a show in Minnesota. He's got a good eye for photography is obsessed with getting just the right shot; hence the plethora of photos to follow of Jude and I together.

I feel kind of bad because Brett was here a couple of weeks ago but we didn't take many pictures and he didn't stay overnight here like Tyler did. So anyway, we loved having him around too even if it wasn't "documented". Sorry Brett. Next time we'll get a bunch of extreme close-ups of you and Jude together too :)

Chi-town

We actually went on a trip last weekend: a trip out of Michigan. It's been a good long while with the move and the whole childbirth and newborn thing we've been engaging ourselves in lately. It was Jude's first time out of the state. We went to see our friend Sarah for her birthday (she turned 30, and I'm almost 29...whoa...) and our other friends Jan and Becky. I didn't take many pictures, but here are a few:

Rising, shining in Sarah's apartment...

I have no idea why this picture is popping in here upside down, but I'm posting it anyway because it's funny. Sarah's cat Bolyn was really into Jude. He sat right next to him and curled his skinny tail gently around Jude's ear.

This is me with Bolyn, sporting my new 'do. I tried cutting it myself to save money - it was a disaster - so I had it fixed at an actual hair place, which I would now recommend to any cheap Dutch person, regardless of how broke they are. Now I have bangs for the first time since 7th grade. (Here's a post about girls with bangs on one of my fave blogs, SWPL. It's funny.)

On Saturday we went to Heartland Cafe for breakfast. Great place, but it really should be called Heartland Cafe for Pinkos. A local radio station was interviewing this chick near our table who was talking about Bush and Obama being co-conspirators for The Empire. At the attached gift shop next door they were selling Che Guevara t-shirts for toddlers, and the tags had pictures of a two-year-old with his fist raised for revolution - ha ha! (Never mind that Che executed hundreds of people. Not to mention he was against selling t-shirts and other capitalist schemes- ha.) 

 

They were a little too uptight for the flavor of our morning -- a good friend, a cute baby, and a giant breakfast burrito :)

Jan and Becky took us to Fat Willie's, a great BBQ joint, where I had my first beer in over a year. Paaaaartyyyyy!!!! Don't get too excited: it was a Pabst Blue Ribbon for $1.50. But the brisket was divine.

Having a kiddie in tow kind of changes things -- you can still go out, but not as spontaneously, and when you do people have completely different reactions to your presence. As we went into the BBQ place, two burly guys in urban-chic graffiti t-shirts stumbled all over themselves to get the door for me, and then bashfully peeked into Jude's carseat to get a look at him. As we waited in line, two twenty-something girls slobbered over him and talked about being jealous of their brother's pregnant girlfriend. Anyone will talk to you when you have a baby, and it's kind of endearing.

So that was our trip. Many more of those to come I hope. I don't want to stop having adventures because of our new life with Jude...I want to continue doing most of the stuff we used to do with Jude included. It'll make for a better childhood anyway. Come on Spring :)

Spring Cleaning

I know it isn't Spring in Michigan yet, and it won't be until about May 25. (Notice the dripping-with-melancholy grey tone to these photos. Blah). But yesterday it felt like we were spring cleaning our trees.

We have a bunch of nice old ones in our neighborhood, but two of ours were too far past their prime and had to be taken down. Jude took some great naps with all the white noise from the chain saws, and our yard now looks like Paul Bunyan was back there having a hey-day. (Use the husky in the far left of the photo for scale.) So that was our entertainment for the day. Sad, I know. I can't wait until it warms up and we can actually go places.


Mona was a little alarmed by the tree carnage. I think she put a crick in her neck looking at the guys hanging from the branches.

On a sidenote, as I sat in a living room chair nursing at around 12:30, I realized I had forgotten to pull down the shades. So there I sat as the strapping young tree removal guys walked back and forth by the window with giant chunks of tree. *Blush*
We also sold our car yesterday. Not because we don't need one, but because we were tired of paying for repairs on our "made in Mexico" Volkswagen Jetta. (Das Auto my arse.) So we're in the market for another dependable wagon that will get us to Chicago, the Upper Peninsula, and maybe the East Coast at the furthest. Any suggestions? We're kind of thinking a Subaru.