Big Fat Birthday Surprise

Syd's birthday isn't unilt next week, but we celebrated a week early. We had to keep it a surprise and secret for MONTHS. We managed to keep it a surprise until the day of and she loved it.

About 3 hours before showtime. Can't tell she's excited can you? :)

We got a room at a cool hotel in downtown Grand Rapids and gave her the tickets there.

She just about knocked Ken over with her hug.

Initial reaction of seeing what those papers said.

The concert was very very cool. Taylor Swift is a great performer, as well as being super sweet and cute. One of the first things she said was simply "I'm Taylor." Like it was the most natural thing in the world to introduce herself to 11,000 people. She had 8 costume changes, 3 or 4 set changes, and played 4 different instruments. She seemed like a real person, not some unapproachable and distant diva. It was so hot in the arena, and she was working so hard, but never seemed to be bothered by her sweaty face, or her hair looking disheveled and less than perfect. And she had chipped nail polish :)

One of the last songs she did she sang the whole thing in a floating balcony that traveled all over the arena.

She played to the camera that put the video up on the big screen so well.

I like this one of Ken watching her.

Spotlights shining on her floating around on the balcony.

I didn't realize she played the piano too.

11,000 people with all their glowsticks and "sparkles."

Sitting on a couch playing a song with her band like it was in somebody's basement.

North Carolina Trip

Ken, Syd and I met Ken's cousin Christi and her family who live in Tampa in Maggie Valley, North Carolina to spend a week in the Smoky Mountains. The Reinharts have come to this area and stayed in the same cabin several times. It was a great place to spend some time relaxing and exploring.

None of us are true campers, but we all agreed that a cabin like that is the ideal camping situation for us -- the best of both worlds. We had a fire in the firepit every night so we could make smores, the kids got to be outside most of the time, and we could see the stars. Then at the end of the night we all went inside to sleep in real beds, got our food out of the fridge, and showered off all the smoke and dirt.

The one thing we did that I didn't get pictures of was white water rafting. It was a first for Ken Syd and I. It was fun, but I wish the water was a little warmer :)

Our home away from home. It was situated on a ravine overlooking a creek. The house had settled so much after it was built that the floors all had a downward slope to them. Cupboard doors didn't want to stay shut, and anything round that got dropped on the floor rolled until it was stopped by a wall.

Part of our creek. The kids (and guys) spent hours wading, catching creatures, and practicing slinging rocks with their souvenier slingshots.



Ken felt like a real explorer with a machete in his hand.

Ken and Joel aka the Machete Twins. They were hacking thru the brush in the creek when I made them stop and pose with their machetes on this midget bench by the creek.

The driveway crossed over the creek. Here is Ken emerging from the tunnel.

The guys spent a large amount of time looking for and then whittling walking sticks for everyone. They even took the time to brand everyone's names into them with hot knives.



One of the creatures the kids found in the creek. They also found salamanders and crayfish.

The first night the crazy guys jumped in the FREEZING cold creek up to their chins for 10 seconds. They were happy to have a hot tub and a cold drink waiting for them after they had proved their manliness.




These Neighborhood Watch trees were all over the woods. I want him in charge of my neighborhood :)



The porch swing was a hit with everyone. It was so relaxing to sit there and rock while listening to the creek rushing by.

When we weren't at the cabin, we were driving all over the Smokies to different places Christi and Joel had found on their previous visits.

Whoever named this waterfall had an ironic sense of humor. The sign said it was called Dry Falls. It was the biggest and wettest waterfall we saw that day in the Nantahala National Forest.

Didn't quite get the waterfall in the background. But I like the picture anyway.

You have to look really close about halfway up on the left hand side to see Ken jumping off the cliff into the pool below.

Splashdown! The water definitely wasn' t warm.

Christi, Jack and I weren't crazy enough to jump off the cliffs. We stayed nice and dry and took lots of pictures.

The adventerous ones walking in the river before we got to the falls.

360 degrees of a waterfall. I love stuff like this.

We passed this overlook every time on our way to or from the cabin. Once we stopped and took some pictures.

Family picture overlooking the Smokies.

After I saw on a map how close it was, the one thing I really wanted to do was see the Biltmore Estate, in Asheville. Ken, Syd and I took a day and drove out there to tour the house and gardens. It was amazing, not only the sheer size of it, but the detail and the amenities included. Only about a quarter of the house is open to the public, and I really wanted to see the entire thing. One tour guide teased us with a little blurb about secret passageways behind fireplaces that the servants used as short cuts. I could have spent all day there looking around and seeing all the rooms in the house, not just the ones we were allowed.

Beautiful Biltmore, all 250 rooms of it.

Another fun thing we did was a horseback trail ride thru the mountains. It was an hour long, and the horses were so used to following each other and being on the trail we hardly had to drive them at all.

We saw signs all over for a petting zoo weirdly called Santa's Land, so of course we had to go. It was the same concept as Deer Forest, only 100 times better. It was clean, there was a bigger variety of animals, the rides were in better condition, and just all around more enjoyable. The weirdest part was all the Christmas decorations and forced Christmas themes all over it. (All the workers wore elf suits, and Santa was there to talk to).

We rode pedal boats in a small pond with literally thousands of koi fish in there. Everyone had a bag of food and the fish swarmed the boats right at the surface. It was like they had never been fed before, even though there were several people besides us feeding them, and I know there is a constant stream of people out on the boats.

Ken tried really hard to catch the fish with his hands. He almost had a few of them, but they were too slippery to hold on to.

This is the feeding method at Santa's Land. It's much safer and easier than at Deer Forest. No one got trampled or mauled by hungry deer.

Birthday and Visit

This year for my birthday not only did Ken spoil me but my mom and dad came to visit. It was a great birthday and it was so fun to have them here when the weather was nice and we could be outside doing fun summer stuff.

Ken knows all my favorite stuff and totally spoiled me for my birthday -- lots of lotions, superman stuff, cute summer dresses and a Boston cream pie for a birthday cake.

Another fun present they found was an air popper because Ken knows how much I love popcorn. We had to give it a test run straight out of the box.

After my parents got there and it was dark enough, we set off fireworks in the driveway. A birthday tradition from back in the day.

The one thing my dad wanted to do while he was here was go to Silver Beach Pizza. We did that Sunday for lunch and stuffed ourselves on the best pizza in the world.

Dad forgot his hat so he took over my Superman hat. He thought he was very cool in it.

After pizza we found a good spot on the bluff to take some pictures.

We went to a fireworks show in Baroda on the 3rd. Everyone parks in a big field and hangs out until the show starts. It's a pretty good fireworks show for a small town, but next year we will figure out a better place to park so we aren't sitting dead still for a half hour.

Mom and Dad playing with bubbles before the fireworks.

The last birthday present Ken found was this cute beach chair my dad immediately dubbed the "knee-high chair," after the Zac Brown band about standing knee-high in the water with the ocean as his medication. It is very cozy and was perfect for watching fireworks from.

We spent the day of the 4th at our friends the Adams house. They have a huge yard and a nice sized pond stocked with fish.

Syd and Dad fishing

My favorite part of fishing was the pet duck they have named Oliver. He was a nice duck and hung out with us the whole time. He let us pet us and quietly quacked the whole time. He swam around in the water and came out on the grass. He was very friendly and happy. Sadly, we found out yesterday that he was eaten by something during the night. I'm glad we got to meet him and hang out with him for a while.

At one point Syd and her friend Anabelle, whose house we were at, brought out a picnic of leftover pizza. Oliver thought that looked like a good lunch for him and tried to steal entire pieces of pizza from them. They had to run back to the house and eat inside so he wouldn't snatch it away. He followed them the whole way from the pond to the house.

Fishing is definitely a spectator sport. And we are good at it -- spectating that is.

Ken and I took the day off work Tuesday to go to Brookfield Zoo in Chicago. It's a great zoo with lots of different exhibits. The best thing was that a lot of it was inside and what was outside was very shady. It was super hot that day. My dad and I loved it and everyone else was melting to death.

You have to ride the carousel at the zoo because it has so many cool animals to choose from.

This reminded me of a "flutterby bush" in the Harry Potter books.

Dad talking to the stingrays.

Syd getting instructions on how to feed the stingrays

Sting rays are my favorite part of the zoo. I could stay there all day talking to and petting them. There was one baby about a quarter of the size of the one in the picture. He was bright white and so friendly. He'd swim really slow so I could pet him longer and seemed to come over to be petted on more than the other ones.

Duda the equal opportunity lap snuggler. Even with the non cat lover in the family. If your legs are straight, he's going to sit on you.

Duda has always fought with my dad. But since his legs were straight while he napped he snuggled him too. Can you tell how much Storm adores him? :)

Dad and I played tennis for an hour. It was my first time playing in 2 summers so I felt very rusty. The next day my entire right arm from hand to shoulder was super sore. But it was tons of fun and I need to play more often.

This was a very common sight around our neighborhood for 4 days. Dad loves to walk with Storm, but she will only go if I'm with them. Otherwise she stops in the middle of the sidewalk and looks back at the house and won't move anymore