Happy Halloween!

We just got power back.  Yay!   It feels so good having hot water, a working fridge, lights, and the internet again.  Sadly, some of our family is still left without power.  We're hoping that everything gets fixed soon.  

Even though it doesn't really feel like Halloween, I still wanted to wish you a Happy Halloween! Here's a photo of Baby Chuck in his Mr. Potato head costume.

We're just going to have a low-key day today.  With the terrible weather conditions, I'm so thankful that we were able to celebrate Halloween last Friday at our nearby library.  They did such a nice job bringing the Halloween spirit to the kids.

We like to party

During the Summer, our town hosts small Sunday get-togethers in the park.  They serve free food and drinks.  Plus, they hire a dj to play music.  Week after week I kept meaning to go but something always came up.  This past Sunday Kim, Baby Chuck, and I finally joined the festivities.  It was  a lot of fun.  We ate delicious food, people-watched to our heart's content, and even got roped into a little dancing.

Boy oh boy, West New Yorkers sure know how to party!

Love em and leave em from Pink Stripey Socks on Vimeo.

Neighborhood faces

Walking outside with Baby Chuck is one of the highlights of my day.  Every time we walk outside we see something different.  I usually don't bring my camera out, but yesterday was an exception.  Here are a couple of photos that I snapped and then edited.  Hope you enjoy them! 

Hello Tulip Time!

I can't believe how time has flown by.  It's now been a month since we left Holland and moved back East.

I still miss Michigan, but we're slowly readjusting to our new life here. 

One day when Baby Chuck grows up, I'll tell him lots of stories about our time in Michigan.  I'll share about the kindness of mid-westerners.  I'll scare him with a gory recounting of his birth.  I'll make him laugh with tales about our sweet and grumpy Charlie. 

And I'll delight him with descriptions of that quirky festival called Tulip Time. 
 

Hello Tulip Time

Oh how I love that festival! If only I had learned how to dance in klompen. :)

Our neighborhood

 

Reviewing our move: Packing

Hubby and I finished unpacking the majority of boxes this morning.  Hooray!  Right now we're acclimating to East Coast living by eating delicious ethnic food and learning how to drive more aggressively.  We're also reflecting on our moving experience, so I figured it would be nice to write a couple of posts about that. 


We packed for days and days.  Although we donated and sold a lot of items, we still had a ton of items to pack.  I packed most of the rectangular items and left hubby with the easy task of packing oddly shaped and fragile things.  (Hee hee, I'm such a good wife like that.)     
 

A couple of boxes here and there slowly grew into tall unstable towers.  Soon we were surrounded by our very own city of stuff.

While we packed, life still went on.

And wouldn't you know it?  In the midst of everything, Baby Chuck began crawling forward for the first time.

Whoa.  Not so fast, spider monkey.

Bucket list- Grand Rapids Public Museum

Here's our last bucket list item.

Hubby's birthday

We celebrated hubby's birthday last week.  Baby Chuck and I woke up early to head out to the store and prepare for his birthday, but we ran into a little bit of trouble along the way. 

(1)  It was very windy that day and I had several Marilyn Monroe-esque moments.  I think I flashed everyone in the parking lot.  Luckily, it was pretty empty and I was wearing a slip.

I ended up using two grocery bags to hold my dress down.

(2) Baby Chuck really wanted to get hubby a birthday balloon.  After deliberating for what seemed like hours and hours, we finally settled on a cute airplane shaped balloon.  I gave Baby Chuck the responsibility of bringing the balloon to the car.  As we left the store, a strong gust of wind blew and our airplane took flight.

It's probably somewhere over Lake Michigan by now, wishing birds and sea creatures a happy birthday.

(3) I like to pretend like I know what I'm doing in the kitchen. But, Ina Garten, I am not.  I tried following an online recipe for a gluten free chocolate cake.   The man in the video assured me that it would be simple, foolproof, and delicious.  I don't know what he was talking about.  Here's how my poor cake turned out.

It ended up being pretty tasty... and at least it didn't blow away!

Happy father's day

Dear Dads of the world,

You rock.  

Love,

me

Photos via Tito Ric and Tita Tina

Critter Barn

Yesterday we took our family around downtown Holland.  We enjoyed popping in and out of the shops and eating yummy sweets.  We also enjoyed seeing the Critter Barn animals in Centennial Park. 

Baby Chuck and I are trying to convince hubby to buy some chickens...or maybe a goat?   The goat could help mow the lawn.  I'll let you know how that goes.

Funny bunny

Pat the bunny

Oooh, chickens!

Big brain?  Or big hair?

Feel the soft fluffy chick

A future farmer

Do goats eat tires?

Bucket list- Lake Michigan

Our family made the 15 hour trek from NJ to Michigan.  We welcomed them with a picnic at the beach.  It was Baby Chuck, Auntie Ana, and Uncle Richie's first time seeing beautiful Lake Michigan.

I think they liked it a lot. 

Photos c/o hubby and Tita Tina