Balloon Festival

Ryan and I went to a balloon festival.  It was a first for both of us. It was so hot out!  But it was certainly cool seeing all those balloons close up.  They didn't quite do all the activities that were planned because a thunderstorm was approaching.  Still, it was a new experience.

our Michigan housewarming!

What a wonderful time we had at our housewarming party.  At first John (my pastor) wanted to be in every picture... haha.

Chris and John

John and Jeff

Melinda, John, John

John and Ryan

John and John (these are the guys who did our lawn/landscape manicure)

Darryl, Paul, Darlene

Judy and Ruth

Abby and Maryedith

Corey and Gretchen

Beth and Dawn

Wade and Bob

Kyle, Hilary, Natalie, Victoria

Dave, me, John

(Chris)  Jeff

Melinda, me, John

Kyle, me, Hilary

Corey, Gretchen, me, Natalie

Beth, me, Wade

Victoria, Ruth, Jeff, me

Abby, me, Maryedith

Judy, me

Ryan, me, Chris

Bonnie, me, Logan

most of the gang

Some of the folks were outside playing when this was taken.  Some folks didn't show up until after it was taken, so I did not end up getting everyone's pictures.   :(  Sorry...

It was so nice having these fun people come over and warm up our house.  Haha... it was so hot!  I think our A/C needs some maintenance.  After dinner, we broke up into groups.  Some of them played cards or games.  Another group went in the basement to sing.  It was wonderful.  A couple of late-nighters (Dave and Maryedith) stayed till almost midnight singing with Ryan and I.  It was so much fun.

Now we have officially been welcomed to Michigan.  What a nice night!

Japanese Garden

me and Ryan climbing the rock path

it was so hot!

catching a bit of shade  under a gazebo for a moment

one of the bridges in the Japanese Garden

standing at the highest point

Dave and the bonsai

Maryedith, Dave, Ryan

aside from the heat and aching legs, we had a fantastic time!

looking out over the garden

turtles on a log

there were some nice waterfalls

It was so nice of Maryedith and Dave to invite us to go with them to Frederik Meijer Gardens.  We had a super great time even with the terrible heat and humidity.   Remind me to NEVER go when it's that hot out!   I was melting!  The Japanese Garden was so beautiful.  I really had a greater appreciation for it since having my own trees manicured this week.

church in the park

Wade and Ryan

 Ryan and I were the first to arrive at the park to set up for Sunday's outdoor service.  Then Wade came with more of the equipment.

Ryan setting up our speakers

I'm sure he's wondering why I stopped helping to take pictures.

more people helping

I WISH I had pictures of the actual service but I don't because I was singing.  It was so much fun having church outside!  Everyone really seemed to enjoy the freedom of being outside and doing had motions and seeing one of John's famous object lessons.  What a blast it was.  And then it was followed by a super yummy potluck lunch.  Fun day!

going to Holland state park

This is a lily that I had packed up in a box over a year ago, thinking it was coming to Michigan right away, but never got here till a year later.  When I took it out of the box, I saw that it had sprouted.  It seems to be stunted (it's super small), but I had to laugh that it grew after having no water or sun for a full year!  Spunky little thing.

my funny little lily

my funny little cherry

While getting our yard beautified this week, we discovered we have a cherry tree.  It had one cherry.  I tried to eat it.  It was sour.  I spit it out.

waves splashing up over the pier

Kyle and Hilary invited us to go to Holland State Park.  It was really fun.  The waves were so high that they were coming up over the pier.  There was no swimming allowed that day because it was so rough.  We enjoyed our day very much!  We went to the beach and walked around Holland, bought some cool oils and then had dinner.  It's crazy that you can just go to the beach like literally any time because it's so close!  I love Michigan.

here we are, all but Ryan...

Kyle and Hilary looking at some baby ducks

awesome spider web on the pier