Family Time in Iowa

Bowling in Pella. Grandma Vander Ley even made her first visit
to a bowling alley(she's 85 years old!)

Keith & Val Vanden Hoek w/ their new baby, Carley

4 of my grandbabys, petting my brother's farm dog

Melanie & Chad Uitermarkt w/ their new baby, Hunter

Brett & Roxanne w/ Olivia, Aidan and Regan

Elton & Lauri w/ Alex, McKenna, Ethan & Sydney

We had a wonderful time with our family of 17 in Pella, Iowa, staying at the Country Inn & Suites. We all arrived on Thursday the 19th, and the first destination was the pool, where the grandkids enjoyed splashing and playing. That evening brother Glenn invited us for dinner, and everyone was happy to join their family for pork burgers, fruit salad, corn on the cob, chips, potato salad and pop. YUMMY! The kids had so much fun with the only puppy left of the last litter. It was a cute English Springer Spaniel (black & white). Glenn and Donna have been raising ESS the last year, so if you want a cute springer spaniel, give them a call. The kids also played with all of the kittens running around their farm. Perfect place for kids. They also got to meet Bob the llama, who is the guard and 'watchdog' over the sheep. He is a very interesting creature, and kept a close eye on all of the strangers in his territory.
Friday was our day to spend together as a family, so Friday morning we took Mom to Glenn and Donna for the day, and we met all of the kids and grandkids in a park. After lunch we went to the Red Rock Lake area, where the kids climbed to the top of an observation tower with 170 steps, and then down a steep embankment to get to the water. They had fun and Gpa and Gma enjoyed watching them from a bit higher up, where there was shade.
Friday evening we took the family out to a Mexican restaurant that some of the kids had gone before and said the food was great. We enjoyed the food, but some women in the party were dissapointed that they were not serving margurita's, for 30 days b/c they had been caught serving minors.
We had planned for quite some time to take everyone to ride the go carts, so the kids were sooo excited, but when we got there we had some very upset kids as they had to be 58" tall to drive the carts. Grandpa, Elton, Brett, Joel, Emily, Aidan and Sydney did take a car out, but they were more powerful than anticipated and we understood why the restrictions. Just ask Aidan; he provided some heart stopping excitement! We were just glad he was ok.
Saturday was the wedding, and I was at the church by 10:30 to pin flowers. The rest of the family arrived before 1 PM dressed up and looking so lovely. It was a beautiful wedding, and we enjoyed seeing all of Glenn and Donna's family as well as Phil, Shirley, Hendrik, Erika and Ava, Karissa and Lauralee Stel. It was a special treat for so many of the cousins to be together, and visit.
We all went back to the hotel, changed clothes and at 5:30 we drove to the bowling alley, with our family, Grandma VL and Hendrik's family. It was so much fun watching all the kids throw the ball, literally. Grandma VL said she had never been to a bowling alley, and even though she was tired and fell asleep occasionally in all the noise, she enjoyed being with all the family. The kids all did well even though they wanted to do better, and I would have to say that Brett was the most dissapointed, losing to Roxanne!!.
Sunday morning Everett and I and Mom went to the baptism of Hunter Adenn, son of Chad and Melanie, and Glenn and Donna's first grandchild. Our other kids all left for home. The baptism was very nice, and after the service Donna and Glenn served leftover cake of the wedding, and then we were served lunch in honor of Hunter. It was delicious and gave all of us a chance to visit a bit more. Mom went back to Corsica with Janet and Wayne Lefers, along with Florence, Donna's Mom. We all returned home safely and were so very grateful that we had been blessed with a wonderful and fun weekend with our family. We all have many precious memories.

ARRIVED IN SD

We made it safely to SD on Thursday the 12th, following an uneventful trip. We had good weather and good roads w/o road construction, and stayed in Des Moines overnight. We made it to Ken and Margie, our bed and breakfast hosts by dinner time and Dorothy joined us also. We got a few games of ripple in as well.
Friday was the beginning of the festivities, when we met at the King's Inn in Platte at 10 AM for the Vander Ley reunion. We had a nice time visiting with relatives, looking at pictures, and followed by a delicious lunch catered by some local women. There were more attending in the evening for the dinner at The Pizza Ranch (about 50).
Saturday we went to Sioux Falls for the Nettleton Reunion held at the Convention Center/Sheraton. It was a lovely evening with approximately 90 in attendance and organized by Sharon (Brunsting) Bultje and Diane (Nusz) Sauer. They served a wonderful dinner and there were great gifts and prizes, and we were the lucky ones that evening. Everyone received a bottle of wine made in Fargo, ND, Diane's hometown. Everett and Arlin Maas were each given a pen/pencil set for coming the fartherest, and Everett bought one raffle ticket and his name was drawn. We received a lovely counted cross stitch picture, matted and framed, that Sharon Bultje had done. We felt honored to have been chosen. We stayed overnight at Vern and Sharon Bultje for the evening and left early Sunday morning so we could pick up Mom and take her to church.
We had a great Sunday noon meal, at Margie and Ken, with Gloria , Jaylon and Duane, as well as Keith and Val, Clayton, Cody, Cassidy and Carly in attendance. It is so gracious of Margie to invite others to give us a chance to meet family. Carly is the newest member of the family born July 5 and is so cute and tiny. He brothers and sister love her to pieces.
We joined Ken and Margie for Sunday evening services in their church and had a chance to meet some other acquaintances. We also played more games of ripple!! Keith called early evening to say he was taking Val to emergency as she was hemmoraging. He called again about 11PM that she had stablized and would be coming home. We are grateful that after a Dr. app't this morning things look good and a D&C might not be necessary.
We picked up Mom at 8:30 this morning so we could take her to a chiropractor app't in Stickney. We did not understand that this Dr. was in Mitchell only on Monday. Thankfully they could get us in in Mitchell and we were headed that way so Mom had her treatment. Wow it made quite a difference to her. She had a fall a few weeks ago,down about 4-5 steps, and it made her sore in lots of places, so we are grateful she had this treatment.
We got most all of our shopping finished before lunch so got home on time so Mom could make the bingo game at 3!!
We are off to have dinner with Dorothy this evening.

Fourth of July

What a grand day to celebrate the birthday of our country! The weather was about perfect for going to a parade; partly cloudy, a breeze, and cool temperatures. Everett left at 8:15 to bring the trailer to the church so it could be decorated with our VBS tribal banners, a tent and 3000 freeze pops for the kids in the crowd, plus some excited kids and grown ups. Joel, Brenda, Emma and I had a great spot across from Godwin Hardware. Emma enjoyed all the noise and people and would clap at the right times. She liked the dogs, horses and Papa driving his tractor, pulling the float.
After the parade we went to the craft and food booths, and hunted down Brett and Roxanne as they volunteered for the In The Image food booth, selling brats, hot dogs, chips and pop. We all ate brats and then went home so Emma could get her nap in.
About 3:15 Brett and Roxanne came over, and we all loaded what we needed for a pontoon ride on the river. It was a beautiful afternoon for the ride and Joel even tried out the new tube. All went along well, even though the river was LOW. We went toward Lowell, and turned around, going along just fine, until we hit the tree stump. Wow, it stopped the boat 'very quickly'. We accessed the damage, realized we had all hung on, and Joel was ok. We got the boat started again, and took off VERY CAREFULLY. It did give us a new appreciation that we were all safe. we soon stopped for our picnic supper in the shade of some trees. The food was delicious, but picnics are the best. We made it back to the landing and we all unloaded the boat and rode home in the trailer. Actually that was the peaceful part of the day. The fun and excitement was about to begin!
After everyone left we decided it would be a good time to get the boat out of the water, so Everett took the tractor to the river, and before I knew it he was back. Well the boat was not out of the river, but the tractor was in the river. He asked if I would give him a pull, so we jumped in the Envoy and drove back to the river, and believe it or not I pulled him right out. Well, now the tractor was out of the river , but not the boat, so he decided to take the boat down to the ramp in Ada. I met him there, and after at least 3 tries, the help of a young man, and repeated tries at getting the boat started, we finally got it on the trailer. It was a long day, but we got the boat home. Everett was mud splattered and very tired by 10 PM. It had been a good day.

Second Half of 2007

I just realized the year is half gone, but it has been a good, busy, fun time with a few challenges of life added in.
We enjoyed going to our friends Vern and Nella Mae Vander Kooy's, 5oth anniversary open house on Sat. They held it at Ada Chr. school, and had a lovely dessert buffet, with punch and coffee. It was so good to see all of their children and grandchildren.( Maria will be here for the week and wants to see you Brenda.) We will take notes for our own party in 8 years! I can not believe I am saying that.
Yesterday was a quiet day of worship and rest, which we needed as we looked at the coming week. We have a few things that need to be accomplished, as we will be leaving for SD next Wed. the 11th. We are ready for the final printing of the Vander Ley geneaolgy book, so that will be a relief, as it takes MANY emails and reminders for every one to get the info in to us. Then the proofreading, and more reminders that we are still missing some details.
Next Monday is the first day of VBS at Ada CRC, so the lower area of grass has to be mowed, by the church, so they can set up tents the end of this week. Everett has volunteered to keep that area mowed for the summer, and has done that for the last few years, and enjoys it. He is also pulling our trailer in the Ada parade on the 4th, which is decorated by a group from church to advertise our VBS, so had to do some prep for that.
I have been chasing blackbirds from the feeders, and even resorted to the BB gun. It did not have the effect I had hoped for. They just flew a little higher in the trees, and as soon as the garage door was shut they flew back. Not all birds are worthy of the bird seed I put out there, especially when they come in droves, and chase the other pretty birds away. There was a lot of chatter this morning when the neighbors cat was sitting under the feeder. They sent out the warning that "the cat is here". It also helped when the racoon was eating under the feeder. They probably could not tell the difference between a cat or a coon.
One spot of beauty in the yard that is just amazing is the Easter lily that we planted last year after I had about killed it in the house. It is bloomimg now and has at least 25 blooms on with, some not yet opened. The flowers have been beautiful this year, and must enjoy the cool sunny weather as much as I do!
We are also looking forward to going to Sugar Is. this coming weekend to visit with Gary and Mary Vos. It has been many many years since we were up there. The last time I can recall was when Elton was 16- 17 so that would be 23 years ago.