Chicago: Vacation Part 4!

So on Wednesday of our first week in Pella, Matthew and I left our sweet Cayden with Grandpa and Grandma and headed out to Chicago to visit our great friends Janna and Troy.  They recently moved from Azusa, where we were blessed to have them close to us for the past 4 years, to Chicago where Troy is taking a job at Trinity Christian College. We miss living by them already!!  So anyways, my good friend from college, Kristi, also drove down from Michigan to visit as well! It was so much fun to see Janna and Troy's place and catch up visit with such good friends!!!

Here is how Chicago started . . . it was raining outside and a nap was just calling there name!  This gave the girls a chance to talk anyways :)!

So Matthew's dream came true and we went to Giordano's to get deep dish pizza.
Just look at the look on Matthew's face as they are serving him the first slice :)!
Pizza in all its glory . . . according to Matthew!
Getting ready for some pizza
Unfortunately this was the only picture I got of all three of us all day . . . and we are eating pizza, wished we would have had another one as well :)!
After we dropped Kristi off at the train station (she took the train part way and drove the rest of the way, thanks for driving down Krisit!!  I loved seeing you again and catching up!!!!) we drove downtown for awhile!

Here is the apartment building that Matthew, Troy, and I lived in our senior year for one semester when we all did our internships in Chicago.  We had to at least drive by it, looks the exact same!
We went and saw the Millennium Bean at Millennium Park, that was pretty cool, the picture doesn't do it justice!  The second picture is a little bit better!

Matthew and I and some Chicago skyline!
Troy and Janna with the skyline!
Troy and Matthew
Me and Matthew at the "Faces" display
Watch out they spit!
Janna and I
We went back to their house and spent the night!  It was so great seeing them again, even if had only been a few weeks . . . we will definitely miss them here in Azusa . . . things just don't seem quite right without them here :(!  

Thanks for sticking with me, I think there are only two more parts of our vacation left!!  To see all pictures of our trip, take a look at our Smugmug pictures!!

Pella: Vacation Part 3!

Our first day in Pella happened to the the 4th of July and I happened to still have the flu.  So I am not exactly sure of went on that day since I spent most of it in bed :)!  I am pretty sure that everyone else went for breakfast at McDonalds and then hit the Pella parade on the square.  It was actually a pretty cold day so it was tough to keep Cayden in his 4th of July outfit since it was shorts and a t-shirt but it was cute anyways.  I had Matthew document the day with pictures!

Grandma and Cayden on her birthday (the 4th of July!)

Watching the parade
Collecting all the yummy candy-notice his hands holding some candy and holding his pants up!
Saying "hi" to the dog
Enjoying some of that sugary goodness after the parade!
Later that night I was out of bed and felt "well" enough to go to the De Haan extended family 4th of July party.  I didn't have quite the opportunity to socialize like I would have wanted to but we were able to see lots of the De Haans!  Since it was so cold and past Cayden's bed time we headed to Matthew's parent's house to put Cayden to bed and enjoy the fireworks from their deck!

Sunday I was still under the weather but by the afternoon I felt pretty much the best I had felt in three days so we went to enjoy the sun at the park in the afternoon!

Daddy and Cayden playing
Cayden can never get enough of basketball . . . he suckers anyone into helping him out :)!
Trying to climb the climbing wall by himself!
Finally willing to go down a slide after months of not doing it!!
Walking around the park with Grandpa!
The next few days (I was thankfully better!) we hung out around Pella and enjoyed some sleeping in and playing outside in the endless amount of space in the backyard!

Cayden loved playing with his bat and ball!
On Tuesday night after a pretty fierce rain (loved it!!!) there was a double rainbow.  They were actually full rainbows but I couldn't capture the whole thing on my camera, but it was gorgeous!

More to come.  I think I still have about three more parts to blog about.  We just went so many places, I had to dedicate a post to each place we were at! 

Northwest Iowa: Vacation Part 2!

On Wednesday, July 1, we left Colorado in the afternoon and flew straight to Omaha, NE.  From there we rented a car and drove around 3 hours to Sioux Center, IA-home of Dordt College and where Matthew and I spent 4 years there :)!  We stayed at our good friends house (Bret and Kristi Van Wyk plus there new little baby James).  It was so nice to be able to catch up with them again and we were so thankful that they let us crash there for a few days!  On Thursday we spent the entire day with my Grandpa and Grandma De Yager at their house.  Cayden loved the wide open spaces of there basement (where I used to play) and also playing with my cousin Nicolaas!  In the evening we met a lot of my extended De Yager family at Pizza Ranch for dinner.  It was so nice to catch up with everyone who was there!!  Unfortunately Matthew had the beginnings of the flu and by Friday morning I was sick with the flu as well.  We left Sioux Center in the morning to drive back to Omaha where Matthew's Mom and Grandma picked us up there.  Then we had another 3 hour drive to Pella.  This was no fun to be sick in the car when all I wanted to do was sleep, but we made it and I soon went to bed.  We were proud of Cayden for putting up with all this traveling so far!  We had our moments but for the most part he was a trooper.  

Cayden playing with the same trucks me and my siblings played with growing up in my Grandparents basement!

Playing with the chalk board, he really like this!
Sitting with Great Grandma :)!
Sitting with Great Grandpa outside :)!
Something must have been hilarious when we took this picture . . . CUTE!
Me and my Grandparents . . . love them!
Cayden eating Townhouse crackers (same as when we were little) at the little table Shaun and I used to eat by, we thought that table was awesome.  It was cute to see Cayden sitting there too!
Cayden and James (Brett and Kristi's baby).  Cayden thought it was awesome to help James with his pacifier. Over and over again!
Unfortunately we did not get a picture with Bret and Kristi . . . bummer!  Between the sickness and the busyness I guess we forgot . . . until now!  Next time!
We are very glad that we were able to see so much of my family while we were there as well as Bret and Kristi.  We wished we would have had more time to do more but hopefully we will be back next summer sometime!  

Colorado: Vacation Part One!

I have finally motivated myself to update our blog with our latest vacation (or at least start)!  At the end of June, Matthew finally finished up classes and we almost immediately headed out for our almost three week journey across the Midwest :)!  Our first stop was in Keystone, Colorado where we went for my cousin, Nicole's, wedding/Van Essen Family Reunion!  We had a great five days with my mom's side of the family, full of activity!  I will try to recap it the best I can but let me tell you, our days were packed and we had a blast!

We arrived on Saturday morning (June 27) and met up with my family in the airport where we rented a 15 passenger white van (we named it the Mexico Mission Trip Van)!  We drove up to Keystone and reunited with a lot of family and headed out for the rehearsal dinner/Hoe Down!  We had a lot of fun hanging out with everyone, doing some line dancing, and just catching up!

Cayden playing in a field, trying to find a golf ball!

It was a gorgeous setting, surrounded by mountains and trees-couldn't want anything else!
Mommy and Cayden
Matthew and I
The three brothers!  What a great picture guys!
My cousin Kelli and I (We are three days apart, roomed in college together, and married friends!).
Courtney, Natasha, and Kelli dancing it up (with a few others in the background!)
Matthew and Mark dancing it up (they also roomed together in college!)
Cayden riding the "bull"
Trying to lasso the bull
The next day (Sunday) we went on a morning hike before the wedding.  So beautiful and it was great being outdoors in the clean mountain air!

Grandpa and Cayden trying to make it up the hill!
My Grandma and Grandpa Van Essen-love these guys!
Cayden going for a ride with Grandpa
Kelli, Charlie (her 5 month old son) and I at our destination
I often make my family take pictures everywhere we go, I think they get sick of it but they will appreciate it someday :)  Thanks guys!
The three sisters-so much fun!
The boys (once again forced to take a picture, but it is so nice to have)!
Cayden was exhausted and fell asleep on daddy on the way down the mountain
On Sunday night we went to Nicole and Beau's wedding which was outside surrounded by the mountains . . . so pretty!

Uncle Shaun and Cayden having a ball!

Once again another family picture (2 in one day, yes!)
Our little family picture!
The three girls again!
The next day (Monday) after doing a little shopping in the outlet malls we went to an awesome park that was literally surrounded by mountains, LOVED it!  We then put our competition faces on as we battled it out with a volleyball tournament and then some ultimate Frisbee.  We had a blast!

The Ultimate Frisbee game
Cayden imitating my cousin, Seth, throwing the Frisbee.  I am sure Cayden can't wait til he is old enough to play!
Cayden had so much fun with his 2nd cousins while we were there.  Here is Arabella blowing bubbles . . .
and here is Cayden trying to blow bubbles or maybe just eat them :)!
Tuesday we had so much fun as people either went hiking again or chose to go biking 16 miles down the mountain.  Matthew and I decided to go biking down the mountain and we were the lucky ones to ride tandem :).  This could have been one of the coolest things I have done.  We had a lot of fun and we had the most gorgeous views.  Cayden did not go with us and he went on the hike with some of my other family members (Aunt Natasha) and my Uncle Del volunteered to carry Cayden for us so we could go biking-Thanks Uncle Del!!!!  When we got back that afternoon we were split in teams of four and sent out on the Amazing Race Van Essen's style.  Let me tell you this was intense as we had to figure out various clues and places (sometimes only based on a picture) and travel to these different towns to get our next clues.  It was wild and crazy but so much fun!

It has been a tradition ever since I was little that Grandpa always cut our finger nails when we saw him.  We tried to have him cut Cayden's finger nails but Cayden wasn't having it.  However, Arabella and Inara loved it (Arabella especially kept coming back for more), maybe next time Cayden will allow this!
The Great Grandparents with the Great Grand kids
One last family picture at the place we stayed!
We had so much fun, I almost wish this was a yearly event.  I love to spend time with my cousins and my aunts and uncles.  I love that there is never a dull moment and we are always having fun!  I can't wait til we get to do it again!!!