Abram's Baptism and Other July Events

We've been keeping busy this month.  Here's the rundown of what we've been doing.

The main event was on July 17.  Abram was baptized at Seymour CRC.  All of our family was there to share this special day with us.  We feel so blessed to have Abram in our lives and to know that he is also God's child.  After church everyone came to our house for lunch.  It was a full, hot house, but we enjoyed everyone's company.  We even got to meet our new niece Esther.  All of the cousins had fun as usual.  And we got to visit with Grandpa and Grandma Voogt for a while after everyone else left.  A nice treat since we don't see them often.  Grandpa Holleboom took pictures of the baptism.  You can see them on his site.

Here's what else we've been up to.

On July 7 Mary took the kids to John Ball Zoo.  It was a short trip, but we had fun looking at the animals, playing on the train and eating ice cream.

On July 9 we went to a bridal shower for Mary's cousin's fiance.  We had an afternoon tea and made a scrap book for Lynette.

On July 18 we went to a baby shower for Ryan, Shannon and Esther.  It was fun to be able to celebrate the birth of their first child.  Esther looked so tiny next to Abram :)  We look forward to watching Esther grow and seeing her personality develop.  Congrats, Ryan and Shannon!!

On July 21 Mary, Rebecca and Abram visited the Grand Rapids Children's Museum.  Rebecca had so much fun!  We're considering getting a memebership so we can go any time.  Her favorite part was the little grocery store.  And now at home her favorite thing to do is to "shop" for things, scan them and pay for them.  Mommy is usually the cashier :)

On July 22 we went to the library.  Always fun.  And it's always good for Rebecca to have new books to read.  I think we got 17 this time.  We've read through all of them multiple times. 

On July 24 we took our first walk to Cone World this summer.  Always a fun thing to do on hot Sunday afternoon.  Rebecca thoroughly enjoyed her twist cone with sprinkles.

On July 26 Justin and Mary celebrated their 8th anniversary.  We have been blessed with 8 happy years of marriage and pray God will bless us with many more!

On July 28 we went to a picnic at our local park held by our financial advisor.  We didn't know anyone else at the picnic, but it was still fun.  They had food, a dessert contest (Mary didn't enter this year...but maybe next year :), games and prizes.  Rebecca had so much fun on the bouncy toys.  She was red faced and sweaty by the time we left.  We also got a family photo taken.  Our financial advisor hired a professional photographer to do photos...and he paid for them!  We're anxious to see how it turned out.

On July 29 we went to another Whitecaps baseball game.  This was a work outing with Justin's company.  So they paid for everything :)  The kids both did well, and Rebecca got to meet one of the mascots (Crash the River Rascal).  We had some voucher money to use up so Abram got a teddy bear and we got a mini kick ball for the kids to share.

Those are the main events.  We're trying to make the most of the summer.  August will be filled with fun stuff.  Next week we're headed to the Double JJ for some animal and water fun :)  We'll be sure to post some pics when we get back.