The Rental House

Here's a couple of pics of our rental house. It's actually quite comfortable and cozy. It has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, about 1300 sq. feet. All of our stuff is in storage about 40 miles away. It's interesting what you can live without!! We're having fun looking at open houses on the weekends. Know anyone who wants to buy a great house in Missoula???

The Beach

Here's a couple of pics of us on the beach our first day in Holland. The sunsets are amazing. Almost as good as Montana during fire season!!

Annika's First Pheasant

Here's Annika holding her first pheasant!! (She didn't shoot it!) She was quite fascinated by it. That's her cousin Travis in the background. We had a great visit to the Pearson family farm on our move out from MT to MI. It's always one of our favorite places to go.

Crazy Bounce

Here's a great place to get the "wiggles" out! It's called "Crazy Bounce" and is a huge warehouse sizedspaced with tons of giant inflatable slides and play structures. the kids loved it!! For perspective, that's Annika in the foreground in the blue shirt in the pic with the gator. Great wintertime fun!

Halloween

Here's some belated Halloween pics. Annika was Hannah Montana and Jonas was a pumpkin. We went trick or treating with Aunt Christy and Oma and Mackenzie. Such fun! Jonas kept trying to go up to the same houses over and over. So funny!

Holiday Family Photos

We took the opportunity on Thanksgiving Day to take some holiday photos. These are of my parents, my sis (Christy), her husband (Tim) and their daughters Mackenzie (16 mos.) and Madison (3 mos.). I can't remember the last time that we were all together on a holiday!! We also wanted to tak one of Oma and Papa with the grandkids. You've got to love kids!

Settling In

Well, it's been a lot longer than I'd planned since my last post! However, we've been very busy settling in to our new home in Holland, MI. We've gotten to see a lot of Oma, Papa, Aunt Christy, and her family. That's been so nice! I've gotten together with my mom twice to go to holiday craft shows and of course, we were all together for Thanksgiving, which was so fabulous. It's only 45 minutes from our front door to my parents' or sisters' front door. That's a little strange! I haven't lived this close to my family since I was in high school!!

We're settling in to our rental house quite well. It's a cozy place, right on Lake Michigan's lakeshore. We only have to walk about 1/4 mile to the end of our road and we're on the beach! I've attached some pics. It's absolutely beautiful. Perry enjoys walking the dogs down on the beach daily. There are also great bike trails all along the lakeshore area. Annika started her new new pre-school at Learning Tree Montessori the week after we got here. She loves it and is learning to read! She has also started ice skating lessons. She was moved up into the next class 10 minutes after she got on the ice! Not bad for never having been on skates before!! (Yes, I'm a proud mama.) She absolutely loves it and doesn't want to get off the ice at the end of her lesson. Jonas has transitioned very well. He doesn't seem to know the difference! That makes me a little sad because I would have like him to be able to remember Montana. Annika definitely remembers and asks often when we will be able to go back to Montana for a visit!

My job is going very well. I'm enjoying the staff and the physicians and a little less stress at work. There are still many challenges and lots to do!

Perry is getting to know the area and the fun things for kids to do. He's been to both local libraries, been to a great indoor play area with giant inflatable slides and play structures and last night we went to the indoor water park. We've also been to the Grand Rapids Children's Museum with my sister and her daughter, which is huge!

Anyway, better go. Hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!