The Van Dyk Family

Happy Halloween!

Can you see the ninja?

Halloween 2014 looked like it was going to be washed out by rain! But the rain let up just in time and we had a great time seeing family and friends.

Our cowgirl was very impressionable and kept acting like a ninja!

The only way I could get her to stand up was to tell her to yell "Yee-haw!"

But then she'd forget and act like the ninja again!

The first "day" of kindergarten

This week Hale is doing his "slow start" to kindergarten. This means he is going to school, but only partial days with part of his class. Today was the first time that he spent time in his classroom without me. But it was only 45 minutes with a few other kids. I wasn't going to count it as a day of school.

But, this morning Hale put on his first day of school outfit, walked into the kitchen and announced "Hooray, it is my first day of kindergarten!" I tried to explain that tomorrow was really more like his first day (though it's still only a half day) but he wasn't convinced and I didn't want to kill his enthusiasm. So we switched into "first day of school" mode and I grabbed the camera!

This girl is going to miss her brother on his school days. This morning she told him "Hale, I don't want you to go bye-bye." He said "Don't worry Z, you're going to go to the library" which was sweet, but we weren't, so it kind of ended up adding to her disappointment.

Goofballs

And when it wasn't him...

...it was HER being goofy.

The mandatory backpack picture

We love you Hale! You'll do great!

Merritt Wynn- 10 months

Merritt is still, by far, the most popular member of our family. Hale and Zetta fight for the space nearest to her so they can hug her and kiss her cheeks. Zetta still asks to hold her every day- but she's moving so much that this really isn't possible. Whenever Merritt wakes up from a nap the older kids dance around me until I finally get up to get her out of her crib. Lately, they haven't been waiting for me to get her out- they just join her in her crib and hang out until I come and get them ALL out.

She's finally learned to crawl on her knees and she is pulling herself to standing. She still has not learned to consistently sleep through the night. Though we're sometimes sad to see her getting so big- we are ALL ready for her to start sleeping better.

I took these pictures on a morning when the older kids were away with Landon running some errands for the farm. [Can I just say how excited I am that all this cool old stuff is just steps from my back door?] The kids have had a renewed interest in working with Dad now that the raspberries are over. They got a little burned out on the raspberry routine. Hale has been especially excited to be with Dad and I think he is subconsciously anticipating the beginning of kindergarten next week. Merritt (and I, and maybe Zetta) will really miss having Hale around. He put in a couple long days at the farm this week and I realized how much fun he brings to the house. There is never a boring moment when he is here.

A strange side effect of raising kids in Washington: they develop an extreme sensitivity to sunlight. Merritt squinted in 90% of the photos I took on this day (see below squinty eyes) and we were in a big patch of shade! What is the deal?

He loves me, he loves me not.

Summer Visitors: new connections

A few posts ago I wrote about all the blessings this house has brought to us. Perhaps the best so far was our new connection to the Anderson family.

Actually, we've always been connected to the Anderson family because they are a part of our Van Dyk family. Landon's grandfather's uncle, Ralph Van Dyk, built a home for his family on a beautiful farm on the Noon road. Ralph's daughter Mary was a freshman in high school when she moved into the house. And now that house- is OUR house!

Landon's aunt Liz (other side of the family) connected with the Andersons in Uganda (Mary's son and family who live there) when she was there on a mission trip. They inquired about the Van Dyk family and the house on the Noon road. It just so happened that Liz DID know about the house- she spent many days with me last summer scrubbing ceilings, windows and floors!

The Anderson family gathered in Seattle for a reunion this summer and some of them were able to make the trip up to Lynden to visit family and see Mary's hometown and her old home. We had such fun getting to know Mary and her family, and hearing stories about the house. For instance, half of our kitchen used to be Ralph's study. And we have a nice big master bedroom because it used to be Mary's room. When the house was being built Mary saw the foundation and she told her dad it was too small- so he kindly enlarged it for her! Mary said her dad hired the very best builder he could find- and we believe it. In spite of some neglect the past few years, the house is still in remarkable shape.

I'm so glad the Anderson's took the time to come and see us! It was great to make the connection with family and learn more about our new home.

Trip to the aquarium with Grandpa and Grandma (with pictures mostly by Tom)

Though most of our time with Grandpa Tom and Grandma Pat was spent at home (or in Mexican restaurants) we did one short day of international travel.

The story behind this trip is this:
During the long evenings of raspberry season the kids and I had quite a few popcorn parties before bed. I got tired of just watching a show with them, so I started telling them stories about my childhood. Since Hale claimed that most of my childhood stories were sad (Hale: "Mom, we don't want to hear this story if it ends with one of your pets dying") we started exercising our imaginations instead. One night I told the kids to imagine that we had a jumbo jet parked on our driveway. "Where would you fly in it?" I asked. Hale was quick to respond that he would "fly to Minnesota to pick up Grandpa and Grandma and then I would fly it someplace that had an aquarium". I was kind of surprised by his answer because we'd never talked about aquariums before. I made note of his wish and mentioned to G and G the next day that they should pack their passports when they came. [For the record, Zetta's wish was to fly to Grandpa and Grandma's house and take a bath (the kids love their bath toys). Hopefully we can grant her wish soon, too.]

So when Grandpa and Grandma arrived we planned a day that we could go to Stanley Park in Vancouver, BC to see the aquarium and walk the sea wall. We left Merritt at home, knowing that the aquarium would probably be crowded and I didn't care to be pushing a stroller.

We saw the Beluga whale show. Hale said of it later "My friends couldn't believe it when I told them that the Beluga whales spit water on people who WEREN'T EVEN WEARING THEIR SWIMSUITS!"
.

Hale loved the frog exhibit. They were good hiders, so Zetta was a little frusterated ("I don't see him!!!")

Hale did his best to help her out.

Zetta's favorite was seeing the clown fish ("Nemo!!!!")

They had a special jellyfish exhibit going. They've never been my favorite creatures, but it was surprisingly captivating.

The hands down winner was, of course, the dolphin show. It just happened to come last and was the perfect finale. Since we'd baked in the sun at the Beluga show we went a little early to stake out a good seat.