the cottage: the artistic side

i am really not sure what’s taken me so long to post about our trip to the cottage.  maybe it’s the fact that to upload all the pictures and write about all the fun we had would simply be a sad reminder that it’ll be another twelve months before we are there again.  what’s the quote…”better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all?”  i am quite certain that tennyson wrote those words referring to a person and not a place.  but, that’s the attitude i am trying to adopt about the cottage these days.  without a doubt, we once again loved our time at the cottage and my soul has been filled with love knowing that drew and leo really embraced their time there by soaking in sun and surf…accomplishing things they’ve never done before…and even shedding tears with me as we drove down the driveway to head home.

but, without further ado…here is the first of a series of posts about our nine sunny and warm days in west michigan. (have i told you how much i love west michigan?!?)

we started our trek to michigan later than we thought we would, departing at 5pm with still a need to stop for dinner...but in the end it all worked out - pulling into the cottage at 5:30am allowed for lots of quiet sleeping in the back seat.  it worked so well, we took that approach for the drive back home too (thanks for the suggestion beth!!)

since leo was up about two hours later, we took it easy friday morning and put on a little art show.  drew helped arrange the art and determined the price of each piece.  the show was a huge success...the art was loved by all, both drew and leo made over $2 and granny, pop, uncle mike, and aunt lindsay got some fun art to display at their house or in their office!  (actually, the show was so much fun...we're thinking of hosting an art show here at home with some of the neighbor friends.)

later in the week, drew got to attend the hope summer repertory theatre with his grandparents.  in the past we've seen click, clack, moo and busy town...this year it was how i became a pirate.  drew had a great time and came back to the cottage with a very cool pirate hat and a HSRT t-shirt to remind him about the good time he had at the show throughout the year.


the city of holland puts on some amazing family events throughout the summer...concerts on fridays, farmers market on wednesdays and saturdays, and street performers on thursday nights. we had a lot of fun checking out the musicians, jugglers, dancers, and hoola hoopers.  we gave drew a few dollars and some coins and told him he could give the performers money if he thought they were good.  it was fun to see which performers he liked most and gave the most money too.  without a doubt though, drew's favorite act was the juggler when he juggled fire (he's still talking about it) and leo really enjoyed meeting some puppies - imagine that! for me, i loved seeing the amazement in my boys faces during the evening...but i also enjoyed being in such a great community.  a community that, much to my surprise, was full of families just like ours - i seriously lost count of the number of adoptive families enjoying the entertainment that evening.  it was an awesome feeling to be a part of that...and feel "normal" and easily accepted.

drew and leo were just in awe!

two rockin' musicians

drew's juggling hero

leo and his new friend - no fear!

listening to "the beatles"

some seriously talented hoola hoop loopin'!

so happy with my boys!!!

 until next time...when i'll have some beach boys for you!