The Kerry's were ready for Spring in the worst way. We could be house-bound no longer, so we took Grand Rapids by storm and packed in a ton of excursions throughout the month of March. Take a peak!
Elise had such an amazing time at Meijer Gardens that we of course wanted to share the experience with Ryan too. We woke early, packed up our gear and were some of the first visitors through the door. Ryan truly saw this as an expedition. Each little packed up documentation materials in their respective backpacks and made it the morning's mission to document all that they saw.
The only downside was when we were asked by staff to not use the benches since they were kids (note: no one needed the benches as evident by the other empty benches)...long story short...the director apologized for asking my kids to pack up since we were the "embodiment of Meijer Garden's mission." I couldn't really ask for a better resolution to the initial disappointment. The net was that our kids had an adventuresome morning learning about nature, documented all they saw and felt and got to practice how to extend grace to grown-ups, even when they're wrong.
As you may have noticed in previous posts, Ryan sported a tricked out splint for the majority of March. The photo above shows Ryan just moments before he broke his arm/wrist (btw where does the wrist end and arm start?) On our second run down the new hill on 10 mile, Ryan flew through the air and then landed on his arm. The hill was icy and too fast in hindsight. But the first run was fun! We were literally there 10 minutes before we packed it up and headed home. Eight hours later, it was clearly broken, though Ryan powered through the day and acted relatively pain-free. It turned out to be a minimal buckle fracture. Three weeks and two rolls of duct tape solved it all and by Spring Break he was good as new! (Though slightly traumatized by three weeks of no recess and gym class.)
One of the very best parts of working at ddm is having the support of my team and employer to be the kind of mom that chaperones field trips. Ryan and his besties had a great time exploring the Grand Rapids Children's museum with their entire class....and three other kindergarten classes (read: wrangling cats). Naturally they spent an entire hour at the train table, eventually breaking away to try a few other things during our two hours there. It still shocks me to see how tall Ry is compared to his buddies!
The same week, we got an invite from Deb to join her and the boys at the Children's Museum. Twice in one week was a pleasure, especially since Elise has never been big enough to really enjoy the exhibits. They all played so well together and had a great time. My favorite part was being called "Aunt Courtney" by Joshua as expressed excitement that I told him he was awesome. Make me know that it's not just my little tribe that sees the Baldwins as an extension of "us."
One of Max's players on the 78ers was recently diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. An event was put together to encourage him called Be Brave and Shave. Max joined 100 other people and shaved his head to support Shuyler and his fight. Max also presented him with a team gift: a helmut, varsity dog tags and a jersey that had his number on it. We made sure to get a shot of him with a mohawk mis-shave for Ryan since he was having a hard time with the fact that daddy was making a change. And because he always asks the girls at Judes to give his daddy one when they go to the barber shop!
You wouldn't believe that we were at a 7 year old boy's birthday party from the looks of these photos, but the boys were much harder to shoot :) We celebrated Connor's birthday at the MVP Sports Spot. Splint and all, Ryan had a blast playing soccer on the indoor fields, but Elise is who took us by surprise. She had a great time shooting around with the Alguire girls and proved to look like a true athlete out on the field. We love this family like our own. 18 years of friendship and now our kiddos are buddies. Life is good!
We also had a birthday party to celebrate Ms. Tessa's 6th birthday at a local gymnastics school. Elise again joined in on the play and Ryan was a sweaty mess with his massive jumps into the foam pit. Between Elise and Brompton playing hide-and-seek together and Ryan helping Tess move the heavy playthings when she called, we felt like we were watching foreshadowing of the years to come....Since we're ok with arranged marriages with this crew, it's all good.
March proved to be full of so much adventure...We're so blessed to have such amazing friends in our lives.
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