Happy Memorial Day!

We spent Sunday at my parent's cottage in Glenn, MI on the lake. Madeline loved looking out off the bluff at the big lake and even waved at it! We had a yummy cook out and then relaxed listening to the waves crash in.

We remembered our four grandpas who fought in World War II, Grandpas Johnson, Chappa, VandenBosch and Nave. I look at those names and think of the heritage that we have in our family and the importance of teaching our daughter about the family that has come before her.

"For there was a time when every man was part of his mother, and (earlier still) part of his father as well, and when they were part of his grandparents. If you could see humanity spread out in time, as God sees it, it would look like one single growing thing--rather like a very complicated tree. Every individual would appear connected with every other." - C. S. Lewis

Officially Mobile

So it is safe to say that Madeline can crawl!  I was a little timid about making an announcement like that a couple weeks ago because she was so inconsistent with her mobility.  However, that is definitely not the case anymore.  Danielle and I will have to keep our eye on her now.  I hope you enjoyed the progressing series of photos with this post that somewhat show her crawling capabilities.  You will notice that the last of these shown above is a bit blurry due to her blazing speed!  

Some other new developments besides the monumental

crawling include her nearly mastering the wave.  It's no longer all 

about Miss Madeline's babbling for greeting folks...oh no...she's now approaching a formal gesture of displaying rather than saying hello.  Other than that, she's pretty much the same schmoozer she's been.  

Chicago in the Springtime

We went to Chicago this past week for a couple days. We had a great time in the city and Madeline had plenty of new sights and sounds to take in. She couldn't believe there were that many people all in one place. We shopped (although didn't buy very much) and ate at some yummy places. We even saw the taping of the Ellen DeGeneres show right outside our hotel! It was hard sleeping in a new place and she was very ready to come home to her own bed. No place like home! It was her first trip overnight out of Kalamazoo and I think it was a success! On another note, she is VERY close to crawling. Any day now! We are also so happy it's spring here in Michigan and Madeline loves to look at all the pretty flowers.

A good Dutch girl can never resist pictures of tulips. :) The city was full of them, they were gorgeous! Below is a picture of where they wre taping the Ellen Degeneres show. There must have been a line of people two blocks to get into it! Needless to say, we were not!