Fun at the Zoo

MJ and I took young Marcos to John Ball
Park Zoo today. Marcos was rather indifferent
about things until he got up and close with the tiger,
followed quickly by a lioness. He studied the tiger quite
closely. You see, Marcos, the actor, method
actor, was learning the mannerism of his character.
In the aquarium.

Meeting the very friendly goat.


THE tiger.

THE lioness.

A mother wallaby with her joey, just recently
able to exit his mum's pouch for short periods.

Marcos the engineer.

Homemade bacon, hickory smoked today

with this whole chicken.

Happy Father's Day

We enjoyed brunch together today in celebration
of Father's Day.
The Lopez's arrive!

We had an egg casserole, potato casserole,
asparagus with lemon garlic sauce, bacon,
muffins and watermelon.

After eating, we headed out back and some
of us had a water fight.

Linnea, working on her weapon of choice.

Frivolity ensued!

Grandpa shared his yogurt covered raisins

and Grandma doled them out.

Crop Report and Misc.(1st Anne Post)

The following are a few shots of some fields
in Montcalm and Kent counties; my drive home.
Corn planting was a little late this spring.
It does have a good chance at standing knee
high by the Fourth of July though.


First crop of hay. Quite often I will see
sandhill cranes in this field

Potatoes. Red potatoes are regularly grown
as well as many other varieties.

Here is a small field of winter wheat.

Young Marcos is helping his Aunt Jill prep
for tomorrow's Father's Day brunch by

cutting up some sweet watermelon. While

cutting the melon, Marcos remarked, "this

for yummy in my tummy".

A quick video of Linnea playing with a

Thomas accessory and being disturbed by

Grandpa.

Riverside Park and Tacos

Underdog anyone? We arrived at the 3 Fires PowWow a little too early to see any of the dancing, so headed for the playground. The three Michigan tribes are in town until 4pm today. We did catch some dancing and singing yesterday as well. Marcos was really disappointed not to see them today tho. Off to the new tienda/restaurante of old friends, Don Angel, Senora Theresa, Enoch and family. Their menu is mostly tacos- a dozen different types. Enoch says menudo is picking up too.

Cousins on a taqueria banquette. Sounds

like a good name for a song.

Chicharrone and tamale. Jill had been craving Sra. Theresa's tamales and they did not disappoint! Very good food.

Above, Gregg, Louis, Enoch, Checo and Don Angel. The kitchen is off to the side of a small grocery area. Seating for 16 only. Not pictured are Enoch's two girls, Julia and Rosaria, who are servers. It was nice visiting with everybody (we haven't seen this family really for almost three years). The girls said that the first week of working at the restaurant, they didn't mind tacos every day, but it got old. Enoch ordered pizza to break up the monotony and according to Julie, the pizza delivery guy asked why they needed pizza, "this is a restaurant, right?" Try eating tacos every day!

After lunch, Linnea napped and Gregg started a wonderful chicken curry dish. Jill and I went to the Fulton St. Artisan Market for the first time. It was very busy and the booths were almost full. A very nice Sunday afternoon activity. As Jill said, we have not had too many "stay-in-the-house" weekends, so I'm heading out to do a little more gardening before church tonight. I helped a neighbor move a bed of hostas this week. We shared some with our other neighbor and also planted quite a few here this weekend. I predict next Saturday to be about peak for the summer flower garden, so hope to have more photos then.

A Few Shots From This Weekend So Far

Emily took Checo's place on Friday evening
as Marco's team coach. MJ was there as
Marcos' second.

Grandpa reading to Linnea.

Part of today's dinner.

Aunt Em and Linnea sharing a moment.

Dinner is just about ready.

Grandpa preparing Marcos' push-up

for eating.

Sunday Brunch And Fun At Grand Rapids Festival Of The Arts

We ate brunch at the festival today.

Started with falafel, then had some

cheese pie. All very tasty.

MJ is verifying the food order.

Nea is holding a small piece of the

cheese pie.

Marcos has his own elote. He shared with

his Grandpa :~)

Marcos was too shy to talk to the EMTs.

Marcos' elote was almost half as tall as he is!

Marcos loves helping his cousin.

Mom and Dad's Today

Mom and Dad helped move some branches
that were cut down and cut up.

Mom and Dad's garage sale set up.

The refrigerator that came with the house
has been giving up the ghost the last few days.
On Friday I purchased a new Whirlpool.
It was delivered and set up today, yeah.
I hate using someone else's refrigerator, but
until now, nothing was wrong with our old unit.

Day One of Garage Sale

The ladies of the family had the first day of
their garage sale. The weather was great, mid
70's, not a cloud in the sky and a nice breeze.
MJ and Em wo-manned the sale today.

MJ and Em taking a break.

Marcos was pretty laid back and didn't get

dressed until after his nap. It was fun spending

time with the Lopez' today.