Ixtapa Pacific (ah)

We had an awesome time at club med in Ixtapa. we had tons of fun with our family and we enjoyed the activities and separate activities for our kids. I got to do a celebrity work out with Harvey someone from VH-1. Look on my sisters bog a glimpse into our lives for the details. It was wonderful. I don't know what I liked best. Well maybe the buffet but fortunately I did 2 aerobics classes a day to offset the effects of that. Dad and Mom thank so so much for the awesome time.
The Z Zam

Jerusalem

To all of you out there with no Dutch CRC connections whatsoever, Jerusalem is the other name in Dutchie circles for Grand Rapids, MI and come the end of June it will be the new abode of the Zylstra family.
When we started our job search process back in September we said, "wherever God wants us." So after visions of overseas jobs, Grand Rapids came as a bit of a, "Huh? and a Yes,but...?" It comes with many blessings though, our kids will get to live by Grand Parents for the first time in their lives, my sister and fun family live in Chicago and Mom and Dad will be there too in the summer, we can afford a house there, GR has some great Christian schools, my good friend Jess lives in Holland 1/2 hr away, we will no longer have a 4 hr round trip to the airport and orthodontist. Last but not least, we know that all good CRC people are drawn back there at least once in their lives and so we will see all of our Rehoboth friends again. So now we are getting ready to put our house on the market we're going through all of our belongings WOW, it is a little overwhelming. It's just not quite the adventure I had hoped for but maybe that's a good thing......
sian

Easter Sunday Fun in New Mexico

No, the kitchen is not finished yet. It still needs to be painted. BUT. We had a lot of fun yesterday. We went to the sunrise service up on Ressurection Rock, Easter Egg hunt, lunch at Ippels and then the crevice hike. And the piece de resistance! A ride in a car down a dune which is the you tube link. Enjoy!





Sunrise service at Ressurection Rock.





the three amigas





up there?







"oh, I get by with a little help from my friends."



cute new mexican kids














wedged in

just like michigan



just like michigan

Say, "spaces".

So, Dirk started boxing lessons this week.......

Just kidding, he lost 2 teeth in one week, two more to follow next month I'm sure.

No rest for the weary-part 1

Jason travelled 3 weeks in a row. We went to Memphis for a job interview and returned home Sun pm. Mon morning we were ripping out the countertop, sink and stove to put new ones in. Home projects ALWAYS take longer than you want them to. So when we started demolishing stuff I tried to think ahead. We put the fridge on the other side of the kitchen so we can still use it and we still have room to eat. All our meals have been made in the crockpot and we're doing dishes in the laundry room, but it works. There are two advantages to doing dishes in the laundry room. 1. I can shut the door and pretend I'm not there. 2. we get instant hot dishwater as the sink is right next to the hot water heater.

Here we are eating supper with earplugs in as Jason was cutting out the hole for the sink.
DAD BE QUIET!!

As you can see, it's not finished yet, this is just a preview.
Cheers!

Go! snow Go!

There are two ways to interpret the title of this post. The kid way and the Mom tired of snow days way. You may pick your favourite.
We have had 4 snow days since the beginning of 2008, this last front packed a huge wallop. I think we got around 1ft of snow. The most I think Jason and I have seen here since our 1st winter here in 1996/1997. Our kids love it! Fortunately, the past two days the sun has been shining again and it has been cold,(30's), but beautiful.


We made a snow tunnel in our front yard, something we did the winter Dirk was born but haven't had enough snow for since.


This week has been rough for Dayna as she said goodbye to her best friend Shelbey who is moving to Louisiana




The next post will be about Dayna and Dirk playing basketball.

only a 1/2

I will only bore you with this subject once, I promise.
I thought a half marathon was a good way to start out the new year. (My goal is 3 of them this year.) So we headed down to Phoenix so I could do the Rock n Roll 1/2 with Mary Lou. You know, 13 miles is a long way and you begin to realize that around mile 6 when you're not even 1/2 way yet. (I know, marathons are twice as long.) I think my least favourite comment is "Oh, only a half?" It kind of makes you want to say "yeah, want to run with me?" But I think the best reply, one I heard yesterday from a runner, was, "yeah, but it's a whole 1/2."
Here are some things I like about a race.
I like to run 10 min miles. I like to pick someone ahead of me to catch up to and then pass them. I like passing the 10 mile mark. I like listening to the other runners talk, I like to see people with signs cheering on the runners, last but definately my favourite, I like to sprint across the finish line.
Here are some statistics:
running the 1/2 maraton in 2hrs 16 mins I burned 2,456 calories, I run between 9:45 and 11 min miles. Running an average of 18 miles a week I run 986 miles a year, (If you figure I walk an additional 11 miles and bike 16 miles a week, the number is 2340miles a year! which is the distance from Gallup to Montego Bay Jamaica.)
Even though it was my 5th 1/2 marathon, it was my first time running with 30,000 other people. It kind of felt like I was trapped in a parade of running ants. CRAZINESS. Here are some photos, none of me however.
So I encourage all of you to at least walk a 5K this year, more if you are up for it, it really is fun!
Sian

Been Busy

• For all of you out there who are wondering why there are no new posts, well, I've been busy. F.Y.I. the white is primer the rust colour is the new colour.
  
• I have 2 new BFF's as seen below: a roller and a paintbrush.

• I'm painting the trim on our house, here are some photos. I'm hoping to be done sometime in 2009(j/k). Actually I hope to be done by the end of next week.
• God has been gracious and the weather has been beautiful.

• See you in a couple of weeks.
• Check out the Rehoboth link on the web page for the New Rehoboth Gym opening. It is awesome. A little shout out to my man Jas, who has worked really hard on this and unfortunately has not been able to help me paint the house. Talk about getting your priorities out of order!
• T.T.F.N. Sian
  

a weekend away

Dirk and Yohannes trying to dam up the river.



This is Kiera and Jason. Kiera loved the ATV as did Dayna and Dirk. Mom was not so sure.....

We were invited up to Colorado with the Bremer-Bennetts. We enjoyed the hospitality of Theo's parents. i took my first ATV ride and the kids really enjoyed playing together. Dirk and Johannes were on the same soccer team and have become good friends.

soccer

Soccer season is over and I think this year was the first year Dirk really enjoyed playing. He was definately one of the bigger kids out there and it seems he has inherited what I call "the brick wall effect", from his Dad. The "brick wall effect", is when kids run into Dirk to try and get the ball from him and they just fall over. I've heard that it happens to Jas at early morning basketball :) (It's like running into a brick wall.)
Below is a link to a you tube video of Dirk playing soccer. I apologize for the bad video,( very bad) of Dirk playing soccer. It was my first time using the video camera and editing a video. I did not realize that I could not edit it once I closed the file. So when you see the ref wave all the kids off the field you might want to stop watching unless you enjoy motion sickness! Just copy the address and paste it into your search bar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwUGnax-gvE

church retreat

We had a great time at the church retreat last weekend. We learned a lot and played hard. Here is the slide show.

Labour Day

With fear and trepidation we made our way back up to Sig creek near Durango, CO for labour day, 2007. In 2004 We made the trip with Steve and Janet Weeda and Fam and we froze our butts off. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of that miserable experience but it snowed and froze and scared us away from camping for a while. So, I am happy to report that this year we only had hail and the temp never got below 35 degrees F. We enjoyed being back up there again in the mountains.
Dayna showing her rock climbing skills at the Durango pool.
"The girlfriends," Audria, Kiera, Daya, ours is the tall one in the middle.
New tent. Room for all of our stuff, looks bigger in real life.
This is my mountain man. Building a fire, breaking wood with a knee. 'Nuff said...
The kids loved playing in the stream. Kiera, of course, fell off this log into the freezing water.

This is Dayna coming down the alpine slide. I think she caused a traffic jam!

Our summer

We had a great time in Michigan and Illinois. Here is a brief overview.

Check out my Slide Show!

Field day

To mark the end of the school year and the beginning of summer schools across the world have field days! Rehoboth's field day this year was very special because we actually had a field to have field day on. I might add that this field is just one of the many things that Jas has been working on. It is awesome to see plans come to fruition. The field is astro=turf not quite real grass but our water kills things. The track will be installed this week. but right now we have wind gusts of 70mph and sustained winds of 35mph. photos on that tomorrow.





Here is a pic of Dirk doing the tug o war thing.





Dayna playing cat and mouse






Kiera with her preschool posse

End of an Era/A New Era

Our youngest, Kiera just turned 4. We are now officially out of the daiper, sippy cup, nap, nursery, stroller, backpack, potty training stage. There are some benefits. We can now leave the house to take the dog for a walk and leave our children behind for short periods of time (15 mins) and leave Dayna in charge. I no longer have to carry endless supplies of stuff with me wherever I go. My kids put themselves in the car and buckle themselves in, they brush their own teeth and pretty much are able to get themselves up at night and go to the bathroom on their own. It is also fun to be able to read with them and play board games with them. They can help out with chores and the two oldest can shower themselves. It's also really fun to have discussions with them especially about what they learned in church. Life is good.

Cam

We have another new cousin! Dirk is so excited to have another boy cousin. He feels really jipped only having 2 sisters and no brothers. Now he has 3 boy cousins and is very happy about that. Congratulations to the Leys'!

Kiera

Kiera will be 4 on Saturday, Here is a picture of her in her usual get up. She has just learned how to push the pedals on her bike with training wheels. She loves dress up and friends and pre-school. She keeps me on my toes but she is a lot of fun. She likes to make her own eggs in the microwave and believes that she can do everything herself. This has its good points and bad points. The good points are she dresses herself puts her own shoes and seatbelt on. Bad points cracking eggs and emptying an entire bottle of kids shampoo on her head to wash her own hair.

new cuz. The Brodster

We are happy to add a boy to the Z clan. Dirk is happy and is looking forward to teaching his new cousin how to mountain bike.

Buddy Bear

Here is a picture of buddy bear in front of the big aquarium.

This is buddy bear and his 108 friends.


Dirk, who is 6, attends Rehoboth Christian School Kindergarten. Sometime during the second semester each one of the kindergartners gets to be V.I.P. For a week. They are the line leader, one of their parents reads a book to the class sometime during the week and they get to take buddy bear home with them for a weekend and write in the journal about the things they did together. This past weekend was Dirks turn to be V.I.P. and Buddy bear was lucky enough to go to Albuquerque with us and we went to the aquarium.