Vacation to Michigan

August 8-17, we got a much needed break from the routine of life to go to Michigan with Keri's family (minus Kelly and Ryan who are in England and were very much missed). We spent most of the week at Keri's grandma's cottage on Lake Michigan which her grandpa built over 20 years ago. We had beautiful weather all week, but unfourtunately, a cold spell came for the lake. The week before and after we were there, the water temp was around 75 degrees. Our week ranged from 48-55. We had so much fun, though, playing with our nephews (Dexter-11 mo., Nate-3 years) and relaxing! Some of the highlights of the week were seeing all 5 of Keri's college housemates and their husbands, riding bikes in Grand Haven, eating lots of ice cream, picking blueberries (19 lbs!), kayaking on Spring Lake, kayak-surfing on Lake Michigan, playing Pit, Scrabble, Bola, and Bocce, and staying up late to watch Olympics. We'll let the pictures do the talking about what a great time it was!

Keri and her college housemates

The whole gang

Nate boogie boarding on the "waves" of Lake Michigan

Nate jumping off of his "diving board" in to his "hot tub"

Dexter enjoying his hot tub

Blueberry picking!

Dad and Keri on a walk down the beach

Jon, Haley, and the boys

Dexter in his sand playpen

Dad and Dexter with the kayaks

C.J. kayaking

Scout in the dune grass-this one's for you Kel and Ryan

Bocce!!

Mom playing tennis

Victory for Keri and Jon

Jon and C.J. squaring up against the old-timers

CUTEST NEPHEWS EVER!!

What would vacation be without ice cream and sugar highs?

Mom kayak-surfing...this one did not end well!

Keri giving it a shot...this one did not end well either.

Keri getting C.J. with cold water

C.J. getting Keri back

Keri and Nate

"Dexter, show me all of your teeth"

Dad kayak surfing

Dexter saying "cheese" and "C.J."

Trip to Minnesota

The latest excitement in our lives came in the form of a trip to Minnesota. C.J.'s parents first drove from CA to St. Louis and spent 4 days with us here. We went to Ted Drewes for ice cream, took the Anheiser Busch Brewery tour, and had a good time hanging out! After that, C.J. and his parents drove to Iowa to visit family on the DeGroot side, and then up to Minnesota to have a family reunion with C.J.'s mom's side of the family and celebrate his grandpa's 80th birthday. Keri flew up on Thursday night and the whole family minus 3 cousins (making about 40 people!) got together in Prinsburg (pop. 450) for some good small-town fun. We saw a kiddy tractor pull and a parade where each street makes its own float--good times.

We're now back to work again. Keri has good days and bad days at work, and is still exhausted by it at times, but is pushing through. C.J. is really looking forward to ending his time at his job, but just found out that his mentor for his PhD is leaving WashU for a dean position at another school. That's put a damper on his excitement about going back to school, and we are waiting to hear what that means for C.J. (he definitely will still be able to go, but was really excited about working with that professor, so it's a bummer). Enjoy the pictures below!

Us in Prinsburg-new haircut for Keri!

DeGroot kids on the hike to Redwood Falls

Cody with his crawdad he found in the pool above the falls

Redwood Falls

How many guys does it take to get bola balls down from a tree branch? This many plus several onlookers plus an hour and a half!!

Grandpa and most of the grandchildren

The DeGroot (and See) Family

Overdue Update

Hello to all if you're still reading our blog :) My goodness, I just looked at the date of the last blog and it has been about a full month since our last post! Life has gotten crazy now that we are both working full-time! I (Keri) really enjoyed the last days of my free schedule, but am now fully into the working world. I'm tired, but it's going better than I would have expected. I got my first 3 patients on my third day of work and I've been at a full caseload for about a week now. This kind of job is exhausting, because not only am I on my feet all day running around and physically transferring my patients, but I'm dealing emotionally with what they're each going through and what it must be like for their families. I have a tough time sometimes leaving work at work, and often I come home and think about my patients in the evenings or dream about them during the night. I know that I'll learn not to take it home with me eventually, but for now, it's hard not to! There are days that brain injury/stroke is absolutely fascinating, and there are other days that I feel very overwhelmed with how much I don't know about these populations and feel bad for them that they have me as their OT. I like the work atmosphere and my co-workers so far, which is a blessing.

C.J. continues to work full-time and looks forward to returning to school. The highlight of the last month for him was that he got to play percussion during the CD release party of our friend's band, the Fundamental Elements. They're an amazing band, and C.J. had so much fun playing with them for a night! The church plant is going well. We are enjoying living in this community and getting to know new people in the area. At this point, we're all just serving the community and making relationships so that whenever in the future we actually launch, we'll hopefully have people lined up to get in! :) In this community, it's very important that they know us, as they are very protective of their community. Many peope have lived here for 15+ years and really made this area what it is today, so they have a vested interest in everything that goes on here.

That's about all I have as an update. Our lives are not quite as interesting as they once were, but in many ways, that is a blessing.

To the Workin' World I Go

I (Keri) have officially accepted a full-time position at The Rehabilitation Institute of St. Louis on their inpatient stroke and brain injury floor. Though I was a little bit hesitant to accept due to my passion for spinal cord injuries and becaue I don't have a lot of experience with these two populations, I really feel like I can learn a lot and may end up loving it. The bottom line is that I need experience right now, and I will learn valuable lessons in OT no matter where I work for my first job. I'm sure I will have some great stories working with these populations :) I start already on Monday, May 19, so I would appreciate prayers for this upcoming time of transition. I have REALLY enjoyed my freedom and flexible schedule in the last 3 months, so I will be mourning it, but this is what I was made to do and I have been wanting to be an OT since I was in 5th grade! So working world, here I come....