Artprize 2011

What a BEAUTIFUL fall day! The girls and I took full advantage of this day by heading down town Grand Rapids to check out Artprize with my sister and my mom. We had a great time! The girls did amazing. We arrived down town around 10:00 and walked around for a couple of hours before the girls had enough. We were able to check out a lot of Artprize in that time frame. It is amazing to me how many exhibits there are. I know we missed a lot of it, but what we were able to see was amazing. There is a lot of talented and creative people out there.

Sarah is standing next to, "I Pledge Allegiance" by Rip Maclay from Milwaukee, WI.

"I Pledge Allegiance" was conceived as a way to honor important heroes, memories and events in our nation's history. The following pictures are of "Dumpster Diving". Who would have thought you could make an interesting and creative pieces out of junk? What a fun idea to do at a wedding for something different.








The following picture is of "Thousand Suns" by Libby Hodge of Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Americans use 2,500,000 plastic bottles every hour, according to the Clean Air Council for the U.S., and nearly 8 out of 10 bottles end up in landfills.
The following pictures are of "Grizzlies on the Ford" by Llew (Doc) Tilma from Wayland, MI. "Grizzlies on the Ford" is a collage of Grizzlies fishing to resemble a viewing station in Alaska. This is one of the top ten art exhibits this year.


The following pictures are of "Under Construction" which consists of two live men, Robert Shangle & Jasper Shangle. "Under Construction" - LiveStatue is building on the future: Presenting a scene that is common in West Michigan; things are constantly changing, rebuilding, improving. I can not believe how long these two men can stand still for. It doesn't even look like they blink. This is also one of the top ten exhibits. The following pictures are of "Mantis Dreaming"by Bill Secunda from Butler, PA. “Mantis Dreaming” is a sculpture of a preying mantis with a butterfly on his claw. This is another exhibit in the top ten.



The following two pictures are of "Metal Monkey Mania" by Dale Rogers from Haverhill, MA.

Hoekstra Family Reunion

Tonight was the Hoekstra Family Reunion at Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park in Alto. Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park just opened this summer by my Uncle and Aunt, Dave and Dawn Hoekstra. This was my first time seeing their park and it is beautiful. The night started with a 30 minute reptile show with Rick, one of the zookeeper. Rick was hilarious and did a great job showing off all the "yucky" reptiles!

My nephew, Eli, was not scared at all! Here he is volunteering to hold a HUGE snake!Yes, even Alysha wasn't afraid of the snake! Alysha LOVES animals and was loving it at Boulder Ridge. This baby zebra is part of the petting zoo. It is so cute!How cute is this little baby goat? Alysha could not get enough of it. My dad took Alysha into the bird cage where you can feed them a feed stick. Alysha did great with all the birds flying around her and landing on her. Her mother on the other hand was freaking out! I did not care for the birds landing on me and could not get out of that cage fast enough. During the night you had the opportunity to take a wagon ride around the rest of the park to see the bigger animals. Here is Alysha checking out all the animals.

Last Day in the Pool

YEAH!!! What a beautiful day! I took advantage of this hot weather and let the girls spend one more day in their pool. Most likely this will be the last time we use the pool in 2011. The girls had so much fun playing in their pool. The pool was one of my best garage sale finds this summer by far.