Cousins

Addy and Michael have a special bond. I love when we/she get to spend time with him. He is such a sweet boy. He is full of energy and has quite the imagination. Thank you for being such a good big cousin Michael....we love you.

Bean Mini-Van....Special Daddy Post

The story of the Bean families first mini-van……(special post from Daddy)

Our Jeep is 13 years old with 160k miles and is the main vehicle for our family. Recently Mommy had made several comments about wanting a mini-van, but still loved our Jeep dearly (like a family pet). But she never pressed the issue with me because she knew my "dream" to get a 4-door Jeep Wrangler (best vehicle ever). But truth be told, those awesome machines are just way out of our price range. So unless I quickly became a Orthopedic surgeon, I knew it wasn't an option. I also knew that if our Jeep was going to have any re-sale or trade-in value that we needed to consider doing something soon. So in an attempt to win the husband of the year award (again) I started looking for our first mini-van.

I decided to make it a surprise for Charity (since she didn't know that I was willing to go along with the mini-van idea anyway) and waited to try and sell the Jeep. After searching Autotrader.com and other on-line used car searches I quickly got an idea of features, styles, and average pricing for mini-vans. But knowing that we couldn't afford much (any payment would need to be less than $99 per month) I quickly narrowed my search to just a few vehicles. Well among over 1,000 listings was one right here in Muskegon. Now it had a few dings and scratches; it was 4 years old, and its car fax looked like it had been a rental with 1 accident. But it was what we could afford, and with only 91k miles I thought it could be a good van for a while. So I snuck our Jeep out to have the dealership review it (knowing that they probably wouldn't offer us much) and drove the mini-van home to surprise Charity.

Well she was surprised, but "shocked" might have been a better description, since she knew our finances and also didn't think I would be willing to "go mini-van". She described it as a great "basic" van as it didn't have any bells or whistles. She agreed that it was all we could afford and acknowledged that "beggars can't be choosers". But as we haggled at the dealership on value of our trade-in and price of the van we couldn't get the numbers to where we needed them to be. We left wondering if God was showing us that we needed to remain thankful for our Jeep and just drive it until it would drive no longer. But the next morning, I noticed a big price change in one of the vans I had been watching. I assumed at such a low price it must have been sold, but when I called it was still available. And better yet it had ALL the bells and whistles, many of which I knew would move my wife from "shocked" to "very happy". But the best part: it had been reduced to the EXACT SAME PRICE as the one in Muskegon!

So just when my wife had agreed to be thankful for whatever God would provide, He chose to bless her with more than she could have ever hoped for! To give us even more confidence I was able to locate the original owners on the Internet. And they shared over the phone that the only reason they traded it in was because they went to Florida several times a year and were worried about it making the drive with 89k miles (which made my step-father-in-law and I laugh). It also meant that not only did they take good care of the vehicle but that many of its miles were highway miles, furthering its potential for long life. And speaking of my father-in-law, he not only graciously agreed to sell our vehicle, but within 2 days had sold it for $1,000 more than what we had planned. Thanks Keith!

So all in all, we're very thankful. And even though there will come a day when it won't work anymore, for now God's used it to make my wife very happy, and give her a very memorable Mother’s Day. What’s my favorite part of our new mini-van you ask? “Smuggling compartments”; just like the Millennium Falcon.

PS Did I mention where we had to go to get the van of my wife's dreams? Barrington, IL (4 hours away!) She's worth every mile. :-)

Andrew's first finger paint experience

Andrew likes to color with crayons but I had yet to try finger paint. Addy really wanted to so I covered the table and let Andrew go at it too. Adeline is sporting her new "paint" shirt. (it's actually one of Aunt Betsey's old ones), and Andrew was wearing his diaper outfit.
I didn't have to even show him what to do. He went right into the paint and then to the paper.

Adeline took a cleaner approach. Hard to think that it wasn't that long ago when she was first learning.

The colors were all separated on the plate when we began.

not anymore.

By the end Andrew was putting the plate on his face and then off his face like it was a game. Completely covered in paint. Thank goodness it was bath time.

Loving their couch.....

So Uncle Josh......What about Brooke???? Is she going to have to wait until Christmas????

Adeline and Andrew's latest game

And I wonder why my ears are always ringing????

John Ball Zoo

After a filling lunch and cupcakes we were off to the zoo.

Andrew was knocked out before we got there and slept practically the whole time.

The Bears were so sweet

The girls got pretty high

I especially liked the flamingos

There is glass between the girls and the Gorilla don't worry

There was a fun little train the kids played on towards the end

And the perfect end to an incredibly generous day....ice cream! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Corbins...AND Happy Birthday to you Maya!

Frederik Meijer Gardens

We were very honored to be able to share in Maya's birthday adventure. We left early Saturday morning and headed to the Meijer Gardens and then after a Panera lunch we headed to the zoo. It was an absolutely wonderful day spent with friends. Thank you Corbins for letting us share in your celebration.

When we got to the gardens there was a long line. We quickly found out that this line was for tickets to their concert series with Lyle Lovett, not for the Gardens themselves. Once we got inside and were in front of the long line James said "We would like four tickets for the concert please"....He thought he was soooooo funny just laughing at himself as he could hardly get the line out. People gasped and then laughed realizing he was joking.

The girls would sit and pose in multiple places asking me to take their picture.

The butterfly exhibit was beautiful. I have talked to Addy about this many times but we never made it to actually see. I am so glad she was able to enjoy this.

She wore her special butterfly shirt just for the occasion.

There was a little door just for the kids to enter into the flower gardens

The girls were able to race their boats in the water.

We chose not to get Andrew out knowing that he would get soaked. He didn't throw too much of a fit.

There was a fun little sand park...perfect for digging. We did decide to let Andrew have some fun here.

Andrew is in his glory here. I have been noticing that Andrew does most things with his left hand now. When I was uploading this video of him digging I noticed once again the left hand. Daddy is pretty proud.

Little log cabin

Adeline and Maya were pretending to be a part of Little House on the Prairie

Snack time. Maya wanted a shot with Andrew so of course Adeline also wanted a shot. Look how proud she is.

Sweet Adeline

Daddy and Addy

Hey Buddy

Off to lunch and then to the zoo. The day has already been so fulfilling.