This has not been the most relaxing beginning to August

 We are only two days into August, but it's not on track to be my favorite.  It's not awful (we don't think) but it's been a lot for just 48 hours!

It really started Friday.  I spent the day helping my mother work in her house.  I won't get into how emotionally challenging that can be, but trust me that it is.

Yesterday was uneventful until late afternoon.  Our friends had invited us over for the evening.  As we were arriving, we found out our home was under a tornado warning.  As the evening progressed, we ended up being under a warning at our friends' house a couple of times.  It's not exactly the most carefree way to spend an evening.  We were home by 11, and realized that our sweet pup had eaten some trail mix that included raisins.  That meant that Andrew and Janey were off to the vet hospital and didn't make it home until after 2:30.  Short night for me as I had to be at church early this morning to prepare communion.  

I came home and did a major grocery run, then got to work cleaning our sun room.  It was significantly overdue for that, and I'm exhausted, but feeling a major sense of accomplishment.  We've been keeping a close eye on Janey, and although she isn't out of the woods yet, things look promising.

Longer days begin tomorrow, and no more Fridays off.  It's that time, and I'll be ready.  I'm grateful that I have a job that I truly, truly love!

The kids bought a house

Thomas and Lyndi are purchasing a home!  It's a good starter home for them.  I don't love the community they will be living in, but the location provides Lyndi with an opportunity to take a job with an organization that will help pay for nursing school.  That's not a definite thing, but it allows for the option.  It's still just over an hour from us.  Andrew went there and confirmed it is a decent neighborhood.  I'm really proud of them.

On the downside, Thomas sliced his hand last night while working on his car.  He drove himself to the hospital because Lyndi wasn't home, and three stitches later he was sent home.  I saw the pictures, and holy moly.  He still went to work today even though there is some decent pain, and I'm really proud of the adulting that he is doing these days.

And in other unfortunate medical news, Andrew was stung AGAIN.  It just happened this afternoon, so we'll find out tomorrow if it swells and if he'll need to make a doctor trip.

Fingers crossed that is the end of the medical issues for a while!

We had dinner with my aunt

Yesterday, my aunt had a birthday.  Since Uncle Darrell has only been gone two months, I knew it would be tough for her.  Andrew and I wanted to take her to dinner.  My cousin spent yesterday with her, so we took her out this evening.  We really had a lovely evening and it was a lot of fun.  It's been a very long time since we had just sat and chatted.  Andrew and I both agree we'll need to do it again.  

Meanwhile, Thomas is the emergency room.  Lyndi called to let us know.  It seems as though Thomas was working on his car and managed to slice his hand.  Fortunately, he only needs two stitches.  That kid (technically young man, but to me still my kiddo)!

School starts three weeks from today.  I know it will be exhausting, but I'm ready to see the kids again.  It's been a fabulous summer!

I never really knew how much I took it for granted

When I was a child, my grandparents had a place in a corner of North Lake in Coldwater, MI.  This picture was taken in 1977, and truly doesn't do it justice.  My grandparents had a double lot so there was a full garage along with the trailer.  Because it was in the corner, we had amazing views of the wide open lake without the "boat" traffic right outside our door.  I can still remember how fun it was though watching the boats out on the open lake.  The trailer was positioned such that the big living room windows faced the water.  We spent time there every summer as a child, and because my parents had very little, it was usually our family vacation.  By the time we were a little older, we were making two or three trips there every year.  It was a 3.5 hour drive, so very doable to go back and forth.  My grandpa's brother had a place right around the corner from us, and very good friends had a place next door to them.  These are amazing childhood memories for me.

Of course I knew this was special because it was from my childhood, but until I got older I really didn't realize how truly special this was.  When I was in high school, my grandparents sold this place because the drive back and forth was getting to be too much.  They built a cottage on a lake just about 45 minutes from home.  It was nice.  Truly, it was.  But it was built on a channel with no open water views.  By this time I was also not nearly as excited about spending time with my grandparents, so the visits up there were a little less frequent and usually with friends.  My grandfather developed Parkinson's Disease in his 60's, so this place was sold before I turned 30.

I'd never really thought about how much my grandparents' place on the lake shaped me.  As I was looking through photos of the my adult life, I realized I LOVE having water as the backdrop.  And it's true.  I could just sit and look out at the water all day.  That's kind of what I did on Thursday.  While we've seldom been able to afford to stay in places with water views, almost always the water has been a factor in our vacations as an adult.  I'm so very, very grateful that I can make those memories with my family these days, and I'm even more grateful for the memories from my childhood.  I know now that I took those days (and views) for granted.

The sting

Andrew arrived with his mom a week ago yesterday.  We were thrilled to have her here again!  It hasn't been terribly scheduled, which is good for us all.  Last Saturday, the kids all came over, although they didn't stay particularly long.  Sunday, we each watched church services from home, then Andrew headed out to work in the yard.  He's been out a decent amount of time when he came hobbling inside, exclaiming that he had been stung.  As he began taking his shoe off, he realized that there were still about six yellow jackets swarming his foot!

Ultimately, he was INCREDIBLY lucky.  He only had one sting, which was absolutely a small miracle.  Andrew ran outside with his show, although one yellow jacket "broke free", but even that one managed to find his way outdoors shortly after (but not before giving our sweet pup a bit of a scare).  It could have been so, so, so much worse.  We iced his foot and waited to see what would happen as he assured us he was not allergic to stings.

That may be the case, but he sure did have a reaction!  Monday, his foot was very swollen, and by that evening his mother and I were trying to convince him to see a doctor.  He went Tuesday morning, and was given prednisone and and antibiotic as the doctor said an infection was starting.  It was really, really ugly.  He was pretty hobbled for about 24 hours but fortunately it didn't impact him too terribly much on our trip.  And even more fortunately, the view was so fabulous we didn't mind just sitting!

The yellow jackets have a nest in the ground in our backyard.  Andrew said he'd known about it and kept meaning to do something about it.  Needless to say, I am giving that area a very large clearance if I'm out there!

The trip to the river was amazing

When my mother-in-law was here at the beginning of June, we knew she would be back this week.  And I promised her a trip with a water view.  I found a great little spot along the Ohio River that had a cabin and was only an hour's drive.  To be honest, it didn't really feel like much, and I'm not sure Andrew or I expected much.  Our departure on Tuesday was delayed due to Andrew's doctor visit, but that is a different post.  We arrived, and my first thought was that we'll make it through the next three days and I'll be ready to go.  Honestly though, it was wonderful!  The view of the river was amazing.  The weather on Tuesday was stifling and everything made me sweat.  But Wednesday and yesterday were so comfortable and no humidity, and it just really made things perfect!

Tuesday evening, Andrew and I hit the grocery and brought back frozen pizzas.  We enjoyed the view of the river from inside since it was so miserable outside.  We continued watching episodes of the show she loves, and everyone slept well that night.  Wednesday, Andrew and I found a dog park for Janey.  We also drove around a bit to find out what was around, and Andrew was especially excited to find some U.S. Grant historical sites as he was born nearby.  We had a fabulous Mexican dinner, and spent much of the evening enjoying the river view.  Yesterday, I didn't even really want to leave the house.  Andrew took Janey on a long walk and found great places in town.  We brought in dinner because none of us wanted to give up any time enjoying the river view.  We sat outside as long as we could until the bugs really became too much.

We realized there are so many more things we'd like to do around there, and it's also only 25 minutes from downtown Cincinnati.  We are very strongly considering a spring break trip and enjoying the view again!  We all agreed the trip was even better than we expected, and I'm so grateful we were able to take the time with Andrew's mother.  She turns 87 in September, and we all know that nothing is promised to anyone.  We have so much fun with her!

Another weekend in July

Summer is moving right along, as it always does.  I'm so grateful that our lives are so much less crazy in the summer.  It makes the rest of the year much more tolerable.

Our weekend was fairly busy.  Catherine was going to my mom's to help with cleaning on Friday, so I decided it would be a good time for me to go up as well.  Unfortunately, mom's a/c went out...never a good thing in July.  The service company came right out were horrified to learn that the part couldn't arrive until this coming week...hopefully tomorrow.  My mom started saying she could muddle thought, and we weren't having it!  My dad had bought a portable a/c about 15 years ago and had given it to us when we moved here (not entirely certain why) so I came back home to get it (and Andrew), and back to my mom's we went.  I'm so glad that she is able to be comfortable this weekend.  I can't imagine otherwise.

Yesterday was the graduation party for Lyndi's sister, who was also a student of Andrew's her freshmen year.  I was grateful that our morning started with sleeping in we had another relaxing evening.  Today we were at church in the morning, and then spent some time working on the house.  Today also had some emotions. At church this morning we were asked by a member if we ever hear from Robert.  This person tends to think Robert is the greatest thing since sliced bread and doesn't always understand everything we've all been through.  This afternoon I came home and after getting some work done around the house, I started organizing photos.  Some of them were all the way back to 2017.  I'll be honest, it makes my heart hurt a little bit.  It's hard to look at the photos that have Robert in them and not remember how hard things were.  And I miss the days of having Catherine and Thomas here and living together as a sweet little family.  I'm so grateful to be the mother of all three of my kiddos, but today is one of those days where I feel a little sad that it all went by so quickly.  And that makes me even more thankful for the photos!