Back from vacation

We returned late last evening from vacation.  It was a very nice week and we were able to make some wonderful memories.  My favorite part was the fact that my grandmother came along.  How many kids get to experience taking a vacation with their great-grandmother?  And she is pretty spry for an 81-year-old, let me tell you!  The kids got to fish to their heart's content, although sadly there wasn't much "catching" of the fish happening.  Most adults (and HT went along) visited Coldwater, MI, where we had spent many, many summers when I was a child.  I hadn't been there in 20 years, and it was SO amazing to see all of the changes.  Mom stayed home with JR and JC, and discovered a wonderful little ice cream shop.  The town in which we stayed had a cute little public beach, and the next town over had an even more amazing public beach, so there was lots of swimming to be done.  I think one of the favorite activities for us all was the steam paddle wheel boat ride that we all took in the middle of the week.  I LOVED watching my kids' faces as they enjoyed the ride, and even more so enjoyed watching my dad and Grandma enjoy watching the kids' faces.  Such incredibly special memories!

Along with the wonderful memories, there were some challenges.  For instance, the cottage was not exactly in wonderful condition.  The pictures that were posted on the website were clearly many years old.  There were so many things that were broken or didn't work correctly (or were just flat out missing) that it was ridiculous.  We just "went with it" though, because really what else is there to do?  A new owner actually took possession of the house while we were there, and he was a very nice man.  Unfortunately, a new well needed to be dug at the end of the week, and that wasn't exactly part of our plans, and at times it was down right inconvenient.  It did entertain the kids though, and I'm sure we'll always remember the vacation with the mud and well digging!

Yesterday was definitely a very strange ending to our vacation, and we all mentioned that it was a day we'll never forget!  My sister and grandmother had left Thursday, and we were basically just waiting around for the oxygen man to arrive to pick up my dad's tanks before we hit the road.  It was a day earlier than originally planned, but tomorrow is a family reunion and Dad was concerned that he'd just be too wiped out if he waited until today to drive home.  About 1:30, we noticed that the sky was turning absolutely pitch black.  All of a sudden the wind picked up and I'd never seen anything like it!  The lake quickly turned into what looked like a small ocean, and the well digger mentioned that you pretty much never see whitecaps on Lake Webster...but there they were!  It was raining sideways and the trees were bending and then the hail started.  In retrospect I'm really glad I wasn't really aware it had been coming...I'd have been absolutely frantic.  In all honesty, we are lucky there wasn't a tornado, or a tree down that would block us in.  The power went out right before the rain really started, and as we left we realized that a tree had come down on a major line serving our end of the lake neighborhood.  There had also been a sail boat that had its sail snapped off, and we could see chairs that had been on decks blowing around in the lake.  We had NO IDEA the widespread damage that was occurring with the storm cells, and I'm so grateful we were driving home BEHIND in, and never had to drive through it.  As we drove though, it became apparent that we had just experience something pretty major, and as we drove further away it became even more amazing.  There were towns a two hour drive from where we were that had no power (definitely a bad thing when we are hoping to get dinner on the road!) and as my parents drove they saw several overturned semis.  The airport here at home recorded a wind gust of 82 mph, and the weather man said he is certain there were gusts over 100 mph in places that just weren't officially recorded.  As we watched the news it became evident that this storm had tracked south into West Virginia and Virginia, and in all about two million people were without power.  I'm sure that the little lake neighborhood was no where near the top of the priority list as far as being restored, and some people here at home are being told that it could be early next week before their power is restored.  According to neighbors our power was out for about four hours, but it came home about an hour before we got home.  All along the drive the damage was amazing, and what I found to be the most amazing is that no matter how far we drove, there was still more damage to see!  I realize now how very, very luck we were!

Overall, in spite of imperfections and a very dramatic ending to our vacation, we had a wonderful week!

Baseball is over!

Baseball season has finally come to an end.  After JR played a season where he was only able to have 7 games, it is absolutely amazing to me that except for opening day (which was actually canceled because of rain the night before) there was not one single rain out.  And that wasn't just on days when we had games (which was 90% of the time), but the entire season had NO RAIN.  And this would be why our area is now under drought conditions.  I remember the drought of 1988, and I'm not in a big hurry to relive it.  However, I digress.  My wonderful husband had a blast coaching both of our boys, and they both loved being coached by their dad.  JR has decided to play "fall ball", and they are putting together a team to play together in the fall.  I'm sure that will be fun, but for now I'm very grateful that our calendar is almost entirely clear for the month of July!

We are getting ready to head out of town for a week's vacation.  This year we are going with my parents, sister, and grandmother to a little lake in Indiana.  I'm looking forward to the fact that it doesn't require an all day drive to get there, but I have some reservations about all of our personalities together under one roof.  I'm looking forward to the kids have a chance to fish and swim though, and I'm sure we'll enjoy it!

It's been an emotional week

Over the weekend, I learned that a friend from high school lost his mom.  It had happened quickly, and in some regards that was a blessing.  I have wonderful memories of this woman.  She was always so full of life, and ALWAYS had a smile on her face.  I literally do NOT have a memory of her where she isn't smiling.  I immediately began to be in contact with other friends, and several of us decided to attend the visitation together.  This is where the emotions began to flow (in addition to the obvious ones because of the death).  This group of friends was inseparable through high school and college...in other words during the most angst ridden and hormonal part of a person's life.  There were so many good times, but there were also plenty of hurt feelings and poor decisions made by all of us back then.  We all came together though, and for the most part put it all aside to be there for our friend.  I personally hadn't seen or spoken to many of them in over a decade, but there were lots of hugs and smiles to be shared this week.  Of course as the time wore on a mention was made of the hurt feelings, and it was apparent not everyone had completely worked through it all or forgiven a perceived wrong.  Last night as the last out-of-town guest pulled out of the driveway (I miss her already!) I realized that I was drained and exhausted.  Reliving high school was not my plan for the week, but it was nice to see that most of us had grown and were happy.

Twenty years

This weekend we had traveled east for my husband's 20th high school reunion.  I'll be honest, I was not terribly excited about this, but I knew that we were meeting up with another couple we see often so at least I wouldn't be alone.  It turns out that we had a wonderful time!  My husband had a good group of friends from high school, and the ones with whom he graduated were there.  Most of them had married friends around their age, and overall I probably knew about 1/3 of the attendees at the reunion, some of whom we hadn't seen in years.  It was really fun to reconnect, and we ended up making a very late night of it.  At the same time, the kids were having a blast with their grandparents.  I'm so glad that we were able to make the trip!

I was on the news

I was on the local news last evening, but not for a good reason.  Well, I suppose it could have been worse.  No one was dead and I wasn't being carted away in handcuffs or anything.  However, there have been two attempts at child abduction in our local park and it's terrifying.  The first one was a Sunday afternoon, and sadly, I could see how that might happen.  We live in a small town and sometimes we get lulled into a false sense of security that nothing bad ever happens here.  There are very few people in the park on a Sunday afternoon, and I could see how it might be easy for someone to approach a child because often the parents are on the bike path or playing tennis while the children are at the playground.  The second attempt however, was on Wednesday evening while hundreds of people were at the park.  Almost any other evening we would have been there ourselves, but it happened to be one of our few "off" evenings.  We have instituted the buddy system, and frankly even then the kids are not to be where we can not see them.  After we watched the news last night (I was a random interviewee at the park) it gave us an opportunity to launch a serious discussion with the kids about the dangers lurking right now.  It's hard because we don't want to scare them, but we want them to understand how serious the situation is right now.  I can tell that JR truly gets it, and even HT seems to understand.  But JC just doesn't seem to get it...I just don't think she can grasp that something like this could happen.  In many ways I'm grateful for her naivete, but I need her to understand the situation and be prepared to take action.  So I had my 5 seconds of fame and hopefully they can catch the guy and life can return to normal soon!

Beautiful weather

I must admit, for the most part I've enjoyed our days since school has been out.  We've had absolutely NO days where there hasn't been something going on, but overall I've been really impressed with the kids.  For most of last week and today we've had absolutely GORGEOUS weather...I mean absolutely ideal!  I'll be honest, I can be a real pain about the heat, and most of the time I'm too cheap to want to turn on the a/c.  But with the exception of the weekend, we haven't really needed to turn it on.  Our front porch is screened in but in an appropriate way that keeps with the character of the house.  I LOVE the fact that last week JC and HT decided to "set up shop" on the front porch.  They were able to set up some tray tables and dragged some folding chairs up from the basement, and for a few days that was their craft room.  I was so impressed!  Today is another perfect day, and I love that our house feels one room bigger on days like this.  I also love that the younger two have been doing a terrific job of entertaining themselves and have barely been involved with electronics.  That is the best part!

Our summer

Honestly, I never meant to wait a week to post, but frankly, I'm pretty tired!  Our week seems as though it's been crazier than school weeks, but everyone seems to be enjoying themselves!

Last Wednesday we toured the new school that JR will attend next year.  Since earlier in the week I happened to be at the school he would have attended here, it was such an eye opening experience.  The school in our district was built in 1924 (we can't pass a building levy here) and the one JR will attend next year was built in 1989.  I know that newer isn't always better, but when it comes to schools, there are just certain things that a building from 1924 can't provide.  Technology is so important, and I can't imagine how our school building here can function without blowing a fuse.  I know that a school is more about the people in the school and not just the building itself, but I'll be honest...it's a good start.  We are sad that JR will miss out on having our good friend Amanda as a teacher.  She is FABULOUS!  But she can't follow him through the building all day to make sure that he is safe, so to a new school he shall go.

My husband had to work all of last week and even on Saturday due to the move of his school next year.  And of course we've still had lots of baseball games (the winter with no snow is now being followed by the spring with no rain) and this week there is scout camp and basketball camp, and this weekend we are headed east for my husband's 20th reunion.  So yes, lots going on right now!!!!

Our current family fun

We've started a new tradition recently...a way that we have fun as a family.  We used to frequently order in "bake at home" pizza from Papa Murphy's.  We were usually able to feed us all for about $15 (with coupons), plus the cost of gas to go get it.  Not bad at all for take in!  However, the closest location closed about two months ago.  I'm not a huge fan of pizza, but that was a kind of pizza I really enjoyed.  I started looking into the ingredients at the grocery, and we started making homemade pizzas at home.  Unfortunately the costs are about the same (with much more work) but we have a lot of fun as a family putting the pizzas together.  And it's also become a new tradition that we watch original episodes of "The Cosby Show".  We are having such a blast watching these!  While I found them funny when they were originally on when I was a kid, I find them absolutely hysterical now from a parent perspective.  And sometimes the funniest part of the show is watching my kids (especially JR who really gets the humor) laugh hysterically along with the show.  Since tonight is obviously not a school night, and since it's the only night of the week when we don't have a ball game (and goodness knows there is NO hope of a rainout anytime soon!) we decided to spend an evening celebrating our newest tradition.  We have a blast!

Our first day off

It's almost 11:00 on our first day off, and I'm just not sure how to feel about the summer.  Last year when the kids had their first day off, my husband was already off so it really felt like summer.  He still has all week though, so it isn't really feeling like we're totally done yet.

JR had a doctor appt at 10:00 this morning so we still woke up to an alarm.  I came downstairs to a disaster area JC had created in spite of specific instructions of how to handle things.  The cable box stopped working before 9:00 (fortunately we have other TV's that are working) and HT had to be dragged out of bed at 9:20 this morning.  There was a mess up with the records at the doctor's office, and then my husband called me in a panic because the schedule at his school had been changed and it was going to affect some of our plans here at the house.  I'm thinking since it's clearly too early for a glass of wine, it MUST be time for my second cup of coffee!

Bittersweet

My kids just walked out the door for their final day of school.  To be honest, I shed a few tears, some of joy, some not so happy.  I'm so looking forward to our summer and the fun that we are going to share.  At the same time, I can't help but feel that twinge of sadness, although I'm not letting it ruin the excitement of the impending summer!  But JC and HT have had such a wonderful year, and I'm sad to see it come to an end for them.  And while I'm excited for JR and his choice to attend a new school next year, there is part of me that is angry.  I'm angry that we even have to have the discussion about having to attend a different school.  I'm angry that our school here can't provide a safe and solid education for him.  I'm very grateful though that we have an alternative that is free and that will allow me to continue working.  And I'm very grateful that my husband teaches in a fabulous school district where we would be pleased to send our kids.  My sadness is also due to the passage of time.  This was the very last day all three of my children will head out the door at the same time on their way to elementary school.  Where has the time gone?  How is it even remotely possible that I'm going to have a teenager in the fall?  My cousin's youngest son just graduated from high school and she is so full of sadness.  I know that I'm going to be in the same situation some day, and even though our youngest won't graduate for another 10 years, I also know that in some ways it's just around the corner.  Ultimately, I hope that I'm raising my children to be responsible, productive members of society, but I still hope they don't grow up too fast!

Scouting weekend

This is a big scouting weekend in our family.  Yesterday, HT and his dad spent the day at a local pond fishing.  HT has never been nearly as into fishing as JR, and I know JR would've love to have gone, but poor choices meant he wasn't able to do so.  HT had a blast though.  He baited his own hook and learned important safety laws, and at the end of the day he had earned his own fishing rod!  He had lots of stories to share with me about his day.

And this evening is the Court of Honor for JR's Boy Scout troop.  He has been able to advance in rank and will be be presented that this evening.  We are so grateful that he made the decision to switch to this troop.  Not only does it have some really good boys in it, they've been able to do in four months what his previous troop couldn't accomplish in a year.

We are so proud of our scouts!