July flew by again

As in just about every year except last year, July has absolutely flown by.  I really can't believe how quickly the month passed.  We had our wonderful vacation at the beginning, and then band began while swim was still finishing.  I was able to have a great deal of time off, but that is pretty much done for a while.  I'm looking forward to seeing what a normal school year means for my job.  At the same time, I truly miss subbing and being at the high school.  Although I will have significant flexibility, I hate that I can't be at the high school and see Andrew and Thomas each day.  Regardless, this month really stormed by.

Today Andrew and I spent the day together driving around looking at antique shops.  Thomas has gone to a nearby county fair with his girlfriend and her family.  Catherine has a nine hour shift at work.  We enjoyed the day together, and I'm so grateful that still have such a solid marriage.  After all, this time next year we could be facing empty nesting on a fairly consistent basis.  That just seems so hard to believe, but I also know that is reality.

Tomorrow August begins, and I suspect it's going to be crazy and and fly by as well!  Not wishing away anything right now...just enjoying life's blessings!

It was fabulous time spent

Yesterday afternoon, three of my girlfriends met and spent some time shopping, then we checked into the state park lodge, had dinner, sat by the lake, and just spent hours upon hours chatting and catching up, and definitely laughing.  Our friend who lost her husband five months ago joined us.  Our families have been friends for well over a decade, and in the cases of some, they've been friends for over half their lives.  We no longer have the exhaustion of parenting young children, but we all have faced much more dramatic and challenging events.  I am so grateful for those friendships, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to make more memories.

Watching the hometown Olympian win gold!

Our family has always loved the Olympics.  Catherine was disappointed to realize that she had to work Friday and would miss the parade of nations, but we were recording it and will watch it with her later.  Sunday we had the TV on pretty much the entire day watching whatever happened to be on.  Swimming is a particular favorite in our house because our kids swim!  We had watched prelims that afternoon, and had been able to catch Zach Apple swim.  He is from the next town over and attended the rival high school.  He held the league record until this past year when it was broken my Thomas's teammate.  It was excited to watch him swim in the prelims, but even more exciting to watch him anchor the mens 4x100 relay that brought home a Gold Medal!  We were so excited!  My favorite part was getting to share that with my kids!

We aren't at the lake

This year we were invited to join much of the extended family at my cousin's place at Norris Lake.  Since we were last able to go seven years ago, my cousins have added two additional bedrooms and also purchased a second house that has three bedrooms.  They had asked us to join them this year, and originally we thought we would go.  There are about 20 family members there from four different states.  It sounds like a blast, and we would absolutely love to be there.  However, we learned at the beginning of the month that they weren't planning on us bringing Catherine & Thomas.  We could not begin to imagine going without them.  We were debating how to handle it when we received word that our friend's burial ceremony was going to be yesterday.  Since we had gone to the funeral a few months ago, we weren't necessarily sure we needed to go the burial.  However, then we found out band camp was having a dinner on Friday for the first time since we started doing camp at home.  That meant we couldn't get down to the lake until Sunday, and everyone is leaving Monday morning.  We had a lovely day yesterday with our friends, and today the four of us got to have dinner together.  This week I get to go and have a ladies overnight at the state park here near us.  These are all things we would've missed if we were in Tennessee.  At the same time, I have an amazing family.  I know there is tremendous laughter and they are all having so much fun.  I Hope that we get to join in the laughter and fun sometime!

Band camp is officially a thing of the past in this house

By 7:00 this evening, Andrew and I had returned home from serving dinner at band camp.  For a variety of reasons, this band camp was the toughest we've had.  Part of it was that I am currently working.  Part of it was that we had to be upstairs, which meant lots of up and down.  Part of it was lots of other roadblocks during the week.  Part of it was COVID, and part of it was just that we are two years older than last time.  We were absolutely exhausted when we got home, but I was so, so excited about being finished.  Because being finished this evening meant being finished...for all time!

Thomas got home just about an hour ago.  That means band camp is officially over for this year, and officially over for this family.  This is our eighth marching band season which included seven band camps.  Whether they went away or stayed at our school, it was a tremendous amount of work and stress for me.  There are many things I will miss about not having kids in high school. Band camp in any form is not one of them!

I remember 25 years ago today

On this date in 1996, my father went to our family doctor and received a diagnosis of pneumonia.  It was the beginning of his seventeen year fight with a disease called BOOP.  For this disease, about 70% of the people who have it respond well to steroid treatment and are better after four months.  My father was a seemingly healthy 42-year-old man when he went to the doctor that day.  Even with the BOOP diagnosis, he should have been fine by Christmas.  Instead, my dad literally never had a normal day of breathing again.  The doctors never knew what caused it, which is typical.  Although it is a rare disease, two other people living within two blocks of my parents also developed the disease, which has always made us wonder about an environmental link.  I also knew someone in our former town whose father had the disease.  All of those men were much older when it developed.  My father once told me his pulmonologist told him he was the longest living person with his chronic form of the disease.  We assume it was because he was diagnosed so incredibly young.  He was determined each and every day to enjoy what he could, no matter how he felt.  My dad was truly an amazing man.

It's kind of odd that I remember this day so very vividly, considering at the time we had no way of knowing how serious the illness was.  My brain though, made an indelible image of him on the back porch as I got home from work.  I'm so grateful for any memory that involves my dad.

Second early morning this week

This is the second time this week that not only have I had to be awake earlier than going to work, but it's been even earlier than I get up to go to work during the school year!  Wednesday we were out the door about the time I normally get up during the school year thanks to the joy of swim championships.  Thomas cut time off of all of his events.  We weren't overly committed this season due to work and life, but we are all pleased that he did show improvement as the season went along.  Although Thomas didn't swim in the finals last night, we did wake up to news that the team had won the overall championship!

This morning, Andrew had taken him to a university about 70 minutes away.  We are a little behind in this whole college thing, and I really just can't believe this is happening.  These years have flown more quickly than I even imagined possible, but I am so proud of the young man my son is becoming!

Canvases

I really love the new design trend to have photos made into canvases to hang on the wall.  I had two made about two years ago, and then I had two made about a week ago.  I could not be more thrilled with these four particular photos.  The ones that were made two years ago hang in our dining room.  One was taken in 2009 and is a picture of our three kids at the ocean.  It is one of my favorite pictures ever taken of my kids, and is definitely my favorite picture ever taken at the ocean.  The picture that hangs above it was taken in 2008.  It is a black and white photo taken by my friend Jen.  Thomas is 4-1/2 and our dear friend M is 2.  They are holding hands and walking across a field.  They are walking away from the camera, but there has never been a picture of more innocence.  It is one of the sweetest pictures I've ever seen.

When the two newest canvases arrived, I decided to rehang everything in the wall of our living room.  I absolutely love sitting there and looking at the wall.  One canvas was taken at the graduation party this past May of our best friend's daughter (and Catherine's best friend).  It is the children of so very many dear friends, all of whom grew up together.  The oldest, Kyle, was leaving the following weekend to move to California, and that picture means so much to me.  The other canvas was taken on July 4th, and is four couples who are parents of the kids in the other picture.  These four families have also "grown" up together as we parented our kids.  Our friend in MO wasn't there, and of course Tim won't ever get to join us again.  But that picture also means so much to me.  I am so grateful for the pictures, for the memories, and how happy they make me!

Band camp week with roadblocks

One thing I knew I didn't miss during COVID last year was band camp.  I was so, so right.  This year, it seems as though we've had added roadblocks thrown at us.  The school decided that we couldn't feed the students dinner in the cafeteria.  Not only that, but we couldn't even walk through the cafeteria.  That meant we had to take everything outside to move it to the upstairs auxiliary gym, which is where it had been decided we could eat.  We managed to push & lug the coolers to the trainer's room where we found that the ice machine had no ice.  We then managed to push & lug the coolers to the outdoor trainer's room.  We also found out that the elevators weren't working and the custodians hadn't moved the tables upstairs.  To be totally honest, Andrew began swearing at that point (obviously no kids were around).  We got it all handled though, but we are definitely exhausted.

The rough part is this is Monday...and camp lasts all week.  The thought of taking those coolers up and down those steps every day is a little overwhelming.  It's our last year though, so I keep telling myself that next year it will be someone else's problem!

A visit with my grandmother

This past Tuesday I made a trip to my hometown for the express purpose of visiting with my grandmother.  I had called to make sure I wouldn't interfere with dinner.  I was able to be there for a little over an hour, and it was such a lovely visit.  She is doing absolutely fabulous!  In fact, the very next day she was reassessed and her care level was dropped to the minimum.

She truly makes me laugh.  She is now on regular ibuprofen and receives a pain patch, but has no other medications.  She laughs about the others who sit around and are so cold and she is in her short and t-shirts (no blood thinners for her!).  She is annoyed by the people who can't remember her name and the fact that it is so quiet at 6:00.  She is such an amazing 90-year-old, and after a rough spring I'm finally feeling pretty positive about her reaching 91!  I'm so grateful for her!

I even used the same bowl

When I was a child, the annual Baseball All-Star game was a highlight of the summer.  My sister and I were allowed to pop a big bowl of popcorn and even have a soft drink.  I have wonderful memories of sharing that evening with family.

Last night, I got out the air popper and made a big bowl of popcorn.  Recently, my mother had even given me the bowl that we used as a kid, so I used the exact same bowl.  We watched as they paid tribute to Hank Aaron, and we enjoyed getting to see our Reds representatives (Winker & Castellanos...voted in as starters!) get to play the game.  It was fun to share it with my family, and I even used the same bowl to make that popcorn!

Our eighth (and final) parent meeting

Tonight I attended the eighth (and final) parent meeting for marching band season.  I vividly remember the very first parent meeting I attended.  I remember the parents and how things were done.  We've made changes to so many things, but the excitement of the very first day remains the same.  I can't believe this day has arrived...the unofficial beginning of my youngest child's senior year.  It's going to be a great year. 

Back to an alarm

Since Friday, July 2, I've only had to wake to an alarm two times, and both of those alarms had a "9" as the first number...we just needed to make sure we were up to travel.  It's been wonderful.  It all ends tomorrow though.  Back to the alarm that is earlier than a "9".  My hours at work will be slightly longer than they'd been the last two weeks before being off, and additionally, band practices begin.  We still have five weeks of summer remaining, but our days are becoming a little more scheduled!

The end of our vacation

These next (and last) two days of our vacation have been nice.  Yesterday we didn't really do a whole lot.  We stopped for some afternoon ice cream, and allowed ourselves to take naps.  Catherine and Thomas spent a little bit of time at the pool.  We went to an early dinner on the waterfront, then walked along the water for a while.  After, we decided to drive around Lake Mocatawa and just see some of the sights.  We came back to watch TV and just hang out.  

Today was shopping in downtown Holland.  They have several blocks of shops, and we wanted to see them all.  We each found a shirt and our traditional ornament before finding another brewery for dinner.  Thomas and I both agreed that the best meal we had was Tuesday evening at the first brewery.  All the meals were good, some were just better than others.  Andrew and I took our sweet pup to a dog park this evening.

Honestly, it's been the perfect amount of time to be here.  Unless we wanted to spend more time at the lake, there isn't much else to do at this point.  We actually have LOTS of plans this weekend, so it should be fun.  

I'm so grateful our family took this opportunity to make this trip.  Our family enjoys vacations and I love that we make these memories together.  Hopefully someday the kids will want to take vacations with their kids and with us as well!  We are very lucky!

The beginning of our vacation

 Yesterday early afternoon we left home to begin our four days in Michigan.  We were also able to bring our sweet pup with us, which has truly been a treat.  I plugged the address into my phone, and we were off.  The beginning of the trip had us not on the interstate, which we all really enjoyed.  As we got along further, I realized that we were going to start to follow the path that my family took when we traveled to my grandparents' vacation home in Coldwater, MI.  The memories came flooding back.  Had we gotten an earlier start, I would have asked Andrew to spend 1/2 hour driving through the town.  It's been nine years since I was there for a couple of hours, and 30 years since I'd been able to really visit.

It's one of the many things that have made me want to pick up the phone and call and discuss with my dad during this trip.  He's been gone nearly eight years, but there are still so many things I want to tell him each and every day.  I know I'm not alone in that.

The trip got off to a bit of a rough start in that the motel in which we are staying is not nearly as nice as we had anticipated it being.  It's also further out of town than we had planned.  As it turns out, it's not causing any problems.  Last evening consisted of a quick dinner and a trip to the grocery.  The kids hit the pool for about 20 minutes, and we just relaxed.

This morning Andrew took our pup on a walk and then we hung out a bit more.  We decided to hit one of the state parks with a beach, and we were delighted we could bring Abby along as well!  It was very pretty, and the breeze keeps things from being too warm.  We were even able to be up on the dune where there was some shade.  It was so funny to watch Abby dig and dig and dig so that she could create a hole.  She preferred waiting for the rest of the family by sitting in that hole.  She wanted nothing at all to do with being down at the water, so she and I hung out and just enjoyed the view.  Unfortunately, she got sand in her eye and that has been bothering her a little bit.  The other downside was that while we were hiking back to our car from the beach, Abby's leash got caught around my legs.  Catherine didn't understand what was happening and wouldn't drop the leash, so I have pretty bad rope burn on the backs of my knees.  Ugh!  Life goes on though.

We had a nice dinner at a brewery where Andrew and I each tried a flight of four different beers.  We finished that up with ice cream, which always tastes better on vacation!  We still have two full days before we head home Friday, and overall we are enjoying the more relaxed pace!

It was an awesome holiday weekend.

After our wonderful evening Saturday, we followed up with an amazing evening yesterday.  We returned to our former town.  Not only did we get to see our best friends, we got to see the other couples who were always part of our circle.  Not only were our kids there, but even the older kids from the other families came along and brought significant others, and some other "kids" we had known for years stopped by.  We took a lot of pictures, and it all just made my heart so full.  After the last year, we don't take these things for granted.  I especially love that the kids want to be together, and that they still want to be a part of gatherings as well.  As so many issues have developed in my family and it just seems as though it is shrinking, I am so incredibly grateful for the friends that have become our other family.

A lovely evening and a lovely drive home

Yesterday afternoon we made the two-hour drive to visit our friends.  We had seen them twelve weeks ago, but I'm so grateful they decided we needed to not go the entire summer without seeing them again.  It was an absolutely lovely evening, and I've often felt as though their back yard is an oasis.  There was so much laughter last evening.  It was such a lovely visit.

We left them about 9:30 to make the two-hour drive home.  For the first hour, Andrew and I truly enjoyed watching various fireworks light up the sky.  It was a lovely visit with lovely weather, and then a lovely drive home!

The beginning of my summer break

I got off work just a little over an hour ago.  I don't have to be at work again until about 8:30 on July 12.  That sounds absolutely wonderful to me!  Since our office doesn't shut down at any point during the summer, this is the longest break I'll have.  I'll get some other days here and there, and of course the daily hours are shorter, but this is the only week I'm off the entire time.  Since we are leaving Monday and returning Friday, we even get the weekends at home to be productive, which helps me to feel less guilty about going away.  Today is even an incredible weather day.  The temps are in the 70's with no humidity and lots of sunshine.  It couldn't be more beautiful.  Although I'm not usually a day drinker, I poured myself a small glass of wine to celebrate the beginning of my time off!  It's delightful!