It's Been a LONG Time!!

Wow! Won't even attempt to play catch up right now! On my way out of town to do some visiting. I wanted to print out some recent pictures of the family and our printer will not communicate with the hard drive storing the pictures!!! Solution? Post a few good ones here and give people the website! Of course, this is a short-term fix! Almost a year since my last post! Crazy!! Anyway, here are just a few of the latest. Be sure to check all the way down. Always a bigger one down there! (Still trying to get the pictures into this blog! Now this is a problem too! If pics are still led by title "Jumpin' In" - I have not figured out how to upload new pics yet! ARG!)

Aug. 16 - Grandpa's 70th!

Sunday morning we loaded up EVERYONE (yes, dogs included) and headed into Grandpa and Nanny's house for Gary's birthday dinner and to see Grandma Joan who was up for her annual visit! The ride in went well, as did our fairly uneventful arrival and set up. Jasmine did get away once when she was let loose to enjoy the lake! A promise of a treat turned her around relatively quickly. The rest of the day was checking to be sure she didn't sneak out the doorwall or jump on anyone unwelcoming her greeting of hugs and kisses! Lady was a piece of cake. Off leash the whole day and content to lay around and watch the world go by. I would have loved to have more pictures (any) of Uncle Jeff, grandparents, and friends who joined us for dinner - but running interference kept a camera hanging around my neck a bad idea. Janice brought out old pictures and papers from her dad in college, as well as shots when she was little. There were even some as recent as the early 80's of the family. Good stuff! It would have been easy to spend a responsibility free afternoon tripping down memory lane and visiting with Grandma Joan, but duty called!...and often! Rob and I (and the dogs) took the kids out on the boat to let Jacob go tubing. He had a blast!...as did Jasmine! We ended up anchoring and doing some swimming. We hadn't planned for that, so we were not all dressed to swim, but someone had to keep Lady company. (She hates water) Jasmine must have worn herself out and been helped back into the boat, only to jump back out again at least a dozen times! She even ventured over to another boat to visit with fun looking people once until they were kind enough to throw a stick back in the direction of our boat to help coax her back to us! The airport was having some sort of free day and we saw some interesting planes in the sky. It poured on our way in and dried up in time for us to dock, eat dinner, and fish a bit off the dock before it was time to leave. It was a good day, but a long one that everyone was feeling. The summer sky tricked us into not realizing the time, though we felt it. We managed to get into our driveway at home about 10:30 that night.

Letting our creative sides out to play

A little rainy weather last week brought out our creative sides! While being cozy in whatever we had slept in, we pulled out paper (butcher paper in a big roll!) paint, glitter, glue, scissors, tape and got to work! Ever the independent one, Kendra went about business with her work on her own to surprise us in the end. Jacob, like the engineer he seems born to be, had an idea, began to put it into focus and delegated me to "fill in" the bigger shapes (ie - the sun, parts of the rainbow, the cloud that came with clear instructions of just how it should look). They are now proudly displayed and cheering up the laundry room!

River Rock Church Festival

We weren't sure what the weekend would hold for us. We had plans to visit Rob's Aunt Jackie, Uncle Lon and cousins up in Elk Rapids on Lake Michigan for Saturday but Friday pm Jacob started throwing up. He seemed a bit better by the next morning, but between not really knowing what was going on with him, and a big rainy storm front moving in for the day - we decided this may not be the year we get to visit. Sunday (today) was the church festival. Yesterday proved to be a good rebound day for Jacob and he seemed fine now. Rob had to be there early as he was participating in their grill-off competition, but I did not bring the kids until around 5pm. They had a great time! Big obstacle course inflatables, face painting, balloon animals from a clown, kiddie games, cake walk - I never made it down the hill to the food, drinks and grills the whole time! I did however get a work out from holding two brown bags of prizes and candies, 3 doggie bag containers of treats from the cake walk, 2 water bottles and a can of Sprite. My left arm is still cramped up a bit! :) (You can see why I have no pictures of the actual events!) We all made it home just before the next big storm front blew in and best of all - Rob won First Prize for his grilled chicken!!! The prize? Seventy-five dollar gift certificate to Herman's Boy! (coffee house/kitchen specialty shop)

Visit from Uncle Kelly & Aunt Julie

The kids were excited that Uncle Kelly was coming to visit! Just the mention of it sent Jacob to bring out and set up all the small die cast planes and their information cards that Uncle Kelly had given to him. Kendra took special care to be sure her armadillo from Uncle Kel was not buried in her bed sheets, but out on special display! And what did Rob and I do to prepare for a warm welcome? We decided to wear out the wonder dog! We heard that Julie had hurt her knee and was a bit unstable on it yet. Jasmine is not a kind greeter! She is all over people (we are working on this...) and since she is 77 lbs we knew something HAD to be done for this visit to go smoothly. So, Jacob and I took Jasmine on a L-O-N-G walk with intervals of running! Jacob rode his bike. At one point we went to the school playground and while Jacob played, I continued to walk Jasmine around the perimeter of the playground. Rob called me once they had arrived and we brought Jasmine home exhausted! Not surprisingly, she had energy to burst back and forth between them in the kitchen, but needed hardly a reminder to settle down! It took me 3 days to not feel the bruised feeling in my shins and fronts of my thighs. (Do you know what people look like walking a dog briskly while being almost dragged? Lots of leaning backwards and using the fronts of your legs for leverage!) It worked well enough though that I would do it again for our next visitors!! We played some board games and watched some Tom & Jerry cartoons together. Didn't have to twist Uncle Kelly's arm too hard for that viewing!! After teh kids were down we even got in some big people cards where Julie and I were properly beaten by Rob and Kel in Euchre. Sunday morning was breakfast at Bob Evans. (We had 2 free coupons for the kids!) The rest of the day was just hanging out until we grilled with friends Jesse and Wendy as a practice run for the grill-off at our church festival happening tomorrow (which is actually the week after Kel's visit now).

Just a July Weekend...

Nothing too terribly interesting went on this weekend. Kept up with the yard work, the house work, general chores and maintenance. Jeff came by to help work on the boat Sunday. Rob and Jeff are trying to get it all cleaned up and tuned up and maybe get their last year out of it. The weather has been kind to the yard. We did have one minor incident. Rob had the boat over at our friend's house for some help on a few of the electrical issues. The boat was being pulled out of our friend's garage and accidentally the door to the hatch on the back of the truck was left open. It caught on the rope in the garage used to pull down the garage door. The guys heard the crashing of glass before they knew what had happened. Thankfully, nobody was hurt and it doesn't effect the ability to drive the truck. We knew we would have a busy week and Kelly and Julie are coming this weekend so we wanted to get organized around here. We took Kendra to U of M on Thursday for her annual visit to the neurosurgeon to check on a malformation she has had since birth. No changes reported! We go back in two years this time! It is something that will most likely cause her some troubles, but usually not until later in life. We stumbled on it while doing an MRI for a different reason and since then have been monitored just to be safe. Everything is fine and our visit was very quick. Came home and did a bonfire out back with the kids and had all of us asleep before 11pm! Glad Friday is here!!

Cadillac, MI

Every year Michelle's family and some old neighborhood friends spend a week or two up in Cadillac at a resort called Pilgrim's Village. We only live an hour from there, so we try to at least get up there for the day. In the past, it hasn't worked out for Rob to come (sometimes week days are less hectic and he hasn't been able to get off time at work) but this year, we went as a whole family! The weather was super! Not too hot or too cold. Kendra and Jacob never left the water except to build in the sand or when Jacob rode the wave-runner with Rob, and Kendra did some fishing off the dock. We were all exhausted by the time it was time to go, but at least got a chance to visit with some loved ones!

Canada, eh?

Wow! It's been awhile since our last update. Wish I had more exciting things to share! Rob was gone to Canada for 5 days at the beginning of July. He, his brother and his parents made their annual fly-in fishing trip to Canada. Limits were caught. Weather could have been better, but was not bad enough to deter the fisherpersons! Rob was missed here in many ways, but we stayed busy. We made our own bird feeders out of milk containers, re-painted Jacob's room to a more mature motif, and the kids got hair cuts. Would love to say we did more than that, but at this point I'm just glad we were all happy and healthy upon his return! Lady (our brown dog) is finally over the hump on a horrible ear infection that we have been treating since we got her in mid-April. We were swimming almost every day at the local pool until this crazy Fall weather hit! Our plan was to do a stay-cation this weekend and put the tent up in the backyard. The kids were super excited, but when yesterday found us in long sleeves and pants we all agreed sleeping outside would be no fun at all for this weekend. Tomorrow we head up to Cadillac for the day to stop and say hello to old friends and family we rarely get to see. We are out to prove that Rob is not invisible! I think he has not seen some of my family in almost 3 years!! Hoping things warm up a bit or our visit will be brief. The kids really need the outlet of the beach to make time go by quickly enough for their enjoyment. Will try not to be so long in between postings! Hope everyone is enjoying your summer time!

Cedar Point! June 28-30

Christmas in July...almost! Rob's parents generously gave us a family trip for the four of us to Cedar Point for Christmas (and threw in "puppy and house sitting" too) and this past weekend was the weekend! As with most great plans, there were some hiccups like; the disposable cameras that continued to be left in the van, the lack of warmer clothes being packed for that last day in wind and random showers, the missing knife, bowls, and cups to go with the sandwich goods, cereal and Kool-Aid powder. But all in all, we had a great time! Fortunately, it didn't take Rob and I long to view the trip from the kids' eyes. Everything got better after that! Our run-down motel (we chose on line) was "the greatest place ever!". The seemingly boring kiddie Indy-500 Peanuts ride ended with our excited children running back in line yelling "Let's do that again!!" The roller coasters seemed a bit much for them just yet, though somehow Jacob ended up trying the Iron Dragon with Rob as his baptism to coaster life! He quickly decided he was "never riding another roller coaster ever again!" He did manage to muster up his courage for the Junior Gemini, but decided that it really did not deserve another ride anytime in the near future. Bumper cars were a big hit, as well as the water park - Soak City. There was definitely something for everyone, but it took us some time to learn just what was for whom. Rob did get to ride the Corkscrew and the Gemini (which were more challenging than he had remembered them to be! Could we really be growing older??) The train was one of 4 rides that earned a "let's do it again!" Although we had a few isolated showers on our last day, the weather overall was kind. Sunny and not too hot. Like good amusement park guests, we even left with a souvenir dog Rob won for the kids, appropriately named C.P....As mentioned before, no camera for pictures, but hopefully tomorrow I'll get some shots of the kids' sun-kissed faces and maybe some trip mementos! For now, we are all just appreciating the comforts of home!

Father's Day - June 21st

Father's Day and the first day of summer! What a great combination! We all played hookie from church, as it was the first Sunday I did not teach Sunday school since last Fall! (A different group will do the summer) So, Rob and I enjoyed our coffee on the patio admiring the now finished flower gardens and taking in the quiet noises of a Sunday morning. After breakfast, Kendra and I dropped off Rob and Jacob and their bikes in downtown Rockford. They rode 6 miles to AJ's Mini Golf and Go-Karts and we met them there by truck. (Still a pretty big adventure for Kendra just yet) Our plan was to enjoy some family time playing miniature golf. We tried. Overall we succeeded, but it was SO HOT!! On our way out to the course Jacob and Kendra helped me rescue a toad who made his way into the cool arcade but quickly realized he wanted out! He made it safely to the shrubs with a little human help! We made it safely to the Cannon Pool as soon as we arrived home!! Lots of splashing fun and cooling off! Rob loved his home-made cards and we all enjoyed just having a relaxed nothing-too-important-to-do day!

American Bandstand

Saturday night was Kendra's recital! She did great! They really had to learn a lot more complicated steps than last year, and as a group looked very good too! On her way out of the auditorium Kendra was feeling excited and proud and told a few people (we didn't know) "I was great!!" Jacob let her know what a good job she did too. He was rating each dance group and soloist and Kendra's was the only one to get two thumbs up! Somehow we were fortunate enough (as we turned in our request for tickets late) to get the first row of the balcony. This actually ended up being better seats than last year. Jacob enjoyed the novelty of these fun seats, though wasn't ready to peek over the side with Dad. Rob noted that Jacob would not be sitting in the front car when we go to Cedar Point for sure! Grandpa and Nanny were able to join us too and enjoyed Kendra's love of the spotlight! They danced a tap routine to "American Bandstand".

Sunday afternoon - June 7th

Rob had been threatening to take up his friend, John, on his offer for all of us to come out for a visit and dinner - so we went. John, his wife, and their two girls, who are very similar to Jacob and Kendra in age, live in Middleville. They have quite a bit of property complete with pond, pet ducks, two labs, and a four-wheeler. Who could ask for more? We had a great time. Their next door neighbor (who was just a quick ride down the road) has a great pond stocked with blue-gill, bass, sunfish and pumpkinseed. It made for lots of great catch and release fishing for the kids! At various times throughout our visit, we saw a doe right across the street from us, a buck in velvet on the trails, a turkey crossing the road, and birdnests in the sand bank at the pond. We also heard bullfrogs, peepers and many different birds. Jacob and I went to check out a stump of a very large tree as he advised me "Each ring represents one year the tree was alive!" This one was hard to read. Somewhere between 50-60. The kids almost fell asleep on the way home (7pm) but roused enough when we returned to take a well needed bath! I guess you can measure the adventure by the amount of dirt in the tub!

Sunday morning - June 7th

Kendra, ever our shy child, was asked to open both of our church services in prayer. She was to write the prayer, which she did very well. She was not nervous at all and did a fantastic job, but that was only the beginning. It was a family day kid-centered service with fun skits and fast moving to keep the kids interested. Kendra was one of 4 called up to use squirt bottles to spray "Peter" whenever the narrator mentioned the water in the account of Jesus walking on water with Peter. She not only rose to the occassion, but when it was time to turn in her bottle she got one last zap at "Peter" with a sweet smile and not too convincing "Sorry!" (Did I mention hers was the only bottle set to stream instead of spray??) Then came worship time and kids were invited up to sing and do the motions they learned in Sunday school. Kendra pushed past everyone to be front and center, the whole while giving everyone the Ms. America wave and nod! To top it all off, at the end of service when Pastor Jon was extending his hand out to give the send-off blessing, he peeks behind him and nearly loses all composure as Kendra is standing with him - arm extended out ready to bless us too! Nobody told Kendra this was not her show! On the contrary, she was showered with "atta-girl"s! Pray for us! :)

Our First Blog Entry & Update

It's official! Kids are out of school. Kendra will be in 1st grade in the fall and Jacob will be in 3rd. For now, they are still enjoying getting up early and realizing they do not need to rush around to get ready for school. Oddly enough, Mom is enjoying the lack of chaos as well! Being a substitute paraprofessional (fancy for teacher's aide!) in the Early Childhood Special Education rooms in Rockford - summer means not rushing to get ready for work either. Dad??...not so much! Although, Rob is not really a "rusher". Right now, we are just thankful he is working. From the pictures you can see we have added another dog to the family! Lady is new to us. She is 4 yrs old and was rescued from a neglected life on a dairy farm. We're hoping she'll teach the nearly white pup, Jasmine (2 yrs old in Nov) how to settle down! As for the other pictures, Kendra and Jacob were playing at this great school yard that is made up of tires and wooden structures. They are each hiding/peeking from a tire.