A Grand Start to July

This year’s Elks convention took the tribe to ATL which gave the Grands an opportunity to come visit a bit. We had one chance to get the whole bunch together, which we did, over lunch. We enjoyed time eating and catching up with Daniel and Carrie, Easton and Ashlyn, as well as Grandma and Grandpa. Thankfully we remembered to take a couple of photos because we didn’t get to see Daniel’s bunch again during the week.

The rest of the week, the Grands split time between convention and hanging out with us. We ate a lot of good food and had a couple of fun stops, They brought along a friend, Doug, who was not used to being around children, much less a bunch of them, but he was a good sport and actually found that he rather enjoyed himself. We went bowling, where Grandpa handed out $2 bills for every strike and spare. The children loved this added element to the competition!

We also visited a museum where we saw dinosaurs, gems, minerals and fossils; participated in gem mining and fossil digging; learned about the history of motion thorough bicycles, wagons, cars, and planes as well as NASA. It was a very full afternoon of exploration!

We had a special dinner out at a hibachi house where we celebrated being together and Sonja’s 13th birthday. She got a great song with a volcanic eruption and we all had wonderful food.

We also had some time in the week where we just sat around sharing food and conversation. Porch time is precious!

The week flew by and soon the family flew home. We cherish the time spent together and the memories made.

Summer is for Retreats

Both groups of older children were able to participate in retreats this summer (ok, technically it was still spring since summer officially starts mid June but the college retreat was at the end of May and the teen retreat was the week before summer 🙂 ). The college group went to the mountains to go white water rafting but they got so much more! Their time there was filled with fellowship, good food and teaching, dancing, rock wall climbing, reaching new heights in the big swing, and yes, white water rafting (I just don’t have pictures of that part) . They had such a good time! Jozsef and Nikolas were blessed with great new experiences and making new friends.

The teens went camping at the lake and enjoyed fellowship and food, discussions and sunrise service, cardboard box boat races and several other beachside games, along with tent and hammock camping. Jozsef taught some and played lots. Sonja and Connor enjoyed play time with friends and even found themselves on the same teams from time to time. Great bonding experiences. They all returned a bit sun kissed and worn out but they would have told you they could have stayed longer.

I’m so glad they all were able to attend. Retreats are highlights of the year for sure!

Well Lookie Here

SO...I tried to leave, really I did. I created new content on another site and fully planned to transition over. However, after much effort, I decided that the new plan was just not working and I had lost much precious time. SO...I plan on moving all of that work onto this site and then dive in to catch up. The dates will not line up like they should, but at least there will be documentation. WELCOME BACK!

That's a Wrap

 This blog journey was an unexpected one.  I joined in on the fad years ago.  In the beginning, it was a great way to keep in the loop with friends and family.  Over time, as people drifted away from blog land, it filled the gap for scrapbooks, which had also gone by the wayside.  In so many ways it's been wonderful, but times are changing and so will my format for historical records.  I'm sure I'll miss this in some way, but I find the change necessary.  For those of you who have faithfully followed us over the years, thank you for keeping up with our antics.  Please look to make connections with us through email, text, phone calls, snail mail.  :-)  Until we meet again...

Some of His Favorite Things

 Jozsef grew up loving dinosaurs and Stargate.  It was very apropos that the Jurassic saga was ending an era right around his birthday.  We celebrated Jozsef's 22nd birthday with a meal he loves--tater tot casserole, his favorite cake--German chocolate with coconut pecan frosting, and the final dinosaur movie in the Jurassic World series--Dominion.  

The food was yummy, the movie was well done and a great wrap up, and the company was great!  At the theatre, someone had a super fun Jeep parked in the lot and we couldn't pass up taking a few pictures (Jeep and Jurassic = Awesome!).  

It was such a blessing to enjoy the time with Jozsef and to celebrate having him for another year.  Happiest of birthdays Jozsef!  We love you!  

Hannah's Hike

This is the year she's been waiting for--her entrance into double digits!  She's watched her siblings before her set out on adventures and come back with great memories and she's been itching to get to this point--her tenth year!  Ten is big here in our house.  Not only does the birthday child go on a hike, but the sibling just before them in line also goes as to share in the experience and impart knowledge.  The birthday child also gets their first pocket knife.  Honestly, I don't know which excited her more--the hike or the knife but Hannah was  counting down the days for at least a month!  

Hike day was gorgeous--and thankfully arrived before the real heat (we are currently on week two of 100 degrees).  John took Riley and Hannah out early to drive to the canyon.  They visited three waterfalls and walked plenty of trail enduring humidity and becoming little waterfalls themselves (they were soaked through in sweat!).  They loved the hike and made great memories together--but the day wasn't over yet!

Since Hannah's birthday landed on Memorial Day proper, there was more on the docket.  They drove out to meet the rest of us at a friend's house for a BBQ and a small memorial service.  Our host, Mr. Abernathy, is a vet and his dad fought in Normandy.  He gave an account of the war from his dad's memories and we took the time to remember and honor the fact that freedom is far from free.  Then we all sang happy birthday to Hannah and finished out the day with food and fellowship.  We were tired a the end of the night--especially our hikers, but it was a good tired.  

She was shy about it, but she appreciated that her birthday was recognized 

Cake and gifts were the following evening.  Hannah proudly chose to have an American themed cake.  We had a great time celebrating Hannah and we are all super happy to welcome her into the tween years--it's amazing that there are no longer any children in the house under that benchmark.  Happy Birthday Hannah!  We love you!