As
for everyone, June was the beginning of summer and we have been enjoying all
the things that come with it! We have
enjoyed the pool, mom’s lake, hanging out in our backyard with neighbors, along
with seeing family and friends.
Before
we get into all of that, we were very excited to welcome another niece. Ms. Ava Shafer was born on June 1st
and from what I’ve heard, she is doing well!
Kyle, Julie and Olivia are all very happy to have another one in their
family and we can’t wait to go to visit them in early August for her
baptism. Debbie went for a short visit
late in the month of August and did her best to help them get ready for
Olivia’s birthday party in early July.
She also got to spend some time with Olivia at the pool and Ava in the
mornings so Julie could get a little sleep.
For
old time’s sake, Beth and I wanted to take the girls to Indiana Beach. While we did this mostly for nostalgic
reasons, since we went there each summer when we were kids, the girls had an
awesome time. We arrived as the park
opened and went directly to the kiddie rides which they really liked. After about 5 rides, Allison was ready for
something bigger, so we took everyone on the Falling Star! Sarah didn’t like it as much, so we had to
alternate rides to keep both girls happy, with Sarah not wanting to go on the
“fast rides.” Since we had pushed Sarah
to her limit, I asked Allison if she wanted to go on bigger roller coasters and
Sea Dragon. She hopped on those and
loved it! She has no fear and I’m going
to have my hands full down the road if she wants to ride coasters all day
long! Of course we ate lunch at the
famous taco stand and had some ice cream before we went home. The girls lasted until 3PM and we came home,
but we hope to do it again next year with the water park also!
Once
again, mom hosted the annual “Cousins Weekend” and nearly everyone was in
attendance at some point over the weekend.
The weather was great and the lake felt awesome. All of the kids did very well swimming and
played together very well. It is always
nice to see our family from Ohio, Arizona and Kentucky and appreciate the
effort to come all the way to Indy each summer.
At
the end of the month, we made the drive to Wisconsin for July 4th
weekend to visit the Rago’s at Lake Geneva.
We enjoyed their hospitality and all of the girls were in the pool most
of the time. All of the girls also did
very well playing together, minus the occasional argument. We got a sitter for a day and went to a Dave
Matthews Band concert at Alpine Valley.
It goes without saying that we felt a little old in the tailgate lot,
with college age kids partying around us.
Once we got into the concert, it was great and our seats were
awesome. We also utilized the sitter to
allow for us to grab a beer at “The Owl Tavern” which we drive the golf
cart! Joe and I stayed up late each
night drinking several kinds of bourbon after the ladies went to bed. The weather was perfect and we enjoyed a
great holiday weekend with friends.
Sarah’s Thing of the Month
Sarah is officially out of diapers! She took to it really well after we basically
told her that she wasn’t allowed to wear diapers in her new room at
school. She was being really stubborn
about it (I know, big surprise) and once she didn’t see another option, she
acted like she knew how to do it all along.
She is loving the swimming pool and jumps off the side (with swimmies on) and no one needs to catch her!!
Allison’s Thing of the Month
Month #1 of no naps has had its ups and downs. The positives are she will play quietly for
an hour or so while Sarah naps. It has
happened where Deb, Sarah and I are all napping and Allison will be playing
quietly. The negatives are how cranky
she can get near bedtime along with in the mornings when we are getting ready
for school. Overall, I’m glad we are
going through this now instead of when Kindergarten starts in a month. Allison also had her first big play date all
day at her friend Harper’s house. They
had a great time.
A few more items from this
month:
- We had our annual family pictures taken at Holcomb Gardens on Butler’s campus.
- Deb had dinner with Angie Kinzer.
- Uncle Frank and I enjoyed “Donuts with Dad” with the girls at their school.
- We went to the summer social at our church and got a chance to hang out with Bassetts, Lawton and the Chisholms.
- Our neighbors moved back into their house after being away at graduate school for a two years. It has been great to have another playmate for Allison.
- We have enjoyed going to the pool several times this summer. Allison doesn’t wear her life jacket anymore and will go off the diving board!
