July 2016

July 2016

July 2016

Well, as you can see by the fact that I’m writing this on the 13^th of August, that we have had a very busy July and we are enjoying our first weekend at home since mid-July!  We have enjoyed traveling and seeing so many friends and family over the last month. We are also gearing up for Allison to start Kindergarten at Christ the King in August!

We enjoyed a great trip to Bluefield, WV to get a chance to see over 50 members of Deb’s extended family.  We traveled on Thursday, the 21^st to Charleston to spend the night where we enjoyed hanging out with Randy, Anna and Duke.  We celebrated Deb’s birthday quietly that evening and left on Friday morning for Bluefield.  The entire family rented out a B&B that was walking distance to Chuck & Heather’s house, so it was quite convenient.  On Friday, we enjoyed a great dinner with the group on and then went to a baseball game.  The B&B was great, but a little small, so Deb and I were enjoying beers in the bathroom after the girls were in bed!  On Saturday morning, we went to a park and ran around and then enjoyed lunch at Dairy Queen (family favorite in Bluefield).  Following lunch, everyone enjoyed the bounce house, water fun, chalk and everything else that was out for the kids.  That evening, Deb was tired and decided to stay with the girls so I walked back to the party and probably stayed up too late for the 7 hour drive home the next day, but it was worth it to enjoy Chuck & Heather’s bourbon and hang out with the group!

The next weekend, we were off to St. Joseph, MI for our annual trip with my family to enjoy the beach and some company. Deb and I left on Thursday and enjoyed a quiet afternoon at the beach with the girls.  That evening, we enjoyed dinner in St. Joe, playing with their cousins and enjoyed the suite which had an extra room for the girls.  On Friday, we went to the beach the Vandervaarts and Gettys and enjoyed the waves and playing in the sand.  The hotel had an indoor pool, so that was our spot in the late afternoon after the kids burned out from the beach.  Friday evening, everyone enjoyed dinner in the conference room and had fun hanging out.  It was raining Saturday morning, so we went to a children’s museum and also enjoyed a carousel.  After lunch, the weather improved so we went to a local beach since it was already early afternoon.  The kids enjoyed playing with chalk that afternoon at the hotel while the adults enjoyed beers!  We finally made it to Warrren Dunes on Sunday, where the water was dangerously cold (60 degrees) so the kids had fun in the sand and climbing the dune! 

Sarah’s Thing of the Month

            Sarah’s temperament is improving and she is controlling it a little better.  She is terribly fearful of dogs, which we are trying to figure out how to help her get past.  She is doing very well with being out of diapers and hasn’t had an accident in over a month.  

Allison’s Thing of the Month

            Allison is getting excited (we think!) for kindergarten starting in August.  She has her uniforms figured out and school supplies.  I can tell she is a little nervous about not knowing anyone, but she will figure it out as she isn’t quiet for too long around new kids! 

A few more items from this month:

• We celebrated Deb’s birthday quietly as a family as we spent the day driving back from WV.  For her birthday gift, we traded in some diamond earrings I bought her in 2004 for some larger ones.  They look great!
• We had some management changes at the company in Minnesota, which required 2 trips for me in July and probably one trip a month for the remainder of the year.
• Deb took the girls to their first Indianapolis Indians baseball game as part of her work function while I was in Minnesota. 
• We had a pizza dinner on Mom’s birthday at our house.  Pat & Paul, Mark, Beth & Matt and Chelsea were able to come over and we had some ice cream.
• We organized a bike tour in downtown Indy where we pedal a trolley around to several bars and enjoyed some time amongst friends.  Afterwards, we went out to dinner at a local brewery.
• We went to one of Deb’s coworker’s lake house on one Saturday for an afternoon.  It was adults only, and we enjoyed the rope swing, some boating and floating in the lake.