June has had a throw-back feel to it, where I over-heard someone call this an “80’s summer.” I couldn’t agree more because our kids don’t have much of anything on their calendar and are playing outside most of the time. We have been blessed again for the 4th straight summer of having a great “nanny.” Alexis is great with the girls, comes over ready with a new project a few times a week and keeps them entertained during the day while sprinkling in some math, spelling and learning since she is a teacher.
The first weekend in June we got up early on Saturday and drove to Turkey Run to do some hiking. We arrived at 9AM, hiked for between 2-3 hours and tackled the 2 most rugged trails (#3 & #9) and then the trails got a little crowded, so we decided it was time to head home. We had a picnic at the park and then drove home. The girls enjoyed it and we are going to try to find a place to do some canoeing (closer to Indy) before the summer is over. When we got home, several of the neighborhood dads wanted to have a campout so we set up tents at the Sipe’s house and enjoyed our first camping experience. I quickly realized that I’ve gotten old and will gladly take an air mattress next time I spend the night on the ground.
We spent Father’s Day weekend up at Lake Geneva with the Rago’s this year. We arrived on a Friday and left on Monday morning. The kids all did well together and had fun swimming and playing. The weather was great and we enjoyed hanging out by the pool and catching up with friends. We did venture down to the lake one morning to swim off the pier for a few hours. The kids liked it but eventually were ready to head back to the pool. Joe has been working on his bartending skills while at the lake so we tried some new cocktails in the evening while relaxing on their screened in porch.
The following weekend, my mom came to Indy to see everyone. Beth, mom and my family hung out at our house on Friday and everyone enjoyed some pizza at the Dodson’s on Saturday. We had everyone over for a cookout on Sunday and it was good to see everyone and catch up.
Sarah’s Things of the Month
Sarah’s fear of dogs is the highlight of this month. She is still very timid around dogs and while it made sense when she was little…but at 7 years old it would be nice for her to start to realize that most dogs are just playing and having fun.
Allison’s Thing of the Month
Allison had to get new glasses this month and they make her look a lot older. She is also almost 5 feet tall, which means she is surpassed Debbie’s shoulders and it won’t be long before Deb is looking at her in the eye.
A few more items from this month:
- Some of the lifeguards from our K of C pool (which is closed) decided to do swim lessons in the summer in a private pool, so we have participated in those and the girls have enjoyed them.
- Deb and I went out to dinner at Ocean Prime. We ate outside and enjoyed our first date night in months.
- I got a chance to hang out at Brian’s with Gareth & John. We’ve all known each other since 1993, so we are never struggling for laughs or stories.
- Some guys in the neighborhood came over to our house to play “glow-in-the-dark” bocce ball. We had a lot of laughs and enjoyed playing the game in the dark…which may have caused us to stay up a little later than expected.
- We went to Kiera Anderson’s birthday party. They had a big blow-up water-slide and the girls played in that all day. Everyone had fun and it was a great time for us to catch up with the Andersons, Watkins and Foulkes.
- Lawton, Brandon and I went over to Brett Sexton’s for some beers one evening. I hadn’t seen those guys too much and it was fun to hear what they had been doing during the last few months.
- Our “Summer Social” was cancelled this year at our church, but that didn’t stop the guys from meeting up in the parking lot and spending a few hours having some beers and catching up! Even Fr. Todd came outside to greet us and say hi!
