Our August had our girls going back to school during the 2nd week and getting more involved with cross-country and kickball. We also made our annual trip to St. Joseph, MI for a fun weekend with family and enjoying some time on the beach.
For the last 31 years, there has been a gathering up in the St. Joseph / Benton Harbor area organized by my Uncle Frank, Aunt Jan, my mom and Terry Miller. It has become quite a tradition that everyone looks forward to and enjoys. Every year, my kids talk about hanging out in the conference room and climbing the dune. Jackie and Adam offered to watch Timber so we could leave early on Friday. We had dinner with mom, Pete, Jake & Grace in downtown St. Joseph and enjoyed some ice cream on Friday evening. Saturday we were at the beach as early as we could with Beth and her family. I got a chance to play “Kings in the Corner” with Grace and “Guess Who” with Jake and found myself losing a lot more than I was winning. Chelsea & Chris bring some great friends along and hang out with the kids and hit the volleyball around and play keep away in the water. We left the beach on Sunday around noon to head back to Indy and get Timber.
We started school on August 11th and both kids were excited to get back into the classroom (mostly for social reasons). We are fortunate enough that our kids get to see several classmates throughout the summer with sports, camps and the pool, but nothing is quite like having them all back in the same place. Always a little rough getting back into the routine (especially with a dog) but we are starting to get used to it.
Sarah’s Things of the Month
Sarah had a belated birthday celebration this month which included a sleepover with several of her friends from the neighborhood and school. They enjoyed some fun games in the backyard and sleeping in the basement. Sarah has also enjoyed playing kickball with her classmates this season and is running cross country again.
Allison’s Thing of the Month
Since Allison is in 5th grade, her basketball team is decided based on evaluations. She is on the 56B team which I will be coaching. She has been playing on the 56A kickball team and it is amazing how much faster the games go when both teams can play defense and catch the ball. She is also running cross country this year and enjoying the social time with friends.
A few more items from this month:
- On a few Sunday evenings during this month, a few dads from church have gotten together to play some basketball and go out for a few beers. It has been fun to meet a few guys I haven’t talk to much before and get back onto the court.
- Deb helped manage the used uniform sale at school and they did a great job and raised more money this year than ever before.
- I helped manage a basketball clinic for KG thru 3rd grade during the month of August. We had about 75 kids sign up and had the help of about 6-8 volunteers each session.
- Timber has started going to a doggy daycare some days of the week and seems to enjoy it. She also was spayed this month and was back to her normal self after a few days.
- We had a great time at Smokefest at the Steffey’s house. They had all kind of smoked items from the grill and we enjoyed seeing our friends while the kids ran around playing football, 4 square & hide & seek.
- Debbie had fun with some moms from school at the Verspelt’s house on a Saturday evening. I took that opportunity to invite Beth over for a few beers since Deb had plans.
- We had a group of dads meet up at the Sipe’s house one Thursday evening and we enjoyed some beers and watched some baseball.
