Birthday Boy!

With all the covid shutdowns (like of, basically, the borders of states) and Buck's essential worker risk factors, we haven't seen our family since February. That's a super long time! We have been missing this little guy loads!! I was so happy when my brother announced a midway birthday party was happening and that my mom was willing to host. Gabby got some drive hours logged, we listened up on some Adventures in Odyssey discs we'd ordered, and we arrived to celebrate Mr. M's third birthday :)

I like how he eats frosting. In fact, I tried it myself to support him ;) He did the same at his other grandma's house and at his grandpa's house . . . so all the frostings, all the colors, all the food dye, but no silverware, lol!

As expected, it was pretty emotional celebrating his birthday, singing his song, and watching him open gifts without his mama. What an incredibly sad season! But then you have this little burst of sunshine, grinning at the special attention for his birthday. We all just keep plugging along.

We got to see my oldest, youngest brother for a minute, on his way to work. Had I not blocked him in with my van, he probably would have snuck away unnoticed--twenty minutes late for work already. I didn't realize my other younger brother was home until we came back from the lake and he wasn't. Bummer!

And then to the lake . . . we hoped to let Muriel play on the beach while my brother gave rides on his new jet ski--but, no pups and no wake meant we settled for calm waters and waterside fringes for the puppy. She managed to get wet. The beach was tilled like they were planting corn and it was much warmer than these photos make it look. Whew! Hot! Lots of minnows in the water nibbling on my toes--I haven't felt that since I was little girl, playing in the streams around our town.

And then to my sister's . . . I had gifts to deliver! Although she wasn't comfortable joining the party, I brought the party to her :) Of course, we encountered the train that made me late many a time in high school, driving back and forth between college and high school classes. I think it's been waiting all these years for just this moment, ha!

We enjoyed receiving *gifts opened* pics from my nephew and niece later in the day. We  missed seeing them, but once covid is over or at least under control, we'll go back to a more normal pace (I hope). Brennen and A are about the same size, so we enjoyed finding him a punny shirt at Old Navy. And now that my sweet niece is 12, we thought a little spa day might be just the thing while she's relaxing at home, waiting for school schedules to begin :)

Back to my mom's . . . we did some backyard swinging and dangerous climbing that was never allowed when they were little (ha!) We had sloppy joe tacos, a new experience ;) And we packed up all the goodies Maga had been collecting for us over the months of social distancing. Caelan is all set for front yard graduation announcements--she's got a poster all printed that's bigger than our t.v.! Gabby drove us most of the way home, and is now only 9.75 hours away from completing her drive time--four of those at night. So close!

It has been such a long time since we've been together; I'm glad that we made this day happen and we got to celebrate my favorite three-year-old on the planet, too!

Splish Splash

Our pastor's family purchased their aging acreage several years ago. Their main focus has been on reclaiming the grounds near the house and fixing up the house itself. Out in the yard remained a mucky old pool with a falling down deck. With (a lot) of help from their now teenaged son, they dumped hundreds of buckets of nasty water, scrubbed, refilled, and rebuilt the pool. They got a hand-me-down filter pump and went with a salt water, rather than chlorine base. Whit's dad helped shore up the underworks of the wooden deck. Whit power-washed the whole shebang, and invited us over for a pool party. The kids had a great time!

I sat in the shade, checked some summer school work, talked to the mamas of the younger kids when they showed up an hour into the party, and kept an eye on Muriel when Caelan and Gabby headed to work. The big kids got quite a current going and made some giant waves for the littles. We definitely benefitted from all their family's hard work!

Anniversary Antics

Wow, blogger is making all my pictures huge! So, waaaay back at the beginning of the month, I was feeling anxious about the anniversary of my dad's death. I asked Buck if he'd be able to request our wedding anniversary and the day after off, so we could keep busy together. His time off was granted, and we made a plan. And then we changed the plan, and made some more plans, and it turned out God had an even better plan. So yay for plans and new plans :)

First we wanted to spend time together as a family, so we checked out a mini-golf place that we've heard about, but never visited. It was indoors, air-conditioned, and only one other family was there (and for only part of the time). We played the opposite course that they did, so we never even saw them (only heard the little voices :)

We started off surprisingly bad at putt-putt, ha! I'd say about halfway through our 18 holes, we all started to catch on . . . of course Buck was leading the pack with the smallest score throughout the game. I went for all the trick shots--there were some unique ones! There were also a lot of unique photo ops, so we made sure to take advantage of those, too :)

After putt putt, we came home to find Muriel a wreck from kennel time, but packed up our suitcases, bid adieu to the Crew, and went to find some lunch. Actually, we knew we wanted to use our free Qdoba meal tix from a weird experience we had before (not with the food, but with the restaurant guest staff). What we didn't know, although we probably could have guessed given our church staff's penchant for Qdoba--it gets lots of sermon mentions, ha!--was that our college ministry pastor and the intern were just ahead of us in the food line. They insisted we sit with them and tell our "how we met" story--which is a pretty good one, as far as meeting stories go :) It was fun reminiscing wedding photos with the kids in the morning and then our love story at lunch. Lots of good memories!

When we finished our free meal, Buck decided we had time for him to get a haircut. While he was getting shorn, I was busy, busy texting my NGF. She wanted to have a family night with us, and our schedules haven't aligned for ages! I said we could probably forgo youth group, since I'd likely be a pretty weepy leader, and she said that would work out great . . . the next night :) I texted the kids, they liked the plan, and Buck was super excited that we had this new and better plan just in the space of a haircut!

On the way out of town, we snagged Starbucks coffee, chai, and vanilla bean scones, and then took the long scenic drive to our overnight anniversary destination. We almost never go anywhere away from our kids and we almost never do anything "fancy" for our anniversary. But, even with Covid restrictions (I tried to book a couples' massage at the resort, but that was a no go--someday I'll have a real massage. It's been more than 40 years, but someday it WILL work out, ha!), we knew we could find the fun.

It was a little early to check in, so we went straight to the Treehouse Adventure! The kid reading a book in the woods and telling people they could enter or exit and not to drop your stuff in the ravine or you might not get it back, said the adventure trail was almost a year old. I guess it has been awhile since we brought the kids to play in the forest!

One-way rope bridges connected a dozen-ish treehouses and provided an epic workout in balance, grace, and muscle strength. These are things we don't engage in often, ha! It was really a lot of fun though. Buck especially liked the bouncy, rope trampoline! I loved the smell of cedar in the tree houses :) And neither of us dropped anything for the attendant to retrieve.

Do you see the baby deer in the photo? It was still spotted and adorable and very close! So close the mama was staring us down, stomping, and snorting (Buck said to tell the baby to be careful, moreso than to attack us in the woods :) It was so "weird" to walk alone in the woods, in the quiet, completely buy ourselves, no other people, only forest creatures around us! It was also super hot and humid, so the shade was much-appreciated on our wander.

We are not great selfie takers, so we tried to take lots of selfies on our anniversary--number 19, btw :) In trees, in meadows, in sunflower patches--it's a lot of work taking so many selfies!

Checking into the lodge was a nice break from the heat. We unpacked, got freshened up for dinner, and then went in search of good food in town. We didn't exactly find it (lol). Steakhouses are a bit less fancy out in the country towns than in the big cities. That's okay, though, we got to walk around the main street area and viewed several of their beautiful murals!

After dinner, we took another walk in the woods--to our surprise a back trail connected the lodge to the farm! It also involved this very tall, creaky bridge that pinged with metallic angst as we tread across it--eek! Why are all bridges lately making us wonder if we can Indiana Jones it if worse comes to worse? Ha!

The lodge is really beautiful. It was built when we were in high school, but still seems both older than that and newer than that at the same time. It would be a great little weekend getaway spot with the kids at the end of a stressful week. It has an Olympic-sized pool and a spa--and hopefully we won't always have to wear masks in the public areas. Buck let me borrow one of his because mine was gross from the earlier hike; we're so matchy matchy :)

The next morning we realized we should have just eaten dinner in the lodge's restaurant. Ummm, wow! The food was amazingly good and all included in the bed and breakfast package I booked. But the BEST thing on the plates was the apple jelly, made from the orchards on the Morton property. Amazing! We were so full, we didn't eat the bacon--and usually, you start with the bacon :)

Breakfast complete, we checked out of the lodge and booked a tour of a nearby Victorian home. Best old house tour ever! We were the only ones there, and the tour lady dressed in Victorian clothes. She taught us all kinds of things about the furniture, the fashion, the function of the house on a daily basis. We were encouraged to switch on lights, open cupboards, crank the original doorbell, and she played a beautiful Gramophone for us to enjoy. Also, there was chocolate, ha! She pulled a little basket of Hershey kisses from the kitchen pass-through and said that Kisses were around at the turn of the century (but not the exact ones she gave us to nibble :) We thoroughly enjoyed our $5 tour, and the neat gift shop (featuring 15 local artists), and the little Victorian garden on the grounds. 

On our drive home, we stopped in a little cutesy town that has a town square (we're suckers for town squares :) Friends recommended a coffee shop (you'll never guess which friends, ha!) and we also went to the amazing candy shop down the road--like stepping into Willy Wonka land! We bought the kids popcorn balls and fudge (all hand made) and snagged a few bonbons and a sugar cookie for ourselves. All-in-all a *sweet* stop on our journey homeward :)

Buck and I were both pretty tired; I think that always happens when you sleep in an unfamiliar place. So we got home, talked to the kids (who had a great time, were fed by our neighbors, watched some Muppets) and then took a long nap just as the rain began to fall outside the window. So relaxing! 

When Caelan returned from work, we drove, as planned, to our NGFs' house. I don't know how Mel did it, but she pulled together racks and racks of ribs, sweet corn, a fancy ramen/orange salad, cheesy potatoes, brownies--wowza! It was good to sit and talk, memories of my dad came up throughout the day, we made it through the first anniversary. So many things I wish I could call and tell him about, so many times I think he'd be proud of this or that or think this was cool or that was funny. It's super hard losing a parent, especially at such a young age. I know he's with Jesus, and that's best. But wow, a whole year. We miss him!

Repeat Attempts

We asked for help and suggestions online, and got tons of good feedback! Unfortunately, the first suggestion of leaving some noise on--we chose Christian radio--did not calm our canine. In fact, while we were at Nick's graduation party (for less than an hour if you count the fact that Buck got home before we did), Muriel worked so hard to get out of her kennel that there was a tooth in the drool puddle and blood outside on the floor! Gasp!

Another suggestion was to cover the kennel with a blanket, like you would for a bird. She worked half of that quilt in through the bars, shredded it, ate some fluff, knocked stuff off of the shelf, upset her food bowl, and still drooled everywhere . . . So, music and covering the kennel are out :/ Another time, the boys put her in for a wee while when they went to have dinner at our neighbors' and the girls were at work--they came home to fur patches on the wires, the kennel moved six inches from body slamming the bars?, and her cute Muriel Rose name tag scratched across the middle. It's kind of awful, this poor puppy!

We've also been offered essential oils, CBD, told to relocate her kennel (although I don't know where else it would fit), told to put toys in (which we've tried), and suggested training her to enjoy the kennel during the day while we're here. Lots of work to do. We don't want her to be miserable while we're away!