Our July Road Trip

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We really enjoy visiting our extended family in Illinois and Indianapolis several times a year.

On the 21st of July, after everyone got home from work, we headed to Illinois.

We had almost everyone with us this time!

Grant stayed home to work and also take care of the house and the dogs.

We can only fit seven bodies in our van anyway, so it worked out good this way!

It was a late night, but we made it to our hotel in Morton by 11:30 p.m.

The next morning we met Blake’s Mom at our favorite coffee shop – Four30 Scones.

The coffee is SO good there, and they have gluten-free vegan scones too!

We had a wonderful couple hour visit on the patio – it was a beautiful day!

We back tracked to Peoria after that to have lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Nettell.

As always, lunch was delicious and it was a wonderful visit, complete with our traditional photo on the stairs.

I wonder how many of these photos I have taken over the years?

What a treasure to have!!

We were thankful to be able to head to our good friend Melody’s house next to cool off in their pool!

She has such a lovely back yard and we all enjoyed a couple hours of swimming before the long drive to Indianapolis yet that evening.

We got to our hotel in Indianapolis around 10:30 p.m. that night, but there had been a mix up, and we did not have rooms with enough beds!

We sat outside and tried to find another hotel, but they were all full.

So Blake went back inside to tell the guy we would take whatever they had.

Well, the guy had been so thankful for Blake’s kindness with the mix up, that he had found us some rooms and upgraded us to them with no extra charge.

Praise God!

We finally got inside and settled around 11:40 that night.

It was a quick night!

Especially with the time change!

But we were so excited to get to my Mom and brother’s place to spend the day with them Saturday.

My brother had his traditional summer water fight with the kids Saturday afternoon.

What a hoot!

It was a very hot day which made this a perfect acitivity!

It might have brought some neighbors out to their patios to watch the fun too.

We spent a lot of time on the deck just enjoying being together.

I LOVE that deck!

We took a long walk as well.

Another wonderful visit and so good to see my Mom and brother doing so well!

We headed home on Sunday around noon and had an 8 1/2 hour drive to get back to Twin Oaks.

These weekends are fast!!

But so very worth it!

We are so thankful that even though our extended family is not close by that they are not super duper far away either.

If I had my way, we would all live on the same street where we could share daily life together!

We already have plans to go back in October and I CAN’T WAIT!!

Counting the days!!

Family Night

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Awhile back, Addie and I had a conversation about how we should be more purposeful with our time when we have everyone at home.

Everyone at home is the key there, by the way, and it is rare!

She and I made a decision to start a family night on Thursday nights, and strongly encourage everyone to be and stay at home with us.

It was a GREAT idea!

We are rotating who gets to plan the family night – which is also a great idea!

We have had three so far and they are my favorite thing we are doing this summer.

The first one took place the evening Tate, Blake and I returned home from Madison after Tate’s appointment with his orthopedic surgeon.

Addie was in charge and we had a game night!

We played Guesstures and laughed so much my face hurt the next day!

I planned the next week and decided to have dinner around the fire and night time swimming.

It was SO relaxing and enjoyable!!

Only some crazy kids swam because the rest of us (meaning me!) were sitting around the fire in sweatshirts and blankets, ha, ha!

When we finally drug ourselves back inside way too late, we all commented about how very nice it was to slow down and enjoy a fire and each other.

This last Thursday was Tate and Eliza’s turn to plan our evening.

And plan it they DID!

We also used the time together to celebrate their Forever Family Day anniversaries, which are both in July.

They chose a special meal and I was very thankful Addie was off work that day to help me prepare it all!

Sweet and sour meatballs with ramen noodles and cheddar cheese biscuits – and they loved it!!

For dessert they requested crepes with peaches and cream.

It was also a huge hit!

And crepes are very fun to make, by the way.

After dinner Tate and Eliza had a coloring contest planned for the rest of us.

While we were coloring, they asked each of us questions that they had planned and written down in a notebook.

It was a very creative family night and the questions were very good!

I got second place in the coloring contest, thank you very much!

Addie Mae was first place.

Someone, named Blake, tried to cheat – but the judges of the coloring contest were not falling for any of that, ha, ha!!

Nice try, Mr. Moschel.

We ended the evening around the campfire again.

PERFECT.

Just perfect!

It was by far our best family night yet!

Chad is in charge of this week – I wonder what we will do?

I have to say that sitting around that fire brought back memories of farm life at Adoni Acres.

We had camp fires and food around a fire a lot when we lived on the farm!

They are AWESOME memories – so here’s hoping these family nights will be awesome memories too.

There is nothing better than being together – we are just better together, you know?

I sure hope this family night idea sticks around!!

Memories made and memories now kept!!

Our Little Garden Space

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What a blessing our little garden has been this year!

We are constantly out there piddling around in it and enjoy it very much.

We planted a lot of different things this year – including a cut flower section!

We also planted kohlrabi, carrots, radishes, kale, strawberries, three types of tomatoes, basil, chives, jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, golden beets, cucumbers, snap peas, marigolds and zucchini.

Here is the garden back at the beginning of July –

I took these photos just yesterday!

We have enjoyed everything we have harvested so much – ever since the first two strawberries became ripe at the beginning of July!

Tate and Eliza love to put on their muck boots first thing in the morning and run out and check the gardens.

I am so glad they are learning to love to grow things!

We also have four watermelon plants growing on our hill out back and are hopeful for a yummy harvest of those as well!

We have been fighting deer, bunnies and a huge invasion of Japanese beetles in our gardens this year, but we are NOT giving up!

We have lost several plants due to the deer and bunnies – even a whole zucchini plant.

I am hopeful we will still get enough zucchini to shred and put up in the freezer with our one plant left, – but if not, we can buy a case of zucchini from the produce stand at Addie’s work to fill our freezer with.

We are certainly thankful for all of the rain we have had this summer!

I think we have only watered the gardens four times now!

Looking forward to many more days of enjoying our harvest and taking care of our gardens.

It’s been a great summer so far!!

Some Fun in Madison

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After our appointment with Tate’s orthopedic surgeon last Thursday, we decided to make a day of it and do some fun things in Madison before heading home.

I’m SO glad we did!!

I have heard Tate tell some friends since that day that he got to do these things with Blake and I!

First we decided to go to the zoo.

It was a beautiful day, and the zoo is free!

While we walked around the zoo, it gave Tate the opportunity to ask some very mature and good questions about his prognosis that the surgeon had shared with us.

I was very impressed with Tate’s thought process and his ability to ask us good questions!

We saw lots of things at the zoo that we loved, but my favorite was the flamingos.

God is SO creative!!!

Can you just imagine Him thinking “I’m going to give some bright pink birds to this earth I created, and while I’m at it, I’ll have them stand on one leg.”

They are majestic birds!!!

We saw a carousel and Tate wanted to ride.

Memory made!

After the zoo we headed to Chipotle for lunch.

I was impressed with how they cared for someone like me at this place!

All I had to do was say “I have celiac disease” and the server took off his gloves, washed the whole counter down, washed his hands, put on new gloves, and stayed with me the whole way down the serving line.

Lunch was delicious!!

Next up was a trip to Costco to get grocery for the week and to also stock up on anything we needed.

We had a HUGE cooler in the back of the van just for this purpose!

On our way out of town, Blake stopped to get coffee.

Not only did he get one for himself and me, but he also allowed Tate to choose a decaf treat!

I would have given Tate a mountain that day if I could have.

He drank his coffee treat just like Grant drinks coffee treats – it was completely gone in 2.2 seconds, ha, ha!

About half way home I looked back and saw this – he is under there, I promise, and sound asleep!

I was SO thankful for the beautiful day as we drove home.

This is how we roll once home after medical days –

It was wonderful to have a dynamics change and have a day with just Tate!

He is a cheerful gem, and very fun to hang out with!!

I am glad when he is asked about his doctor’s appointment that he tells about the rest of the day too!

Eliza’s turn is coming up next, and we will have a long travel day with her too.

I still cannot believe all the Lord has trusted us with!!

We just are NOT worthy!!

I am SO thankful that I get to be Tate’s Mama!!

What a privilege!!

Thankful for the memories from our day together!

Memories made and now memories kept!!

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