Family visit

Shortly after school was over for the year, we headed to visit family.  Last year we did not really get together in the summer, so this was extra fun!  We were there only a few days, but we managed to pack in lots of cousin time!  It was very hot, so we did lots of water and lake activities!

There was sprinkler fun at Grandma's house.  The kids set up the sprinkler so that they could swing on the swing set and get wet at the same time.  They had fun and kept nice and cool.

We also made a few trips down to the lake by my mom's house.  I don't remember swimming there when I was a kid, but it was nice and sandy and shallow and perfect for a little swimming and playing.

Lisa captured this great picture of the whole cousin crew sitting on the dock.  They had so much fun together!

Dan and Krista have a beautiful home on a lake and we were lucky to visit them twice.  We were treated to fun boat rides...

...time to swim and play on the lily pad...

...and a pizza dinner!

The adult table.

And the kid's table.  

We also got to do some fishing at their house.  The fish were biting even in the middle of the day!  Timothy caught a big bass and Teresa caught a blue gill.

We found some old tubes in my mom's shed and enjoyed those on another trip to the lake.

We also had some traditions to maintain such as ice cream at Honey and Makey's.  Timothy loves the licorice ice cream.  Then we stopped at the ropes park on the way home.  Mom and I chatted while the kids played.

These two tried to pack in as much cousin time as they could.  It was hard to say good bye, but we look forward to seeing each other later in the summer.

To top off the fun trip, we made a quick stop at Susie's for a night.  We enjoyed dinner on her deck and catching up with her for a bit.

It was a wonderful wee full of heat, sun, water, and lots of family!!

 

Happy Anniversary!

To celebrate our anniversary, we took a walk downtown.  We started by the riverfront area and then made our way onto the downtown streets.  The first picture is by the river.

Next we walked the main streets and Troy had mapped out where many of the murals were, so we wlaed around to check those out.  One of the more well-known ones is pictured below.

We made our way through the farmer's market and then for a rest in the shade at Washington Square.  It was a very hot morning, but the walk was still lovely.

Later in the evening, we ordered some eastern European food for take out and watched some footage from our wedding videos while having dinner.  We ended the night with a walk around the neighborhood.

Just for fun I tried on my wedding dress!  Still fits pretty well.  

A lovely day to celebrate a lovely marriage!

 

Last day of School!

This year was not quite as crazy as last spring, but it was certainly interesting.  Hybrid, virtual and fully in-person school.  Masks for 98 % of the year and no masks for the last 10 days.  Social distancing, lots of hand sanitizer, no field trips and parents barred from entering the schools.  There was stress and hardships and not all of it was easy, but the kids persisted and we managed as a family and we got to the end!  I am proud of my kids for never giving up, and rarely complaining.  The adapted and they succeeded.  Way to go!

Timothy passed me up this school year.  The top picture is this spring.  The bottom picture is from the fall.

It was a beautiful, hot sunny day for the last day of school.  Some nice shots before they headed off to their last days.  Neither was happy about pictures, but the faked some smiles pretty well!

Finishing elementary meant some extra celebration for Teresa.  The traditional 5th grade run walk through the halls was pushed outside so all the parents could safely attend.  It was a pretty amazing sight to see Teresa's class walk outside and hear all the cheers for the students.

Teresa and some of her 5S posse.  She had an amazing class and group of friends this year.  It was a bit emotional for her to end the year.

Coming home on the last day.

To celebrate the last day, I made some cookie cakes and we had some neighbors over.  It was fun to have people over to our house again.  The kids ate and played.  The adults chatted and Troy and a neighbor played music.  The perfect ending to the year!