Two Saturdays and a Sunday!

Two Saturdays and a Sunday ... that's how Abby summed up our weekend with having Friday off for the July 4th holiday! Sounded just right to me. Too bad every week isn't the same!

We had a fun weekend at the boat relaxing, but it was pretty soggy most all of Saturday. I don't think I ever remember a July 4th as cool as it was. There was some low cloud cover that made for some interesting fireworks photos ... almost like an upside down sunset, where the bright fireball was flat on the top from a cloud instead of flat on the bottom from the horizon. Drew took some pics on his phone, will have to see if he has any good ones to share.

Yesterday was gorgeous, so we soaked up some sun. Abby went for a few jet ski rides with daddy and loved every minute. Now today it's back to the real world! But it sure was nice to have two Saturdays and a Sunday this weekend!

A busy and HOT week!

Somehow we went straight from a cool and wet spring into full summer blast furnace. It has been mid/upper 90's for a week, and that is more like August weather around here. Looking forward to a cool down!

In the heat, TJ has been out playing baseball. Between his rec league team and a travel team he was asked to sub on due to some of their kids on vacation ... he has played 10 games in about 10 hot days/evenings.

Abby is having a great summer enjoying time at home, friends at daycare, swimming at Tremont pool and going to a tumbling class. The kids are so beat at night with the summertime activities. They need school to start back up so they can get some rest! HA

Drew is headed off to a fraternity leadership retreat this weekend in Hancock, MA at Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort. Looks like a beautiful mountain area and much cooler than IL with daytime highs in the 70's! Got him off to the airport this morning, he's in the air now ... and he returns Sunday night late.

Hard to believe the first month of summer vacation is nearly over!

The Aliens Have Invaded VBS!

Abby is enjoying VBS this week, and tonight to go along with their alien theme they were to find some creative ways to wear aluminum foil for a contest. So she has a foil headband, earrings, necklace, bracelets, ankle bracelet, belt, ring, flip flops, purse and even her dog has a foil jacket! Click the picture to see a full size view and better look at all of the details!

Updated Pics!

We had new pics taken of the kids after Drew came home and before Beverly left, and I think they turned out great! Jenny at Simply Charming Photography in Tremont does wonderful work if you are in this area! Click on the pics for a full size view.

We headed to the airport on Tuesday to get Beverly on her way to China ... but after a couple of schedule changes and delays, it was determined she could not make the connection for her flight to China and would have to overnight by herself in Minneapolis or Detroit. That did not seem like a good option, so we brought her back home and tried it again Wednesday morning. Those flights went off without a hitch and she arrived in China on Thursday night. We were happy to receive a call this morning that she is home safe and sound!

We're looking forward to seeing her again in mid-August when she returns here for a few days prior to starting at her boarding school in the Chicago area! I'm going to put a few other pics from the photo shoot on her blog, HERE

Happy Birthday Beverly!

We helped Beverly celebrate her 16th birthday today! Pictures on her blog,

Ten Months in Tremont

It is hard to believe that she will be attending her last week of school next week, and heading back home to China on June 9!

Welcome Home Drew!

The move from college is over, and Drew is home for the summer!

We had a great trip up, and since most all of the other students left campus after finals were done on Wed ... we pulled right up to the building and found a spot near the door of the dorm building. We were loaded up and headed off to dinner in just over an hour. As we pulled out, I commented that it was just too easy!

As we were leaving, we made a stop at "Sesquicentennial Plaza" on campus to find the memory brick that we had put in place for Drew's great-grandparents.


They were Carthage College students in the late 1920's, and it's amazing that Drew is completing his freshman year on the 80th anniversary of his great-grandfather's graduation from Carthage. Of course at that time it was located in Carthage, IL (it's namesake) and the campus moved to Kenosha, WI in the 1960's ... but there are many reminders of the school's past on campus.

Drew was awarded one of just two Alumni Scholarships given to the class of 2012 for the story of his great grandparents time at Carthage, and so he really wanted to remember them with a brick on the plaza. In this photo, Mitch and Drew are standing just behind the brick.

If you click the photo for a full size view, you can see a little more of the plaza in the background.

Now he's back to home life for awhile. Time to go back to work and make some $$ for next year, and also he'll take a summer class at the local community college. He has to graciously bunk down in a family room location since our bedrooms are all full until after Beverly's departure on June 9. We'll do fine, and we'll shuffle around again in a couple weeks when it's time for her to go. Can't believe how fast this school year has gone!

That looks familiar ...

As I was watching the local news tonight, I spotted our boat in a story about the flooded river and our marina,

http://www.week.com/news/local/45863627.html

Then I found it in this pic on the tv station web site too! The comments at the end are interesting ... boating has always been a family activity for us. That person must need to get a life! ;-)

Flooding on the river ruining our plans? Who's boating this weekend anyway ... we have a kid to move home from college! HA HA Kenosha bound tomorrow! It will be great to have Drew home for awhile.

Beautiful Weekend!

After a wet and rainy week, we had a beautiful weekend!

Went shopping for the spring flowers and got them planted with the help of the girls ...


And the kids played outside and had a great time all weekend.

TJ has been having fun with the "kiddie" baseball bat and smacking the ball "to the wall" with it. Looking forward to his first game, coming up on May 27!

We received three big boxes from the mailman on Saturday, more lovely gifts for us from Beverly's family. So that was exciting to open them up and see what they contained! TJ was especially excited to get a real favorite thing of his, a remote control hovercraft! And mama was happy to see more of the beautiful porcelain statues that I admired in Guangzhou but talked myself out of buying and bringing home!

By this time next week, most all of Drew's belongings will be back in Tremont and he will be on his way home from his freshman year of college. He has finals Monday and Tuesday and we'll go up at some point and bring most things home and leave him with the essentials. He has to remain on campus to sing with Carthage Choir at next Sunday's baccalaureate and commencement. Hard to believe his first year of college is over, and he's already looking forward to summer classes, summer job and a special summer trip to his fraternity's annual conference!

Middle School Band Concert

TJ has been talking for weeks and weeks and weeks about the songs the 5th grade band was working on for the spring concert ... and tonight, we finally got to hear them!

He was so excited to join the band this year as a drummer, and really took well to playing the snare drum. He has had the chance now to move up to the bass drum ... which is taller than he is on stage, ha ha.


You can see him in this picture ... sort of ... standing behind the big red bass drum!

He was proud to carry the beat of "We Will Rock You" and had a great time. It was fun to see him, and great to have another son involved in the great music programs at our school.

Prom Night in Tremont

Beverly is off to her first prom tonight with a group of friends! There are a couple other pics on her blog, just click on the name,

Ten Months in Tremont

And then our Hunan princess decided since we were going out to dinner ... she, too, required a pretty dress, some of mommy's dangly earrings, and her hair in an up-do ...