Moving Days - Goodbye Family Home

There won't be any pictures of us in this post (we looked that awful).  Moving is never fun, but the weather on July 6th and 7th were... well, hell!  The temps were in the mid to high 90's and the humidity was maxed out.   My Fitbit read nearly 30 miles walked (sans steps when carrying boxes!) from Thursday through Saturday (when we quit just before midnight).   But, we're done.  And, we are thankful that the move is over (nearly - still a few things left in our storage unit).

But, moving on, this post is to also say goodbye to a beautiful home that had been in my family for nearly 100 years (built in 1910 and purchased by my family in 1920).   I'll have many wonderful memories of the home for the rest of my life.

Goodbye beautiful house.  May you be loved just as much in the future as you have been loved by my family.
And, best of luck to Mom... Nana Karen... hope you will love your new home too.  XXOO

A Day with My Boys

After the 4th, I took off a few days of work (to move Mom).  On Thursday, Connor, Ramsey, and I drove up to Mom's  place to grab a load and bring it back.

On the way back, we stopped by the new apartment, then went to lunch (DQ - had to have ice cream!).

Then, later that night, we had to make a trip to Menards (to buy a new FREEZER - ours had taken a dump!!  UGH!!!).   We were lucky enough to snag the racecar cart (I imagine because it was 9:00 at night and most little ones are probably in BED then!).

The boys had a fun time tearing up the store.  :-)

What a day!!!

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Days at the lake (home) this 4th of July.

A New View for Fireworks

We've lived on this lake for 9 years and we've never seen the big fireworks display the association puts on.... until this year.    We figured it'd be a nice display, but weren't sure what to expect.

The skies looked like storms were coming, but the crew continued to set up the display (on the point, just south a few hundred yards from our home).

My best friend's sister lives down the road from us, so part of her family parked their truck a few yards from our house and squatted to watch the festivities.    Ramsey loves them, so he had to go visit... and show off for a bit.

 The boys had set up shop in the back of the pick-up in the ditch across from our house.  

 Shan, Nana Karen, and I got cozy in chairs down below.

The display was remarkable to say the least.  It lasted for about 45 minutes and those minutes were all continuous streams of beautiful streaming colors, booms, and light displays.  

Fireworks and Firecamping

On Sunday afternoon, the boys and I made a special trip to town to buy fireworks (and grab ice cream- ya know, as long as we were in the area!).  That night, we went firecamping, ate S'mores, and lit off rockets and such.

Riggs was interested, but knew he shouldn't get too close.  

Ramsey had fun running through the smoke bomb clouds (which didn't last nearly as long as they should have!  wuh wuhhh).

The boys had a good time throwing and smashing over a dozen boxes of Snaps.

(mostly at each other)

Ramsey found a hand-held brush and told Connor to "open up and say AAAAH".

His oversized toothbrush joke was hilarious (to him)!

The boys also lit off firecrackers, drew their names with sparklers, and chowed down on fireside snacks.

When it got dark, we lit off and watched our kiddie-size and grown-up size fireworks.

Swim Time

It's been HOT here at the lake... nay, I say record-breaking hot?!?!   Eric promised Ramsey he'd take him swimming.    With the lake temps being tepid, the boys suited up!

 Ramsey was leery to go very deep right away (normally he just splashes around in his pool... never the lake) so they just played in the shallows for a while.

 Meanwhile, Connor was adamantly searching for turtles.  He'd seen quite a few, but once Riggs got in the water, they pretty much bolted (Connor was less than thrilled - ha!).

 Ramsey agreed to go deeper when Connor came back around.  Within minutes, Ramsey went from being hesitant to go in past his knees.... to ridiculously brave and wanting to pull away!

 Soon, the little dare devil was practicing water acrobatics with Dad (and Connor went back to try to find turtles).

Towards the end, he was bold enough to start jumping.  At one point, he splashed down and ended up swallowing a mouthful of water (not fun!).  We didn't leave his play time on a bad note; Connor came back over for more play time.

Pickin' Flowers

I've got a couple of sweet boys.  While they were outside playing, they brought me handfuls of flowers to put in a vase.   Awwww!!!!