Gone fishin'

The kids had been in a fishing mood. And we have all these poles, so why not? Andy first took them to a cabin area that belongs to some church members. It sits along a pond and is a good spot for fishing. But when they went, the fish weren't biting. We have some friends who live on the lake in town and they said we could go fishing there at any time, so we tried again in that spot at another time.

But first. . . we accidentally locked our keys in the van - with all of our fishing gear in it. After trying to unsuccessfully break into the van, we got a ride back to our house for our spare set of keys. I'm just glad that we were only a mile away from home. That's the first time that we've locked our keys in the car.


The key incident set us back for time a little bit and it was a school night so we couldn't stay out too late. But it proved to be a perfect night for fishing.








Bella was the first to catch a fish!




Graydon caught the next one!


Curtis was getting a lot of bites - but they kept getting away.


But finally, at the very end of the night, he caught one too!




It was all catch and release for us. I love that each of the kids were able to catch a fish.

The first week of school!

Whether we felt ready or not. . . the first day of school arrived on August 8th. We actually got an extra week of summer this year, which was a huge blessing as it gave us the opportunity to squeeze in that trip up to Wisconsin.

Curtis's first day of third grade! Teacher: Mrs. Swegman


Graydon's first day of fourth grade.  Teacher: Mrs. Boilanger.


Bella's first day of seventh grade. Teacher: Several!


Three of my favorite people. I am SO thankful for them and for the amazing summer that we shared.




Bella's school literally rolled out the red carpet for the students.






My hair was still wet and I wasn't planning on getting my picture taken. But the school counselor offered and I won't turn down an opportunity for a photo with my girl, or more appropriately, my young lady.


Usually, I do first-day-of-school interviews after they get home on the first day, but I completely forgot. So, I did them on the second day. Better late than never.






Curtis had an assignment where he had to fill a lunch sack with objects that would help his class get to know him better. An object he chose was one of his many lego creations because he really enjoys to create and build. His one concern was it would fall apart in the bag and he wouldn't know how to put it back together. So, he had me take a photo of his creation from four different angles (I'm only including one of them here) so he could re-create it if needed. That communicated to me just how important these creations are to him and there is something to sweet about that.


I'm not working at the school this year (though I plan to volunteer and hope to do an internship there in the coming semesters). Since I had the time, I finally got my hair cut! These days, I never really intend for my hair to grow so long, I just never get around to getting it cut. I like this shorter style on me right now.


Curtis got invited for an evening swim on that first Friday evening after school started. It looks and sounded like they had a blast.


I've been in a big home cleaning/organization kick since school started back up. One simple way to clean was to clear off the refrigerator. Graydon has shown a real interest in art these past few months and has made so many fun drawings that have been decorating the refrigerator for a while. It made me a little sad to part with them, but you can't save everything, right? Well, I did save a couple. But the rest I took pictures of. He's becoming such a good artist!










Cleaning and organizing the garage was one of the first items on the agenda. It took about two full days to get this place cleaned out. We didn't take any before photos, but here is how it looks now. We've always been able to park both vehicles in the garage, so I guess it was never that bad. But the toys and tools were completely disorganized. The back right near the cupboard and door had sleds and tarps strewn about. There was evidence of mouse activity, which Salty usually takes care of for us, but I'm afraid our cat couldn't see and/or get to any mouse that was in that area. It was pretty gross. That beam on the right is our fireplace mantle. Eventually, we'll get that put up.


We got this tool bench two years ago and it is finally functioning as more than a catch-all. We didn't have the peg board up, nothing was organized, and the work surface was covered in random grilling accessories, markers, bug spray, empty egg cartons, etc. It was a mess and stressed me out every time I looked at it. I would always feel so frustrated when I'd go to the garage in search of a hammer or some other tool and not be able to find it. Andy organized all of this and got rid of duplicates/tools that he wasn't going to use and it looks SO much better!


I have now turned my attention to the inside of the house. I love the feeling of getting rid of things and lightening our load.

Wisconsin Visit

Summer was beginning to wind down for us, but we still had one trip left: our visit in Wisconsin with Andy's side of the family. The evening before we left, Bella had 7th grade orientation since she is switching schools and moving up to junior high. She got a tour of the building and practiced opening her locker. Is it just me, or does this locker make her look older?


The next morning, we drove up to Verona. We relaxed that evening and enjoyed some Papa Murphy's pizza.

Andy's parents have a nice pool area in their apartment complex, so we spent some time there the following day.




After the kids dried off, Gaga had a craft for them to work on.










On Saturday, there were two big family gatherings. The first was a family reunion at a local park and right after that, there was a 60th wedding anniversary celebration for Andy's aunt and uncle.


A big family photo (and there were still a lot of people missing).


There was a table with some old photos. Andy's mom was the flower girl in this wedding. She was eight-years-old at the time. Andy snapped some photos with his cell phone.




If this was a modern-day photo, I would have thought these ladies were taking a selfie. In reality, I think they were trying to catch the bouquet.


The church where the anniversary party was held was the same church where Andy's Boy Scout meetings were held. His name in on a plaque in the church because he completed his Eagle.


On Sunday morning, Andy gave the message at the church he grew up in. During the coffee fellowship time afterwards, we saw that Curtis had snuck away to the pulpit.


After leaving church, we spent the afternoon at the lake.
















Bella ended up accidentally stepping on a wasp and getting stung on the bottom of her foot. Other than that, we all had a fun day!






The boys tried to do some fishing, but nothing was biting that day.


On Monday, I slipped away for a few hours to spend some time with my friend, Jenn. While I was gone, Andy and the kids went back to Papa and Gaga's house for more craft time.


Then they went bowling.


For the first game, Graydon and Curtis both used bumpers.




For the second game, no bumpers for anyone! Graydon and Bella both got their first non-bumper strikes! Curtis struggled a little without the bumpers.


After bowling, they went to visit another of Andy's aunts and uncles.






That was followed up with dinner at Culver's and then back to the Meade's house for one more night.


Tom took these neat photos of the kids!




That following morning, we were up and out to make the trip back to Indiana. We got home in time to unload the van and then load it back up with school supplies because it was the elementary open house at school.

We came home from that and had a frozen pizza and pie. The next morning was the first day of school! Normally, I like to have a special back-to-school dinner for the kids on the night before. But with being away and getting back late in the day, I couldn't pull it off. Here they are eating their pie.






We've had a lot of fantastic adventures this summer; but I am looking forward to being home for longer than five days at a time and to getting back into a routine. :)