Tag Archives: Ohio

And just like that

We’re in the last week of November!!
This little guy turned seven months today –

 

 

 

 

 

 

and this beauty starts her


second third  decade tomorrow –

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is also some big holiday happening towards the end of the week, but you probably already knew that!

Last week we decided to make a ‘quick’ trip to Columbus (OH) for some sweet family time over the Thanksgiving weekend. We’ve tracked down our hats and gloves and heavy(ish) coats, packed up some of Christmas items we had ready, and will be heading north pre-dawn tomorrow.  The computer is not coming, so once again – it will be quiet here. Maybe I’ll do better in December!

Happy Thanksgiving, my friends! May the peace of our Lord fill your hearts as we all reflect on the blessings we have been given!

Steph

 

 

Home again, Home again

Jiggity Jig.

We’ve had two days to recover from our Kid Care weekend – and now tomorrow we pack up and head out to our next destination! But before I head full-steam into ‘getting ready to move the house’ mode, I thought I’d better do a quick wrap up of that whirlwind weekend!
Let’s be honest. When you’re called on to be the Parental Unit for six kids for five days, there may just be a bit of fear and trembling involved. But we were so happy to be asked and also close enough (six hours by truck)that we could help out, that we put those qualms aside and set out to have a grand time!
Untitled
And we did!
We arrived Thursday night and Mom and Dad were off on their (long overdue) getaway by noon on Friday. Now, before you say – WOW – six kids and two Senior Citizens, let’s review the ages of these beautiful children. 20 – 18 – 15 – 12 – 9 – 3. So as I said in my last post, we were mostly there for an extra set of wheels, and an extra set of eyes on that three year old!
Untitled
We pulled out a fun 1000 piece puzzle to work on,
Untitled
fed them pancakes for dinner with ice cream for dessert,
Untitled
and did our best to limit the time the boys (12 & 9) spent with their current first love (video games). But it was pretty cute when the three youngest were working on an online puzzle together.
Untitled
The highlight of our long weekend, though, was a fun-filled day at Zoombezi Bay waterpark!
Untitled
Lara and Herbert joined us with their daughter Alex (and a friend) and the 12 of us had a great day of splashing in the sun!
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
We got there when it opened, and stayed until almost closing. And a wonderful time was had by all!
Untitled
Mom and Dad returned on Tuesday night to great celebration and Grams and Pops headed back to the rig before dawn on Wednesday!
Untitled

We kept everyone alive and fed, and didn’t lose anyone in the process! We’re happy to be home – but we’re also happy to have been able to spend time with these precious kiddos!

The Rest of the Gang

Although this weekend was primarily all about celebrating Hayley’s HS graduation, there were of course other folks milling around the house in Marysville! All three of the older girls (including Hayley) were busy working jobs or finishing up other school activities. The boys were, well – 9 and 12-year-old boys. More interested in those video games or playing outside with friends than hanging out with ol’ Grams and Pops (who don’t understand what all those buttons on the controllers do).  We get that – we really do! We did get to one of Reis’s games
Untitled
which was fun (and he had a couple of good plays and hits), but otherwise we were content to have them join us for an occasional card game.
But this little girl
Untitled
was unencumbered with end-of-school activities or jobs or even electronics. We painted rocks
Untitled
and jumped on the trampoline (ok, that was not a “we” – just a “she”!)

Untitled
Untitled
(I’d like to clarify here that our little Everly chose her outfit this day. I think she was going with an all floral theme, accented with (of course) mismatched socks. Mom was quite surprised at her wardrobe choices, but hey – you’re only (almost) three once!)
but most of all she was always ready to give me a snuggle!
Untitled

Our time there was short, and this is a very busy family! But we were able to enjoy some great family dinners and some late-night card games and good conversations! Sunday after church and a special lunch with The Graduate (before she was off to another party), we were able to squeeze in a quick visit with our other Columbus family – Lara, Herbert, and Alex. Though short, it was still a sweet visit! Before everyone went off to work and one of the last days of school (and we set off for points East and North), we managed to get one picture of Alex – who has just completed 2nd grade!
Untitled
These years are going much.too.fast!

We’re looking forward to a slightly longer visit in mid-July, so it won’t be that long before we see these guys again. And maybe on that visit I can figure out those buttons on the video game controllers!
Or maybe not!

Family – busy or not – we sure do love ’em!

Missed Four Days

So much for “Every Day in May”. 
But the reality is that 3 of those days (counting today) involved this –
Untitled
or this
Untitled

and the other two days involved ball games and card games and graduation and trampolines and … well, you get my drift! They were busy days filled with all of the very best things = grandchildren! (OK – it was quite lovely to see their parents too!)

Two days to get to Columbus. Two days in Columbus. Two days back to the Cabin.
Hopefully, it won’t take two days to get caught up with life (and this little blog!). I really do appreciate your patience!
Till tomorrow –
Steph

Sometimes

Sometimes when I’m at the cabin (as mentioned in the previous (long ago) post) I have a true spurt of blogging. And sometimes when I’m at the cabin I don’t open my computer for anything other than stuff that requires my immediate attention (are any checks going to bounce?, the SOWER newsletter, Cabin business itself). Obviously, the latter was true for those past two weeks. So while I’m hopeful that I’ll backtrack to some Cabin adventures in the days to come, right now I think I’ll just stick with the here and now.
After a long drive from the Cabin to where our RV was parked (Bradford, VT to Bradford, PA), we were finally reunited with our girl after a good solid three weeks.
Untitled
The plants had not died, no small rodents (or large ones for that matter) had taken up residence, and all in all, it just felt good to be home. We brought in the perishables and what we needed for that night, and pretty much fell into our own bed. Ah…..
But the traveling was not over! The next morning, after doing a bit more unloading (so much stuff, so little room….), we started our ol’ girl up (it was a little rough, but she finally started purring), and we took to the road once again. This time we were heading for our family in Columbus.

Monday night was dinner with our daughter and family (my only picture is of Alexandra – too busy catching up to snap more! And no, she’s not actually poking out her mother’s eye!).
Untitled
Tuesday we moved up to Marysville for a visit with our son, Toby, and his family. And we were swept right into their busy life!
Untitled
When you put together two high school daughters (each with jobs and babysitting careers but only one with a license), two boys who play “Fall Ball” but in different age leagues, band, life groups, dance troupes, school and a two-year-old, your color-coded calendar is bound to look like this –
Untitled
And just to make the week a little busier, the in-laws show up, park their house in front of your house, and then Toby and Gary take off at zero dark thirty on Wednesday for a four-day men’s retreat in upper Michigan.
Untitled
Yes, friends – for the first time that I can recall, I’m the one ‘home alone’ and Gary is the one off having an adventure! It’s a new experience, to be sure. Thankfully it’s a quick walk across the lawn to hang out with some pretty great grandkids and a super sweet (and very organized) DIL! No guarantee I’ll get pictures of all those kiddos, but the one I’m spending the most time with is doing a great job of melting my heart!
Untitled
Untitled
I’m pretty sure we’re both where we’re supposed to be. 😊

The kids are all home from school – I better get in there before they start dispersing again!
Thanks for stopping by!
Steph