We've been in orbit since... June and July

We continue to do very little except house things this summer.  😝  My kids will probably look back and talk about the summer they didn't do anything. 

The library has all kinds of fun programs this summer, but the only one we've been to is when my friend taught a dance class one afternoon and I took Miri and Cadence.  They had fun.  

Rustin brought a trailer over and he and Bob loaded up half the yard.  Perrin helped and had opinions of where everything should be loaded.  

We're really leaning into the 'old farm' aesthetic with our piles of stuff sitting around. 

We went to the farm for fathers day/ birthdays.  

So many kids, so little cow tank.   

Perrin wanted to check out Grandpa's new truck.

I stained the mantel.  

Cabinets! And a laundry shoot!  Eeeeeeeeeeee.... 😁

And a built in ironing board!

We're just going to ignore the fact that I probably measured wrong and it will hit the dryer.  Bob can say 'I told you so' and we can modify it at our leisure.  I don't iron anyway.  

Floors got sanded!  

The floor guy said it was 'refreshing' to stain something other than gray.  😏  

The timing for floor finishing turned out well- we were headed to Wyss vacation so it wasn't a big deal to be kicked out of the house. 

We barely made it in time for supper, and didn't miss the picture woot woot!  

40 years.  

It's mind boggling really.  Grandpa started vacation so his spread out grandkids could spend time together and actually know each other.  40 years later we still really like each other and are bringing our kids who are sooo excited to hang out with their second cousins. Not only do his grandkids know each other, his great-grandkids know each other.  He would also tell people he was spending our inheritance to pay for vacation... but really these people and these relationships are the greater inheritance I think.  

We also revert to childhood on vacation... these full grown adults were shooting bottle rockets at each other. 🙄 At least they were responsible enough to put on eye protection?  😂

Swimming!

Friday night breakfast assembly line.  :)  It's not quite a Lyd & Pearl breakfast, but it's pretty good.  

Evening fireworks show, complete with aforementioned grown adults leaping over fireworks.  😆 It's a good thing we travel with an ER doc and several nurses.

More pool time.

Yes, that is Miri poking her face out of an upside down hammock.

It's not vacation without some Mario Kart.  

We got to stay at Austin's old house that they are turning into an Airbnb.

Bronwyn learned how to use a dagger.  Ha.

Kate and Cadence both had birthdays over the weekend so of course there was cake! 

The kids spent hours out on the boat tubing.  

Loren just got a pretty snazzy new pontoon boat.  And Austin let Cadence drive it.  😬 She thought it was the best thing ever.  

It was time to go home far too soon, though I'm sure Rita will be glad to get her kitchen back.  We took a detour through West Lafayette to eat lunch at Triple XXX family restaurant.  They serve Bob's favorite root beer ever, and the burgers were really good too.  

Somebody was excited for ketchup and french fries.  

We got to drive through part of Purdue's campus and we waved in the general direction of some friends and family who live nearby.  :)  We got back home in plenty of time for supper and since it was Cadence's actual birthday, cake!  She wanted clouds and lots of mini animals on top.  

She's 10, so she picked out a doll house!  I don't know when I will have time to build it though, poor kid.  

A whole decade! It's not possible...

I got to peek at the floors the morning we got back.

It was very hard not to squeal.  😄

Meanwhile back in town, the kids washed the rugs and were using the porch as a slip and slide.  Then they wondered why they had weird bruises.  

Aaaahhhh

eeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkk!

I saw a cute idea for patriotic t-shirts online so we tried it.  Ours did not turn out as well as the originals, but they were fun and cute for the 4th.  

We went to Ron and Kary's for fireworks.

Perrin was a little stinker and threw one of their toys into the lake. gjldjfsld  Uncle Matt came to the rescue and fished it out with Uncle Ron's extendable pole saw.  😣

They used up all the glow sticks waiting for fireworks to start.   

The first fireworks they shot off created so much smoke we had a hard time seeing the rest of the fireworks.  It did slowly start to clear, but I was a little disappointed. You don't die that easy though.  We stayed for root beer floats and got home pretty late for Saturday night baths.  

It was very exciting to get to walk on the new floors!  

Don't mind me drooling over the push button light switch and brass plate....  (I limited myself to just a few, they are a lot more expensive than regular switches.)

The girls convinced Perrin to swim out to the floating dock at lake day.  

Cecily has spent her entire summer reading, which isn't all bad, but we have to remind her to go get some fresh air now and then.  😜

Newel post!.... I keep thinking I'm making headway in the staining and then Conrad brings me more things.

There's some kind of radish mixed into the pasture grass we had planted previously that is popping up in the yard.  The kids pulled up some of it and then got bored.

But then Grandpa and Grandma showed up with treasures!  

They brought my china cabinet and the tornado bed!  There was great rejoicing! (from me AND dad, because now he has that space back in his shed! hehe.)

And some shenanigans.  It smelled a little bit like machine shed for a couple days, but I washed it down and haven't noticed any strong odors lately.  😏

We still don't know for sure when we'll be able to move in.  Eventually. 
Blessings.