More Swimming!

Jon & his cousin Luke goofing off in the pool!

Berries of Blue!

Our family loves blueberries! We spent an hour on Saturday picking at a local blueberry patch. Within one hour we had picked 17 pounds! Many hands make light work!

July 13-15 Road Trip

What do you get when you mix 3 families, 10 kids, 6 adults and Six Flags Great America? A road trip full of a whole lot of FUN & laughter! We had a big time blast with our friends the Yoder's and the Scott's this last week when we headed up to Great America.

We stayed two nights in Union Grove, WI. We visited and stayed at Shepherd's Ministries where our special friend, Donnie, lives. He gave us a personal tour on our last day of the Christian facility which houses over 180 residents that are mentally handicapped. He is here in the picture with our group in the orange shirt.

While in Wisconsin we had a pizza picnic near the beach, visited Lora's Mom, celebrated Owen's 7th birthday, and watched a hot air balloon go up!

We spent a full day at Great America. The kids and adults had a great time riding the rides and laughing! We did roller coasters, kiddie rides and water rides. Our family took a little time to have an old fashioned Civil War Era picture done! We finished off the night with a parade! Thanks friends, it was so much fun!

Saturday, July 11

We love the beach! One of our favorite places to go as a family is Silver Beach in St. Joe, Michigan. We spent our afternoon there basking in the sun, wading in the water and of course, the must, digging a big hole in the sand! Summer weather finally made it....it least for the day, today.

Stick straight no more

Yes, my long locks are now curly. Yikes, what a change from stick straight hair. I am liking the fact that it actually stays where you put it and thickened my very fine, thin hair. I did find that on humid days I kind of resemble Tina Turner.

The Zoo~July 10, 2009

We went to the Potawatomi Zoo in South Bend on Friday with Meme & Poppy. Unfortunately the zoo is under alot of construction, so many of the animals are not on display. Hope & Jon still had a great time! They both love animals. Here are a few of the animals that we did see. There is a new exhibit, a rare albino alligator that was available to see. Pretty cool to see an all white gator indoors where it won't get a sunburn! We are hoping to visit different zoos this summer.

Jon's faces

He loves to be photographed!

Swimming!!! July 6

Our two little fish went swimming on Monday. They enjoyed an hour of swimming with Daddy. Hope learned how to dive off the diving board and Jon is working on his underwater swimming. I enjoyed laying in the sun and nearly falling asleep. Summer is sweet!

4th of July Weekend

Wow, what a busy weekend! Friday night we got together with our C.OW. (Cloud of Witnesses) for a great time of food and fellowship, sharing prayer requests.

Saturday we were at our friends, the Lehman's home on Simonton Lake. The kids tubed, a few adults skiied, everyone took a boat ride, ate and had a ball playing games and laughing. We were also celebrating Lora's birthday!

And Sunday was a cookout at the Creekmore's and then off to the golf course for fireworks! We are still recovering from our weekend of late nights! What a fun time to celebrate our Country's independence with friends whom we consider family!

June 29~ Greg turned 40 years old!

My fabulous hubby celebrated his 40 birthday on Monday! Happy Birthday my love! We had a little cake and ice cream party with our closest friends. Of course we had tons of laughter too! In my book he looks so stinkin' young so 40 is just a number. I am so blessed to call this great man my husband & best friend! I love you sweetie!

The Oscar Meyer Wienermobile comes to Goshen!

This is it folks! How many times in a lifetime do you have the opportunity to get up close and see, let alone get into the Wienermobile! It was at a local grocery store and we just had to go and see. They usually don't let you inside of the renowned mobile but we just happen to be there while the camera crew from our local newspaper popped in. They graciously asked us if we wanted a peek inside to which we accepted. Thanks Oscar Meyer!

June 26, 2009

Last Friday night was a great ending to a fantastic baseball season for Jon and his team. They won the tourney and the Championship game. They were presented with trophies. Richmond's Feed has 3 wonderful coaches that really make a tremendous impact on their players. (Of course, we are partial because they are our cousins and share they same last name!) It was a super baseball year for them! We are so proud of you, Jon!! Great job!

Summer = fishing & swimming

This is a nice bluegill Miss Hope caught in Michigan at my Aunt & Uncle's house. She loves to fish with her Poppy. The kids love also playing in the pond and building sandcastles. Relaxing is what we like to do in the summertime!

Freedom at last! June 16

Hope freed her two toads into a more natural habitat. In our sub-division is a pond with more room and more toads & frogs to mingle with. Life in a window well is just not very exciting nor very natural. Our two lonely toads were released and are giving a sigh of relief. I think we hear them at night saying.... "thank you Hope! We love it here."