Out Boating

Sunday, July 28, 2019 - Grovertown, IN

This morning on our morning walk with Gracie, Avander and Ami stopped at the playground.

We finally were getting ready to head to Tony and Miranda's when Mike called to tell me he is on the way back from Oshkosh and will be ready to meet us at the Pilot in Burns Harbor in about 30 minutes...  Well I am more than 30 minutes away, so Tony and Miranda had to pick him up.  :)

After we all arrived at Tony and Miranda's, we went out on the boat and parked near the beach.  We all swam and played on the beach.

When we pulled the boat out of the water, we double checked to make sure Gracie was with us!  :)

It was another wonderful day!

Broken Wine Glass

Friday, July 26, 2019 - Grovertown, IN

A couple of days ago Mike and I were talking about that we needed to go back to Tabor Hill and get a couple more of the black wine glasses.  They are the stemless kind and they don't break as easily...  Well I guess we should not have said that, while I was washing dishes one of them slipped out of my hand and hit the floor.

Then while I was picking up the pieces I cut my thumb!

And Mike wasn't even around to kiss it to make it feel better.  LOL  He is at the Oshkosh Air Show in Oshkosh, WI.

It was another wonderful day!

Boating

Saturday, July 27, 2019 - Grovertown, IN

I was up early this morning and met Kim over at 6 and old 31 to pick up Avander and Ami.  Last week they spent the week with Mike J's parents and this week Mike and I will have them.  Once I picked them up we headed for Tony and Miranda's.  Next week we are taking the boat up to Cheboygan with us and I asked Tony if he would hitch the boat up so I could get a little driving time in before we leave.  When I got there we decided we would all head for the lake and do a little boating.  As we were putting the boat in the water we discovered the battery was dead and we did not have any jumper cables, so we pulled it back out and headed back to Tony's to get some jumper cables and one of the batteries out of his truck.  The second attempt was a successful launch!  :)

 After some swimming Avander and Ami decided to build a fort out of the towels and the steering wheel.

It was a fun day and it was starting to get late, so we headed back in.  We got the boat pulled out, tied down and everyone was ready to go.  As we were driving back to Tony's, Miranda asked "Where's Gracie!"...Tony says "Oh no! I left her tied up to the pole back at the launching ramp!".  So as quickly as I could I turned around and headed back to the launching ramp, the whole way back I was just praying she would still be there...  When we arrived at the ramp I could see her laying very attentive on the ramp.  Once she realized it was us she was very, very happy to see us and we were very, very happy to see her.  Once she was safely inside the car I think she was a little mad at me, she did not want to sit in my lap.  :)

At least today, I did get a lot of time to practice towing the boat and trailer around.  

It was another wonderful day!

Camp Sancta Maria

Sunday, July 21, 2019 - Grovertown, IN

This morning we were up early to take Alex to Camp Sancta Maria in Gaylord, MI.  He will be there for 2 weeks.  Once we got to Gaylord, we fed Alex lunchat Culver's before taking him to camp.  When we got there he was so excited that he just bounced up and down.  The guy at registration asked him if he was excited and Alex nodded quickly and kept jumping. :)  Once we arrived at his cabin, St. John Bosco, he picked out a top bunk in the corner.

He met his bunk mate Brody, whose father is in the Coast Guard.  So at least they have a little in common.  :)

Then I got of picture of him and Papa out front his cabin.

Then I got a picture of him and his counselors.

As he was putting his stuff away we noticed the other boys all brought snacks and drinks, so after we said our "Good-byes" we ran by Meijer's to pick up some snacks for Alex.  I think we went a little overboard, because we spent about $100.  :)  Jess packed all of the snacks in a small gym bag and dropped it off at the registration building.

It was another wonderful day!

Double Rainbow

Saturday, July 20, 2019 - Grovertown, IN

While we were driving home with Tony and Miranda on Plymouth-Goshen Trail, we saw this beautiful double rainbow.

It was another wonderful day!

Art in the Park

Thursday, July 18, 2019 - Grovertown, IN

This evening Diane invited us to join her for Arts in the Park in LaPorte.  Tonight was the band  Emerging Sound. Emerging Sound is a summer songwriting camp for Christian teens.  The music and energy were great!

It was another wonderful day!

100th Anniversary

Saturday, July 13, 2019 - Grovertown, IN

April 19, 2019, was the 100th Anniversary of Standard Motor Products.  They are having celebrations at every area they have operations and tonight is the celebration for the Mishawaka plant.  They held it at the Armory Kitchen in South Bend.  This is the old National Guard Armory building that has been fixed up as an event center and they did a great job fixing it up.  

The video they did was a great history of the organization.  I truly enjoyed it.  When SMP first started manufacturing they shipped the ignition parts in bulk and the parts were stored by installers in glass jars.  Each employee that came was given a commemorative glass jar with mints in it.  :)

I did get pictures of Gerry and Rob up giving their speeches.  Eric and Larry Sills (CEO and COB) were also there and gave speeches.

They are very proud, as they should be, of the tenure of most of their employees.  They had everyone with 10 or more years stand up for a picture.

At first Mike was not going to get up there since he did not have 10 consecutive years, but soon a couple of people convinced him to get up there.  :)

Mike did spend a lot of time catching up with a lot of people he hadn't seen in a long time.  A great time was had by all.

It was another wonderful day!

Rig Back

Friday, July 12, 2019 - Grovertown, IN

Today we picked up rig.  It was completed on time this time. :)  We are really happy to be back in our home.

It was another wonderful day!

Scooter Ride

Friday, July 5, 2019 - Norfolk, VA

Today we decided to go for a long ride on the Lime Scooters. Avander did not really want to ride since yesterday he hit his lip on the handle and ended up with a fat lip.  In fact he said he would just run along.  :)  He did end up riding, but he was worried all the same.  We rode all the way to downtown Norfolk.  We ate lunch at Chick-Fil-A in downtown Norfolk.  After lunch we rode down to the Waterside District and had some ice cream.

We had to exchange out our scooters several times during the day as we ran the batteries down.  We ended up putting on 15 to 20 miles on the scooters.  It was a lot of fun.

It was another wonderful day!

Beach Day

Thursday, July 4, 2019 - Norfolk, VA

Today we headed back to the beach.  It was a beautiful day to be at the beach.

It was another wonderful day!

Riding Lime Bikes

Wednesday, July 3, 2019 - Norfolk, VA

Tony and Miranda arrived last night and today we went to the beach.  Once I was done working I joined everyone.  We decided we would rent Electric Lime Scooters and run over to Dairy Queen.

Well on the way back to the beach I found out that Lime Scooters don't jump curbs very well.

You can't tell from the picture, but I scraped up both hands and my knee.  I was crossing the street at a cross walk and moved over a little because Mike J was headed the opposite direction and I caught just a little bit of the curb.  Of course there was traffic stopped waiting for us to clear the cross walk and they all got to see me go down.

It was another wonderful day!

New Bikes

Tuesday, July 2, 2019 - Norfolk, VA

All of the grandkids have out grown their bikes, so Grandma and Papa decided to buy each of them one.  We had a lot of fun helping them pick them out.

Of course we had to buy a some accessories for each of them.  Each of them got a horn or bell, Alex got a helmet and Ami got a basket.  As soon as they got home they were out riding around. 

It was another wonderful day!

Arlington National Cemetery

Monday, July 1, 2019 - Norfolk, VA

This morning we decided to ride bicycles over to Arlington Cemetery.

Unfortunately the closest spot to Arlington to return the bicycles was not that close.  :)  We did stop and have lunch at a little deli first.  On the way back to the bicycle rack Mike pushed himself up a hill to hard and he had to stop.  I was worried I was going to lose him right then and there.  He recovered fairly quickly and we finally made it to Arlington Cemetery.  The entrance we went in was on the opposite side of the cemetery from where we wanted to be.  And Arlington Cemetery is a very big cemetery, 624 acres. 

We finally made it to Matthew Commons grave site.  Matt was one of my relatives and he was killed in Afghanistan on March 4, 2002.  I feel honored to be able to stop by his grave site.

We continued to walk up to the tomb of the unknown soldier.  While we were walking I noticed this deer grazing.

We finally made it to the tomb of the unknown soldier.  We were there for the changing of the guard, which was very interesting to watch.

Here is a picture of the Arlington House.

Then we took pictures of us at the sign.

It was getting to be time for Mike and I to head to the train station.  We were taking the train to Norfolk and Tony and Miranda were going to spend 1 more day in D.C.  We said our "Good-Byes" and headed out.

It was a very nice ride.  We arrived around 8:30pm and Jess and the kids picked us up at the station.

It was another wonderful day!