Prepare yourselves...I'm warning you this is a doozy of a post. I haven't been around lately so I've got lots to share!
Tuesday I took Andre to his semi-annual doc's appointment and on our way we stopped to purchase new kicks. In the midst of a convo, Andrew let me know that this year was gonna be his big one...the best yet. He feels like he'll finally start coming out of his shell and lots of big stuff will happen for him. I'm so excited! We've had conversations before where the content broke my heart and although I share plenty {tmi} I am not totally willing to divulge their private stuff but he was so super cute about it that I needed to share.
Fast forward. For weeks we'd been planning to go to Unity. {last night} The fun stuff starts tonight but the bigs aren't with me this weekend so I was going to take them after Caleb's agility practice. Last night was the free night. Bonus! Caleb has missed out on agility for five weeks and his first day back he pulled a muscle. It wasn't much better Tuesday night so he decided against agility for Wednesday. I knew the church was planning a trip to Unity earlier in the day for the youth so I gave the boys the option of going with them instead. They were all over it.
I picked them up at ten thirty last night and asked what they thought. "It was AWESOME!" That's all I could clearly understand, then there was a bunch of chaos with words. Excitement doesn't even describe it. I got the DL from Caleb then I certainly got it from Andrew. He was nervous about going because his friends weren't going. I assured him he'd have a blast and reminded him of his feeling of this being a great year. Anyway, he apparently had the best night. Eh-Ver! {skipping ahead, where I already know everything} We walked in the door and I heard Andrew say, "Now I finally have a reason for a cell phone." Knowing what that meant, I looked at Keith with a smile and asked, "What's the reason?" Andrew declared, "I got a girlfriend!" Kind of like, "I'd have a corn dog, a coke...oh and I'll also take a girlfriend!" It was adorable!! And his emotions...? he couldn't contain them!
Going back to the car ride home, he told all about the scenario and then made a list of to-dos, including getting on FB and changing his relationship status from single to in a relationship. He's totally not over the moon or anything. The cutest thing is he said she was stumbling to ask him out but he wanted to help her out in front of her friends so he asked her. OUT? I asked him where they were going. Then I kept asking, "Now what?" I laughed all the way home. I never realized how incredibly corny this whole thing sounded as a kid...until my kid let me know! I love it. We had a whole talk on it being called going together when I was younger and how nowadays it means kids say I love you and all that. Okay, it's how it was in the "olden days" {as Andrew calls it} too, but I'm kind of freaking out being on the other side of the coin, ya know?! Totally cute. That boy is girl crazy and he is happy to be the first to have a girlfriend. And I think it's making his older brother a little crazy. Just sayin'. I know I can share all this because Andrew wants the world to know...
Barothy was awesome as usual. Now that my bigs are old enough to join the big boys in golf, I don't see much of them. Typically the guys golf all day Saturday and all day Sunday. Mine only chose to golf nine so they came back early Saturday and we went tubing. We had gorgeous weather. I wanted to take pics but wasn't chancing dropping my camera in the river. Bummer.
*laughing*flying squirrels*tubing*laughing*snacks*extreme games*family*laughing*sunshine*laughing* (The Gerrish family likes to tell the same stories over and over again...and they're funny every time!}
{prior to golfing...sorry, Rob. isn't my oldest a doll in his Viking apparel?}
{Kyle fishing for the fist time...everybody duck!}
{tangled line}
{it's a big one...first fish ever!}
{Keith getting his admitted baby fix...didn't know daddies felt that same way...awww.}
{watching the frisbee. watching the bottle.}
We left Barothy early and headed home to get the camper. All kinds of craziness ensued. Typically we have a fridge and typically we also have my van. We started out with neither at the campground so we picked up a new fridge. Then it started thundering and lightning. And raining. And blowing. We had to move everything inside. Everything. The fridge on the table was awesome. Not. Oh, and nine hours after we plugged in, our old fridge was perfecto! And then we added two more kids {the bigs spent the first night at their dad's} and another full day of thundering and lightning. And rain. And blowing. And we moved everything back inside. Everything. The fridge was back on the table plus all the stuff that was on Caleb's bed the couch had to be moved to the benches. That was tricky. And cozy. And tricky. The debate was another camper with slide outs and more length. The debate was financing another camper with slide outs and more length. We rented movies and hung out in our bed all day. {no space...no awning} By evening, we were almost sold on another camper. Next time I'll just bring my van.
Aside from two days of rain, we had a wonderful vacation. The other days were H.O.T. and we spent our time swimming, riding our bikes downtown and shopping. And eating ice cream. Every day. Weird.
{after rain soaked logs...the next best thing! Keith said he was going after dry wood...didn't know he'd bring a mini tree}
{a definite temperature difference between the inside and the outside}
{we were for sure that Kyle was up to no good hiding with something in the bathroom...}
{even with friends visiting, we cannot get away from the electronics...}
Without fail we end our yearly vacation to come home and find dead grass. A whole yard of it. This year we were totally surprised to see mostly green...but a lot of it. Unfortunately, I did find dead ferns. Remember me feeling bad about being to blame for the demise of baby birds in my care a month or so ago? Lo and behold another momma decided to make her home in another one of my plants. And it became impossible for me to water it because I couldn't get it down to reach it. I was really hoping the babies were born and old enough to fly away {I decided not to check on them like before so they'd remain safe} so I could just throw the darn things away {plants not birds} but nope! I was happy to spy this vision instead of fuzzy birdies...they'll be leaving soon. {sorry about the ugliness...I do NOT have a green thumb. That's the reason for ferns. However, I'd rather not have any more porch guests so I'll be back to flowers next year.}
Still not settled in after being gone a full week, the boys and I set out to enjoy a leisurely ride on the lake with the TenBrinkmans. I'm a total water freak but more concerning my kids and not in general. I think they thought I was just going to randomly freak out and decided to turn the boat around in the channel and head back to calmer waters. I was totally fine going out to Lake Michigan. I've only ever puked once. ☺ I was only going to allow the bigs to tube because Keith wasn't with us. Uncle Jimmy promised to go slow for Kyle so I caved. My idea of slow is possibly a little different than his but everyone survived so it's all good.
{I don't think mine were quite ready for the speed}
{Caleb may have been the sole survivor to not get thrown from the tube...but he was close...many times}
{through the camera lens I could see that maybe Kyle was a little nervous...}
{but he loved it!!!}
{Andrew had a difficult time being sprayed with water...I think he's very used to eye protection and felt vulnerable}
{all that was left of Andrew and Isaac...totally missed the wipe out...was busy watching...story of my life!}
`
We haven't had a single moment to spare since we've been back and it's like we never left. The poor yard is still in the same condition we found it because Keith started four hour a day practices this week. that poor guy gets up at six, leaves at six thirty for work, goes right from work to the field, comes home at nine thirty, eats, showers and goes to bed. I forgot what football season was like at our house. This week I got a rude awakening.
**If you are reading this, DH, I love you and will miss you. Good luck this season, kick major butt and I will see you when the snow flies.♥ {I think we'll have a pretty good team this year}
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