Emily's cool desk chair. (She wouldn't pose for the picture due to her still being in her pajamas at 5:00 p.m. Ah, the fun of summer!) 

The chair when Isaac needs some privacy. 

Isaac's egg chair. It spins and the top folds down. It's deeper than it looks here - he usually climbs up into it, but wasn't very cooperative for the picture. Oh well. 

Avritt as Darth in his new hanging chair. Notice Isaac sleeping in the bottom bunk on the left. He can sleep through about anything when he's really tired. 

The boys at a going-away party for their friend, Matthew. It was over 90 degrees that day and the kids were outside for about 4 hours. They got wet to stay cool. 

Summer has begun

Summer vacation has now arrived at our house.

The good things:
1. sleeping in until at least 8
2. kids are home
3. no need to shower until right before Mike gets home
4. swimming in our neighbor's pool
5. Isaac has playmates
6. sunshine
7. Emily has been making lunches

The bad things:
1. kids are home all day together and they drive each other crazy sometimes
2. it has been hot here in Michigan lately (we now have air conditioning!)
3. too much free time if we don't structure our day
4. kids don't get to see their friends as much
5. the house is rarely quiet anymore

We are enjoying our air conditioning because it has gotten hot here in Michigan. We had a good Father's Day with Mike. He received a Star Wars music CD from the kids and wireless headphones from me so he can watch TV in bed and not have to string a cord across the room. Mike requested Grilled Salmon with Ravigote Sauce (freshly chopped tomatoes, onions, green onions, parsley, oil, and lemon juice) over couscous.

We took a trip last week to visit our friends who recently moved and then drove to visit my sister and go to IKEA for some bamboo blinds for the house. The kids also got to pick out one thing each. The pictures show the fun things they got. We apparently had a chair theme. Avritt is Darth in the hanging chair. The kids have discovered that if you wind it up by spinning it in one direction and then let go, it spins really fast (amazingly fast, actually) and is a fun ride. Isaac likes his egg chair because he can pull down the cover and disappear. Emily chose a desk chair for her room.

Emily was not excited about me taking her picture. This was an inning before the collision with the softball. 

Mike coaching. 

Ginger's Dad is Home and other news about the kids

Ginger returned home from Iowa City on Sunday night. She was glad to be with her parents during her dad's surgery, but it was good to come home.

Ginger's dad is home from the hospital tonight. He is doing quite well considering he had brain surgery last six days ago and a mild stroke 5 days ago. He will need to continue to work on his balance and coordination and speech, but his doctors are confident that he will regain what minor setbacks he experienced.

As far as the kids go, Emily had her last softball game tonight. Emily was sliding into home plate and got bopped with the ball and now has a black and blue nose. Her team had a good season, and Mike enjoyed coaching her team this year.

Avritt has his last game tomorrow. Hopefully it won't be as hot as today. It was 88 degrees at 9:00 p.m. It was suffocating weather for a game.

Isaac and Ginger went outside this afternoon for a water gun fight. It was refreshing and a lot of fun. Ginger used a squirt bottle (which actually worked better than the water gun) and had a blast chasing Isaac around the yard. They used play shields to try to block the attacks. Our house had air conditioning, but Mike still needs to run a circuit before we can use it. The house was 85 degrees inside today.

More News

Jay is out of Intensive Care today. He is doing well considering all he has been through. He has been struggling with nausea today, but managed to sit up twice. His balance will take some time to come back. His brain has to relearn to orient itself and balance after the surgery. We're hoping that tomorrow he will be able to stand up. Please pray that Jay will have a positive attitude, be patient, and take his recovery one day at a time.

Ginger's Dad is Doing Great After Surgery!

Great news from Iowa - Ginger's dad is doing well after about 8 hours of surgery today to remove a tumor from behind his right ear. The doctor reported that the tumor was not entwined with the nerve that controls facial muscles, and so that will not be a concern for recovery. They do not expect him to have problems with balance, either. They were very pleased with the surgery. The tumor turned out to be 3 cm wide at the largest place. This type of tumor tends to stick to tissue, and although it didn't stick to the facial muscle nerve, it was pretty sticky on the brain stem. They took as much as they could get and cauterized what was still there. They are not expected the tumor to grow again, but will keep a watch. Jay has been moved to intensive care and will most likely be moved to a room tomorrow. Please pray that his blood pressure will come down. It has been high since this morning. God has answered many prayers over the last week, including providing a room for Ginger's mom in the hospital. Ginger's sisters and other friends will be travelling over the next couple of days. She will be coming home on Saturday. Mike is home holding down the fort and doing a great job!

and the new still-to-be-built-deck. You can see the framing for it. 

The old tiny deck and annoying chain link fence... 

And now the new. 

A straight on of the old front. 

What a change! 

From the other side of the house. 

Here is the after shot, which is from a different angle. The chimney is a reference point. 

Here are a series of before and after pictures of the house. This is the first before picture. 

Memorial Day Weekend

Yesterday it was a beautiful day here. Mike started by catching up on mowing and weed-wacking. Then we started on moving the extra sand around in our yard so that we can bring in topsoil and plant grass and start working on landscaping. Hauling sand is hard, tiring work, especially the wet stuff. Our neighbors rented a "Dingo," which is a walk-behind small loader that runs on tracks. We were impressed with the work he got done in his yard, and so we are considering renting that to help dig up the area inside our half-circle driveway. It is full of rocks which makes it very hard to excavate by hand.

We recently purchased a tag-along bike with money made from our garage sale profits. It is a bar that connects to an adult bike that has one wheel, a seat, handlebars, and petals. Isacc sits on it and can pedal to help or just rest if he wants. To him it's still a novelty to help petal, and he has discovered that we go faster when he does. We had a lot of fun riding around on Friday. We packed a picnic lunch and headed up to a little spot at the school at the top of the hill by our house. Then we walked along a trail in the woods used for snowshoing in the winter. Adjacent to the woods there is a large field that is part of an old family farm (one of the few not developed yet around this area) that is a nice place to go for a walk. It almost feels like the prairies in Iowa or Nebraska with waving grass and rolling, gentle hills. We will use the tag-along bike a lot this summer on a paved trail called the White Pine Trail. We drive to the trail and get on in Belmont and then ride 4 miles up to Rockford where there is a park to play in, a dam to watch complete with fisherman (usually) and an ice cream shop along the trail. Isaac and I will be able to keep up with Avritt and Emily who don't like to dawdle along, but ride fairly fast.

Tomorrow we will head over to some friends for a pork loin themed lunch. We'll probably try to get more done on the sand excavation or if it's raining, we'll work on a master plan for our yard. We need to figure out where to put play areas, paths, flowers, etc. This next week Ginger heads to Iowa on Wednesday to be with her parents for her dad's surgery on Thursday. It will be a hard week because Ginger's close friend, Aimee, will be moving on Friday, and Ginger will need to say goodbye to them before she leaves for Iowa. Avritt will be saying goodbye to Matthew, his best friend from preschool, and Isaac will be saying goodbye to Samantha. They have been the kids' closest friends for almost three years.

The kids have only 9 days of school left. They have all had a very good year. We just found out last week that Isaac is accepted into the Young Fives class for next fall! Emily will be in 7th grade next year and will be in a new school right up the street from our house. She and a friend who lives across the street are in the same grade and will walk together. Avritt is heading into 2nd grade and growing taller every day. He lost a little weight this last week due to a 3 day bout with the flu. Thankfully no one else was affected. We have a couple of nasty clean-up stories, but we're back to normal.

It feels good to be working on the house again after a break for awhile. It will take a long time to "finish," whatever that means. I have a feeling there will always we things to do. Getting grass back into the yard will be a big step towards normal. So if you're wondering when the house remodel will be done, we don't have an answer. Perhaps a better question would be "What are you working on right now?" We will probably have an answer to that question for a long time...