Summer Kick Off, Family Visit

We kicked off school being out for the summer by spending the first week in Michigan visiting family.  Before we left, life was full finishing up Lily's softball and Paul's baseball seasons.  Nate gave SO much of his time coaching Lily's softball team for the 2nd year in a row.  It was extra fun to see the season end with a string of wins, obvious improvements on the field, and a close community feel of families and players. Paul simply had a blast all baseball season and it showed with his great attitude on the field.

Paul and Elise were in the same 1st grade class with the same teacher that Lily had.  The plan is to keep them in the same class for 2nd grade per opinion of teacher and my own preference.  We'll see how long we can keep that up.  Overall, Paul and Elise say it was a good year but not great.  Paul was all about playing soccer at recess with his buddies and Elise was all about making friends, losing friends, and then making up with friends day after day groundhog style.

Lily really enjoyed her 4th grade class.  She discovered how much she enjoys history, especially Egypt.  I appreciate that Lily hasn't got caught up in girl drama at school by keeping her distance.  It does make me wonder if I should be pushing her to try a bit more to form bonds with the girls in her class and not spend so much time on her own.  She's a good student and is busy pursuing her interests; I'll just let her do her thing.

Paul and Elise with the crew on the 1st day of 1st grade

Same crew on the last day of 1st grade

Michigan was jam packed with seeing a lot of family and phew, it all worked out smoothly besides bad fall by Elise and our rental car being hit in the hotel parking lot.  Proud Nate enjoyed showing the kids the UofM campus and telling the kids a little about what his college days were like.

 Kids enjoyed spending time with their cousins.  Ann had her last chemo treatment while we were visiting.  I'm glad she and Lyle could enjoy seeing the whole family together and all their grandkids playing together.  There was an impressive wiffle ball game in their backyard.

A big highlight was seeing great grandpa Wally.  Given that his wonderful wife of 75+ years passed away 2 years ago and how apparent it is with how much he misses her, it was great to see how he continues to be the charming and fun conversationalist that we love.

Next stop was Thunder Road at my brother's cottage in Saugatuck, Michigan.  My nephew Ryan graduated high school (next stop, University of Wisconsin) so it was a special treat to just have the family together to help mark the milestone.  It was also Father's Day weekend which means steaks!  I think it could be Lily's 11th Birthday and Dad would say "we must eat steak to celebrate." 

A thrilling game of Left-Right-Center.  Lolo was the proud champion

 Cousin grub time

Oma and Opa with all their grandkids

 Left side is from 2012.  Reenactment 7 years later - 2019