This year's road trip started with short drive to Canton, MI. On Friday, July 1, our Godson, Leo Benjamin (Rosie and Lilly's baby brother) was being baptized. Of course we couldn't miss that! It was a nice, intimate ceremony followed by ice cream and visiting at Leo's grandparents' home. Leo and Stevie are just a few weeks apart in age. It was already fun to see them interacting and "talking" to each other. We think they will turn out to be pretty good buds!
PS - Thanks to Tabbatha Plomaritas for the great pictures!
As an aside, at the after-baptism party, Marie tripped while running in the yard, landing squarely on the sidewalk on both knees. There was quite a bit of blood and crying, but we eventually did recover from the first really good knee scraping of the summer. This provides the explanation for the band-aide theme you might notice in some of the subsequent pictures.
After the baptism, it was time to hit the road. We had never attempted the driving at night approach with our kids. We were a little leery about it, but we just needed to do it this time. On Saturday, July 2, Jon's cousin was getting married in Mishawaka, IN. Marie and Joey did fine...but didn't sleep. Stevie, who was (and is) still not a big fan of riding in the car, cried a good part of the way. But, alas, we did make it to the hotel and finally got everyone settled in for some restful sleep.
The next couple of days were packed full of wedding activities, playing with the Shibata's (the event was also attended by Grandma and Grandpa Shibata, Uncle James, Aunt Jaclyn, JJ, and Gracie, and Aunt Jess), catching up with family that we hadn't seen in a year or more, swimming, eating, outdoor games, celebrating Gracie's 2nd birthday, and the like. The weather was hot and humid. (Though that is reportedly not the reason the groom was in a kilt!) The pool was refreshing and thoroughly enjoyed. Joey did get a couple of wasp stings, but after a bit of ice, he was as good as new. Even though we don't get to see Jon's aunts, uncles, and cousins all that often, we always feel right at home and cherish the time with them. We are so grateful to have such wonderful extended family.
Gracie, the newest 2-year-old!
Needless to say, all the time outside in the sun and all the tremendous fun that we had really wore us out. Back at the hotel, Marie and Joey slept together in the pull-out couch. When they are teenagers and can't seem to get along, we look forward to pulling out this shot!
After a couple of full days, we got back on the road. We drove down to Grandma and Grandpa Meinhart's house on Monday, July 4th. This time the drive was during the day and went much more smoothly. By this time, we were beginning to figure out how to keep Stevie and happy as possible. Instead of Jon doing the driving (he almost exclusively did the driving up until that point), I drove and Jon sat right next to Stevie. Hey...whatever works.
Down in Illinois, there was lots of stuff to do and see. Marie and Joey got a kick out of the new kittens that Grandma and Grandpa had. The kids were kind of scared of them at first. (Scared of kittens...I know!) But, after a couple of days, they realized they were completely harmless and got up the nerve to pet them and pick them up. Marie and Joey still talk about them now!
We were kept busy checking the garden, looking for Purple Martins, fishing, watering flowers, driving the tractor, and lots of other fun stuff as well. Time always flies when we're down there!
Another one of our Illinois activities was taking the kids to the farm, where Grandpa Meinhart grew up and were his two brothers (and nephews) still farm. Marie and Joey were pretty nervous about the cows in the milking parlor and wouldn't even think about letting us put them down. They were also afraid of the dogs, calves, pigs, and steers. At least they're consistent! We were a little surprised about Joey being so nervous since last year, he got right in there and fed the steers by himself. But, they both still really enjoyed playing in the big pile of cottonseed.
We took a day to drive to St. Louis and see Great-Grandpa Boedeker. He is definitely slowing down and his hearing and eyesight is suffering, but he is still sharp as a tack. He always brightened up when the kids would be playing or running around. And, he could see well enough to comment a couple of times about how big Stevie was already! We can't get anything past Great-Grandpa.
After a packed few days in Illinois, we drove back up to Michigan on Friday, July 8. The next day, we celebrated again with our friends, the Roberts' family. This time it was to celebrate Lilly's 3rd birthday. No skinned knees this time, just pizza, cake, and ice cream.
Later that night, we celebrated with our friends, the Thomm's (and many others!), who were renewing their wedding vows and celebrating their 10th anniversary. Not only that, but Uncle Dave and Itaxso flew in for the weekend on their way to Chicago. Whew! So much going on, so much fun, and so thankful for safe travels, all the family that we got to see and events we got to celebrate. This year's shut-down week will be hard to beat in the years to come!
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