August Recap...

It's hard to believe, but we're now beyond Labor Day, the official end of the summer. I thought it might be a good time to fill you in on what we were up to during August.

Marie had frequently asked this summer when we were going to the beach. So, in early August, I decided on one not-so-hot Friday to take the kids. We packed up the car and drove to the beach, a whole 10 minutes away from our house. This particular beach is on a large lake and Marie took to the water right away...Joey, not so much. After a picnic lunch, we took a walk over to the "Splash Zone." Marie was kind of tentative at first, though I finally convinced her to go through the spraying water by going with her myself. I hadn't worn my suit and got a little more wet than I anticipated, but thankfully dried off quickly. We headed back to the beach again and finally convinced Joey to get into the water a little bit. Overall, I think the kids had a good time and it satisfied Marie's requirement of "going to the beach."






We also spent a lot of time in the garden during August. Marie's sunflowers REALLY took off. They ended up being a couple of feet taller than me and she got a kick out of watching every day to see if they had bloomed yet. We picked plenty of cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers, and LOTS of green beans. All told, we canned just shy of 50 quarts. I think we should be set for the winter.


We also took a couple of trips to the blueberry patch. Marie did fairly well picking herself. Joey, on the other hand, wasn't a huge fan, which just meant that we needed to make more than one trip. The weather has been nice. We did have a few pretty hot days, which was perfect for getting in the pool a few last times. But it also cooled off a bit, which made hanging out in the yard very fun. Jon and the kids have played a lot of ball and even got out the kite one evening.


We took a weekend trip to Ohio to meet up with the rest of the Shibata clan. Joel, Jenn, and little TJ were visiting Grandma and Grandpa Shibata and this was our first opportunity to meet him. What a cutie! Everyone was able to make it over for the weekend as well, so we had lots of fun going to the pool, riding on the golf cart, and generally running around and playing. We anticipate the cousins will have lots of fun together in the years to come...





JJ, Marie, and Joey had a great time jumping down from the step into the (carpeted) living room...

The whole family....just keeps growing!

Overall, it has been a wonderful summer. The kids have been getting along great. Of course, there is the occasional disagreement; they both at times think they need to have or do whatever the other one has or is doing. But, the times when they play together and get along are getting to be more and more frequent.



We are looking forward to the fall and to birthdays, Atrium, football, and apple picking. Jon has started his online class. I think he is excited about it in some ways, but it will obviously require some investment of his time which may keep him from working in the garage as much as he'd like. His job at GM is going well; he still loves it and he is keeping pretty busy there as well.

The winds of change have been blowing at my job. There has been some upheaval in the corporate office and the management structure and as a result, some key players have left the company for other opportunities. It is a very real possibility that things will be changing on our front as well, but time will tell and we'll keep everyone up to date.

The biggest news we have to share is that we are looking forward to adding another little one to the Shibata household. We have a due date of March 9. Marie is EXTREMELY excited and has been making plans about what will happen and things we'll do when the baby comes. She is going to be a BIG help, we just know it. When asked if he is ready to be a big brother, Joey promptly tells us "No." He still has a few months to get used to it. :)

Fun in Illinois

Sandwiched between the family weddings were a few fun days spent at Grandpa and Grandma Meinhart's house. There are always lots of fun and interesting things to do there and this trip was no exception.

We had driven from Dubuque on Sunday and so spent the first part of Monday exploring outside. Grandpa's blackberries were ripe, so Marie (and the rest of us) got to help pick them. Marie didn't eat too many, but Joey evidently really liked them. That would only be the first time he would surprise us this week. Joey was also able to find and pick a pretty good sized cucumber from the garden.



We had also hoped to make a visit to the farm while we were there and it turned out that Monday was the best day to do that. At around the end of milking time, we headed over there. We had also gone last year with Marie, but Joey wasn't old enough to know what was going on at that time and quite frankly Marie wasn't too sure of things either.

Cousin Ryan was again a great tour guide. Marie, Joey, and Jon got to watch as Ryan and Uncle Rick finished up the milking. After that, Marie was quite content to head in the house and talk with the ladies. Joey on the other hand was quite enthralled with cows. He walked right up to the fence with Ryan to check out the steers. He even put one foot up on a low rung like a true farmer. He didn't have to be coaxed to pet the calf or even the bigger cows and didn't even mind too much when he got licked. He especially liked feeding the steers hay. He would hold out a piece to them, but would often need someone with longer arms to help him because the steers were more afraid of him than he was of the steers. Once they finally took the hay, he would march right back over to the manger to get another piece. A farmer's work is never done!








Through the night on Tuesday, more than 3" of rain fell. This made things rather wet outside. Since we hadn't brought the kids boots, we had to make a run to the store just so that they wouldn't be cooped up inside all day long. Marie and Joey both thought they were pretty special to get new boots!


With the new boots, it was time to go fishing! This time they had poles just their size and they had a great time just practicing casting in the yard. Once we moved to the pond, it didn't take long before they started catching fish. I think Marie caught three fish in all, though she didn't really want anything to do with them. Joey on the other hand wanted to scoop them up in the net and pet them. Again...no fear. "Joey" also caught a fish. Grandpa was "helping" him and it turned out that Jon had to help Grandpa finally bring it in since the fish was almost as big as the pole!






On Wednesday afternoon, we loaded the kids in the car again and drove to St. Louis to see my grandpa. He has been a bit under the weather this year, but I really believe he perked up and was glad to see us and the kids. He got a kick out of just watching them run around his house. We took him out to eat for supper and made it back in time to watch the Cardinals on TV...a favorite pastime of his.


The following day, we donned our Cardinals gear and planned to meet Grandpa Meinhart, Aunt Sarah, Uncle Mark, and Uncle Matt at the ballpark for an afternoon game. The kids were very excited about the prospect of seeing Albert and just as much looking forward to riding the train to get there. The view from our seats was pretty good, though I could've asked for a little more cloud cover. It got up to 95 degrees...I don't even want to know what the heat index was. But, the kids did really well...I was probably more cranky than they were. Too bad we couldn't have cheered the Cards on to a win!





We drove back to Grandpa and Grandma's house that night to get some rest and wait for Uncle Dave and Itaxso to drive down from Chicago. It had been some time (almost a year?) since we were all in the same place. We all went to the wedding and otherwise spent the weekend just hanging out and visiting. Sunday came around all too quickly and we made the trek back to Michigan. Overall the kids did very well in the car. It is so nice to have good travelers. It was a tiring, but fun-filled trip...and we'd do it all over again if we had the chance!

Recent family weddings...

It's August already and it's been some time since we've updated the blog...we'll have to bring you up to speed on our recent vacation!

True to our usual form, our vacation consisted of driving around the Midwest visiting family and relatives. This summer our trip was sandwiched between two family weddings, the first on the Shibata side and the second on the Meinhart side.

We began our journey on Friday the 16th. We departed from home, set on making good time to our destination, Dubuque, IA. We had no hang-ups or delays on the first leg of the trip when we met Grandma and Grandpa Shibata and Aunt Jess in Chesterton, IN for lunch. It was then decided that Marie would get to ride in Grandpa's new car, so we quickly swapped her car seat. The rest of the ride also went pretty smoothly considering the close proximity to Chicago as we drove around the need to stop a couple of times for potty breaks. The last part of the drive through northern IL was extremely scenic and hilly (causing minor car sickness), but about 10 hours after our time of departure, we arrived safe and sound.

We were just in time to partake in the authentic Brazilian BBQ hosted by Uncle David and Aunt Sharon. The kids were definitely not the shy type and made friends quickly. They played lawn games and Marie looked for tadpoles in the small pond with the bride and groom. Needless to say, everyone was beat by the time we got back to the hotel and settled in for the night.



The following morning, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Jess, the kids and I explored a little bit by heading to a walk along the Mississippi River. Unfortunately, there were LOTS of bugs and we didn't stick around too long. We drove around for awhile until we found a park where the kids could play and Jess and I could get in a quick jog.

The wedding was in the afternoon. Marie thought she was pretty big stuff sitting in the pew with the older cousins. The bride beautiful and the groom handsome as could be. It was definitely the first time I'd heard wedding vows in Portuguese! After a lunch reception, the kids took naps back and the hotel and everyone gathered back at Uncle David's for another BBQ and this time a bonfire with s'mores for everyone. It was a quick trip, but so great to see most of the Speckhard clan...we just don't have the chance to see them enough!





The following weekend, my cousin Eric got married down in good ole' Effingham. We figured the best way to get to both weddings would be to take the whole week as vacation. (I'll fill you in on what we did in the meantime in another post.)

Eric and Jenna's wedding was on Friday afternoon and evening. The weather was typical for July...hot. But, that didn't seem to phase the bride and groom in the least...they were all smiles. The reception was beautiful! It was obvious that both families had spent a lot of time preparing and decorating.




Marie and Joey didn't make it too long into the evening. By this point in the week, they were pretty pooped. Jon graciously offered to take them home and put them to bed while I stayed and caught up with family. Highlights included watching the groom and his 3 brothers race while doing the worm and hitting the photo booth with Twinkle Toes, Blondie, Giggle Butt, and Pee-Wee (you know who you are!). Extra points to anyone not previously mentioned that can remember my nickname. Ahhhh...the memories!

Summer Sun...Summer Storms

As usual, we have really been enjoying the garden this summer. Marie has especially been keeping an eye on her sunflowers. She had started them in yogurt containers in our basement and then transplanted them into the garden. For awhile, one of her favorite things to do was to see if they had grown taller than her. As you can see, they have definitely passed her up! Now she is just waiting until they start to bloom!


It seems we have also had quite a few storms lately. The kids actually do pretty well and are not too scared of lightning and thunder. We had one of these storms last Thursday. The rain came down pretty hard, which prompted Joey to walk around the house saying, "Loud." Then, Marie kept saying that she wanted to show us something. She walked us over to a window and there was a pretty substantial branch that had fallen a little to close for comfort to our house. Needless to say, we were pretty happy that it didn't actually fall on our house.

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Don't worry...Joey is not actually scared, worried, or concerned here. We're sure he'll bounce back. In fact, we have no idea what prompted this shot. We can only imagine...especially since Marie was the one with the camera.

Independence Weekend Parties...

I'd have to stop and think a while if I were to say the last time we were actually in Michigan over the 4th of of July. Between annual out-of-state family reunions and the fact that Jon usually has a week of vacation during that week, it is usually the case that we are long gone. For a variety of reasons, this year was a bit different.

On Friday evening we were expecting the arrival of our friends from Wisconsin, the Conraths. Carl is a good friend of Jon's from his first job at GE and also stood up in his wedding...wearing a kilt...just had to throw that in :)

Aneliese, Carl's daughter, is Jon's 4-year old god-daughter. They have family in Erie, PA and so decided that they would take a brief detour on their way and stop for a visit. Unfortunately, we got a call on Friday afternoon saying that their 2-year-old son had been up the night before with a fever and ear infection. Their plans had changed and they were still in Wisconsin. So, instead of hanging out with the Conrath's, we had a fun family outing to Home Depot and Lowe's to get some shelving for the garage, which was in dire need of some organization. A quick stop at Dairy Queen made a nice end to the evening.

On Saturday morning, we cleaned and organized the garage. It is so nice for the kids to be able to access (and put away!) their toys by themselves! Plus, we now have a method to the madness of sorting all the various recyclable items....ahhh.

Saturday afternoon we were hosting a 3rd birthday party for our (local) god-daughter Lilly. She, her older sister Rosie (age 4), and Marie have so much fun playing with each other. They played hopscotch, threw water balloons, ran around in the sprinkler, went swimming in the pool, read books and generally packed a lot into an afternoon. And of course, there was cake, ice cream, and presents.










On Sunday, we headed to Mass and stayed afterward to celebrate the baptism of our friends' dear son. That was followed by a BBQ during which we got to catch up with even more friends and Marie and Joey got to play on a really cool play structure, in the sand and on a trampoline. Somehow, I forgot the camera though and didn't get any pictures. :(

We opted not to go to any big fireworks displays...our kids do go to bed late, but since they wouldn't have started until 10:00 and we were really not looking forward to battling lots of mosquitoes, we just stayed home. Marie thought she was pretty big stuff though when she got to play with a few "sprinklers" (sparklers).

Monday was another beautiful day, though rather hot. A perfect day for the pool. Our friends the Clausers came over in the afternoon to take a dip. Megan is the same age as Marie within days and Jacob is within a few months of Joey's age and they all get along pretty well. The water was great, all the kids (and dads) enjoyed it I think. We grilled again and had some yummy veggies from the Clausers' garden. Afterward, the kids all played in the sandbox. They must have had fun because it was straight to the bathtub for the kids and I have never seen so much sand in the bottom of our tub. It took a few iterations, but we are happy to report that Marie no longer has sand in her hair!





That's about all from our busy weekend. We hope yours was just as fun and that you were able to celebrate the blessings of our freedom as well!