Father's Day, Farm, 4th of July

Here we are mid-July already! We have been having a great summer. Anna is 21 months old and is as busy, happy, and fun as ever. I wish I could bottle her up right now, she is at such a sweet age. And I wish I had more time to sit down and blog! But, I also wouldn't trade the busy, fun summer days that we have been having! There seems like a lot to catch up on, so here goes!

We celebrated a fun Father's Day with Brent this year. His 2nd Father's Day! Brent's mom and dad were here visiting, so Brent was also able to spend the day with his own dad. We started with a nice breakfast out and then spent an afternoon at the park by Lake St. Clare. It was a beautiful, warm sunny day and we enjoyed being outside. We finished the day with lamb chops on the grill, Brent's choice. Brent's gift from Anna was a electric blower for outside - now he can blow leaves and grass clippings to his heart's content. =) Anna is blessed to call Brent her daddy. She loves her daddy so much! The first word she says every morning when I open the door to her room is, "Daddy?" She always is hoping he'll be right behind me to play. They are best playmates - from hide-and-seek, "this little piggy" with Anna's toes, and marching around the house. He draws her fun pictures, sings songs, and teaches her new things. She is a lucky girl! I am lucky, too. Lucky to have Brent by my side as my husband and friend. And together we raise Anna. We're a pretty good team, I think. I couldn't do it without him.


We took Anna cherry picking this year. We had so much fun and are going to make it an annual event! We drove 3o minutes north to Westview Farm and Orchard. The trees were full of cherries to pick. The trees were dwarf trees, so Anna could reach the cherries. She took her cherry picking very seriously! She didn't pick many herself, but loved to put the picked cherries in the bag. And she carried the bag until it got too full and she told me, "Heavy!". The farm also had animals - goats, donkeys, and sheep. Anna really enjoyed the animals and even helped Brent feed some of them. We had lunch and ice cream there and bought homemade donuts to bring home. Brent made a cherry cobbler at home, which is now one of my most favorite desserts. I will look forward to it every year!


We spent a fun 4th of July weekend at home. Anna slept through the fireworks again this year! It just gets too late for her to stay awake for them and she slept straight through all the noise. Maybe next year she'll see them. We had a gorgeous weather weekend and were outside most of the time. Brent celebrated his 30th! birthday on July 1st and his gifts included a new patio table and a fire pit. We enjoyed both very much over the 4th weekend and had cook outs and late night fires with our neighbors.


Anna loves to play outside. Sometimes it does get too hot for her, but overall we have had great weather this summer. She loves to walk up and down the sidewalk in front of our house collecting leaves and acorns in her bucket. She also likes when we blow bubbles, draw with sidewalk chalk, play in her water table, and water the plants. She even likes to ride around in the backyard while we pull her in her snow sled from the winter! This is pretty funny and notice I said BACKyard for this activity! The faster I run and pull her, the harder she laughs. Can you picture this? She is probably not the first kid to ride around in a snow sled in the grass, but never the less. We have made a few trips to the baby pool with some of Anna's playgroup friends. In early summer we loved going to the zoo, but it has been too hot lately. Anna gets such a kick out of all the animals, especially the monkeys, otters, and penguins. We still go to the library frequently. They have story time every couple of weeks in the summer, which Anna adores. All of this equals a very fun summer so far!


Along with keeping busy at home, we have been making trips back and forth to South Bend. We have five - count them five - weddings this summer! Most of them are in the South Bend area, so we have been packing the car and making a trip back to IN. We have had great trips so far - seeing lots of family and friends. Anna loves to be with her grandparents, so she has no complaints. And she is a pretty good and patient traveler these days. We have been to one wedding so far for Brent's cousin. It was very nice and great to see everyone on Brent's side of the family. Here is a picture of the three of us at the wedding.


Otherwise on the home front, we are doing well. Brent started a new job in June. He is now a Project Manager at Houghton Mifflin, which is a big educational company. He is working on a project with the Detroit Public Schools and is implementing new curriculum programs and helping educate the teachers on the new programs and technology. Brent is very happy with the new job and it is quite a change from working in a school. He has been enjoying it so far and is excited about the project. One huge difference is that he doesn't get a summer vacation anymore. That was hard to give up, but an okay sacrifice for a job that better fits with Brent's career goals. One perk is that he is able to work from home when he isn't out doing trainings or at meetings. He has an office in the basement and it's been nice having him around more. As for me, I am still working every other weekend and some evenings. My job is fine and is often very busy, which makes the days go fast. And that's what I want - fast days so I can get back home to Brent and Anna!

Lots more summer left ... hope it's happy for everyone!