Friday Evening Fun!

After our morning bike ride, Callie spent the afternoon with Grandma in Wyanet. They had a great time and made this fun yellow crayon shirt. What a special afternoon together! 

Curtis came home from the office and wanted to go fishing. We checked with Pop and he wanted to get out too. It has been one week since his surgery. He has felt very lousy this week and has been extremely wiped out. We thought this might lift his spirits, but we could tell he really needed to be home resting. He did take us out to the golf course pond that he had been given permission to fish at. Callie and Joel pulled in little ones, and arcade got a bigger size blue gill. He was a bit frustrated during our time and is learning how to be patient as a a fisherman with his equipment and with the fish. Joel pulled out the strangest fish our family has caught in our fishing days, an albino catfish! We really aren’t sure what type of fish it was exactly, but we do know it was a unique catch! 

When we got home, Callie and Joel went down and did some watering at the Charbonneau’s home. They hired the kids to water their flowers this week while they were on vacation. Cade also was going to mow their lawn, but the weather has been so hot it didn’t really need done.

After a simple pizza meal, we enjoyed a fire on the back patio before heading to bed.  What a long, exhausting, and fun summer day! 

Out on the Canal Again!

On Friday, July 10th we took another canal bike ride adventure. This time we picked up Evan and he joined us. We started on the canal at Euclid Street, which is between Locks 6 and 7. Evan and Cade rode all the way to Wyanet, which we think was about 11 miles on the path. It took the boys about an hour and fifteen minutes to make it. There was a strong headwind on the trail, and the boys felt it. They made it, but it was a challenge. Definitely a fun adventure!

Callie, Joel, and Mom rode about 25 minutes out and then the same back. We think we rode about 1.5 miles out and the same back for a total of 3 miles. Again, it was a very hot day. Joel and Callie did great. We are chipping off more of the canal trail little by little! 

Lake Thunderbird Fun!

We got an invitation to swim out at Lake Thunderbird from the Friel Family this week! This this hot weather, the lake water was welcomed!! It was actually so warm, Mom wanted to get it and cool off! The Driscoll’s came and enjoyed the water too which was so nice so there were plenty of friends to play with! Callie is continuing to be so brave. She swam out to the slide dock and went down the slide with her floaties on! It is so fun to see the kids make strides in their growth, but also sad to see our babies grow so quickly! We are so blessed! 

Staying Cool!

After our morning bike ride, Joel, Callie, and Mom headed for Peru for an Aldi run. Cade went back to church with Dad and played basketball in the gym. Us grocery runners, took our coolers to keep the food cold, and Mom even got extra ice at the gas station after we got the food in. It was soooo hot! We had one slight hiccup on our way to Aldi. Mom forgot our masks. Thankfully they were not required, but we had Callie’s swimsuit, and our two hats we could have used to stick over our faces if we needed. Whoops! What times we live in! 

After the groceries were in the coolers, we headed down the street to the Peru Splash Pad. We got there just in time, 30 minutes before their 1 hour cleaning break. We enjoyed the water and cooled off a bit before heading home. We are so sad our swimming pool and playgrounds are not open this summer. Peru’s splash pad and LaSalle’s Pool are both open. They have mandatory cleaning breaks in their day and temperatures must be taken before entering the facility. It is nice they are able to be open. 

A Canal Bike Ride

On Tuesday, July 7th we planned for an adventurous bike ride. Cade has been desiring a ride from Princeton to Wyanet on his bike, so we have been trying to figure out a way to make it happen. The highway is too busy to travel on so we started investigating the use of the Hennepin Canal Parkway Bike Trail.

Today we started at Lock 14 and Cade planned to ride to Wyanet, which is Lock 19. We also picked up Joel’s friend Jett, who lives just super close to the trail, to join us. Cade took off on his excursion and the four of us rode about 20-25 minutes out and then back to the car, it was about 2 miles out and 2 miles back. It was very hot and humid and we were very warm. 

Cade made it safely to Wyanet in about 20 minutes. We figured out after he arrived that it was only about 5 miles on the trail. Next time we will try a bit farther! 

What a fun adventure! Can’t wait for more! 

Around Home!

Callie received a fun activity book from a friend at church on Sunday, July 5th. The activity book was similar to dressing paper dolls, but mermaids. Callie had fun picking the accessories for her mermaid. This will definitely be a fun activity book to do with a friend!

On Monday Cade did an intense workout with “coach” Callie. Cade bikes to Zearing and did two laps. He then rode home and did multiple exercises on the agility ladder and pushups. Then back again to Zearing for more biking. Callie was quite the coach and cheerleader.  Cade did a great job and the two were a nice team! Callie may have a personal training or coaching future! 

The weather turned to the 90s the first few weeks in July. We decided to buy a big piece of plastic/visqueen to make a slip n slide that would hold Cade. The plastic one from Walmart broke easily when he tried it one time. It was a success and the kids had a great time. Unfortunately our  yard ground is super bumpy and gave a few bruises, We worked on what inner tubes would be best and longest to slide on, on it. We may have to hit up some end of the season sales. 

Happy 4th of July!

Joel was so excited to visit his friend Sheperd on the 4th of July, Sheperd’s birthday! Unfortunately, Sheperd’s family did not answer the door, but we left the big card for him. Joel was very disappointed he didn’t get to see his friend on his special day. Joel’s heart goes love to so big. Thankfully his Mom did call later and invited Joel to Sheperd’s birthday party happening the next day. Joel was so tickled to go!

We got a nice harvest of beans in the garden on the morning of the 4th. Joel and Mom worked on weeding more too. 

During the evening, we gathered with some friends for a special time together. We had some super yummy smoked meat, time together, and then ended our nation’s birthday with a special fireworks display, just for us. Unfortunately because of covid, our city fireworks were cancelled. As a group of friends we pooled our funds to buy some fireworks to enjoy the evening with. Cade absolutely loved getting to set them off with the men! Joel even got to do some bottle rockets which he was pretty tickled about. The little kids enjoyed some sparklers in the lot too! Definitely a 4th of July we will all remembered! Good food! Good company! Good fun! 

Back To Life!

Our morning after arriving home started by sharing the news of Pop with the kids. It was quite shocking and they were definitely concerned. Unfortunately because of the coronavirus we could not go inside the hospital to see Pop. Thankfully Grandma could be in the room with him. We had to settle for a big wave through the window, but it did help reassure the kids that Pop was ok. 

We kept ourselves busy for a few days as we waited to hear news on Pop. He was transferred to Peoria for his heart procedure on Thursday evening (July 2) and had the procedure done on Friday, July 3rd. They went through the vein in his wrist up to his heart to repair it. It was unbelievable they could do this work with such technology, but it was quite painful.

While Dad was away with Pop and Grandma, we stayed busy waiting for news. We went and got our library summer reading packets and did one of the art activities right away, and got familiar with app the program is using for recording this summer’s minutes. 

Callie and Mom took a trip to The Closet because Callie wanted to spend her own money on a new game. Unfortunately because of covid, Callie couldn’t go in. So Mom went in with her mask, and checked out the games and took them to the window to show her so she could pick one out. There are just crazy restrictions right now, but we are making life work and not letting it steal

our joy. The Lord is in control and gracious to have kept us from contracting the virus thus far. Callie picked out Blockus for her game. What a find! We were so excited to play it! 

On Friday during Pop’s surgery we took a bike ride to Zearing. It was great to be back on the trail. Definitely warmer weather than we had during our Spring days riding.

We also had a weedy garden to tackle after we got home, but lots of yummy produce too. Right now peas and lettuce are tasting yummy! We spent hours weeding, but guess what they came back quite quickly!

Because the weeds were out of control, Mom decided to tackle some flower bed mulching in the back on Friday afternoon, July 3rd. The new flower bed we put in, desperately needed mulch so it wouldn’t get overgrown. Plus we pulled weeds in our bed next to the garage and it needed some fresh mulch to keep the weeds back. While Cade went and mowed Mr. Warren’s, Joel, Callie, and Mom went and bought a truckload of mulch from Sullivan’s  We got home about the same time as Cade, and we all started to work on the mulch together. It was a task, but the kids triumphed through it and got the whole truckload out into the flower beds in the yard. The popsicle treat at the end of the task was definitely welcomed! 

We looked forward to being with Pop when he came home from the hospital on Friday evening. Though he was feeling lousy, it was just wonderful to be together. We are so thankful for the technology that has allowed him to get back to full health. 

Heading Home!

We made it out of Colorado (goodbye mountains) and into Nebraska on Monday, June 28th. What a trek traveling over 400 miles in the day! The mountain traffic on I90 was less stressful than our way out, which was so welcomed! We stopped for the night in North Platte. We stopped here a few years back and enjoyed eating at Applebee’s for Cade’s birthday. We found an RV park just around the corner from Applebee’s so dined at Applebee’s again this year. This was our first indoor dining experience since March 13th, since the start of the coronavirus shut down.  It wasn’t the most relaxing experience, but it was a nice break from our camper cooked meals! We were spaced out in the restaurant and they had limited employees which made the time a bit interesting. And we were very annoyed by the TVs in the restaurant. Curtis and I forgot about how distracting they are from having a nice meal together. Whoops! We were thankful for the food we had and headed back to the campground. We got a nice swim in the campground pool (which was shaped like the state of Nebraska!). Callie is doing so well at her swimming! 

We got on the road right away in the morning to get on the road to Grandma and Grandpa’s home in Ames! We made one scenic stop at the Archway Museum in Kearney, NE mid morning. We had driven by this museum many times and decided to check it out this time around. We were greeted by a frontiersman when we entered the building. He was so much fun and entertained us, for sure. We ended up not going through the museum, but checked out the gift shop and maybe in the future we can go through the museum with a bit more planning with our timing. 

When we arrived in Ames, we were greeted by not only Grandma and Grandpa but Celeste, Glory, and Serenity. We had extra entertainment for the evening and the girls even stayed the night. Mommy, Dad, and Callie slept out in the camper and the cousin girls and our boys stayed in the house. Mid morning on Wednesday, we headed out toward home and made it home around 3-4 is the afternoon, safely!

We enjoyed a yummy pork ribs dinner smoked by Pop a bit after we arrived. Unfortunately about 11pm, Pop had a heart attack and Grandma took him to the ER. Curtis went right away. Thankfully it was a mild heart attack, but Pop did stay in the hospital and two days later had an angiogram and angioplasty on Friday, fixing a 95% blocked artery. This was definitely not what we wanted to come home to but we were so thankful to be home. Pop is doing well now but we know it is by God’s hand that his life was saved and sustained.