Summer Break 2026: Week 7

The highlight of the week was our church’s Vacation Bible School (VBS). With a “road trip” theme, the lessons, songs and Penny Campaign all connected to taking a road trip with the big ideas of God Calls, God Provides, God Guides, God Disciplines and God Delivers. The three younger cousins enjoyed participating this year while Zander was one of the youth photographers for the week! Aunt Lindsey, Grammy and I were guides so you can imagine we were busy from start to finish. The boys won the Penny Challenge which means three of the four cousins were excited about that result! ;) Since VBS was in the evenings, we fit in a couple pool days (one took us back to Tanglewood Park) and got to spend time with friends throughout the week. Sam and Jenn came into town and we were able to celebrate Sam’s birthday together (at Print Works Bistro for brunch and Fire and Sticks for dinner), take a tour of our college campus (posing for pictures outside our freshman and sophomore dorm rooms), take the kids to a trampoline park and simply enjoy catching up on the couch at our house (thanks to a rainy Monday). We are already counting down to next summer. I had lunch with Aunt Kelly and Carmen on two other days this week which means I got to see 5 of my closest friends within a 7 day period. This is such a blessing as many of them live out of town, the state or the country. Also, this past weekend, we got to have our annual lake day with the Badens. It was raining most of the morning so we opted to hang out at the house before catching a break in the weather and going out on the water for a few hours. We picked up a desk for Zander from Grannie’s house on the way back home and stopped at a 7-Eleven for free slurpees for 7/11 day!

Summer Break 2026: Week 6

The biggest adventure this week was that Zander went to FUGE camp with our youth group! He had a blast! He got to hang out with friends and even make new ones (including joining another church’s volleyball team and helping them win the overall bracket)! All of his chosen tracks were sports related (basketball, volleyball, pickleball, disc golf, etc). I didn’t get many pictures this week but based on how tired he is tonight, I think he soaked up all camp had to offer, growing closer to God and enjoying fellowship with others. While Zander was away, Maddox enjoyed “only child” status for a few days. We fit in a few pool days with friends and family including a trip to Tanglewood Park with his cousins as a highlight of the week. We also visited Carmen’s family coffee shop and continued our search for all the World Cup cups from McDonalds. Zack was out of town for a couple days for work so Maddox and Beau joined me for cuddles. Maddox even got a sweet treat from the ice cream truck at the pool (don’t tell Zander). Last weekend we celebrated the 4th of July with our town’s parade in the morning and a fireworks display in the evening. It was the 250th anniversary of our country’s independence so it was fun to mark this significant milestone with all the traditional fanfare. 

Summer Break 2026: Week 5

After our fun beach adventures the previous week, we enjoyed being home! Zander continues to enjoy his summer golf league on Sunday nights (thank you Grandpa for being his Uber driver… haha). On Sunday evening, both boys had their best friends (Jackson and Austin) spend the night. We went bowling on Monday and enjoyed time at our local recreation center (playing basketball and pickleball) due to really high temperatures outside. On Tuesday, Zander got his top braces put on. He will get his bottom braces after one last molar comes out. We met Aunt Kelly for lunch at Freddy’s and spent another afternoon at the recreation center, playing volleyball and basketball (thank you air conditioning). We celebrated my 43rd birthday with my side of the family that night at Kimonos with a Bundt cake and frozen yogurt (at Zack’s Treats) for dessert. We knocked out a 300 piece dog puzzle on Tuesday night while listening to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.  Wednesday, we went to Quarry Park to enjoy some outside time before the over 100 degree temperatures came in. Wednesday afternoon, the Kennedy kids came for our annual summer sleepover. Due to the heat, we went to see Toy Story 5 in the theaters (with popcorn and drinks to share). We finished out the night at our church’s 4th of July picnic and then watched the USA in the World Cup (round of 32) while hanging out in the fort the kids created. The cousins slept downstairs (in or around their fort) and were ready to enjoy the day on Thursday (waking up bright and early). We played outside until it got too hot and took Beau for his walk before the heat settled in for the day. We went to the pool to escape the heat and finished our night watching more World Cup soccer. Today, we are taking it easy and trying to decide what fun we might get into before the holiday weekend! Fortunately, there is a lot of soccer matches this weekend as the round of 16 games continue, so if we aren't outside, you might find us watching soccer since we have two soccer players in our home! ;)