Goodbyes

Monday, July 7 - We're back home now. Our vacation was so nice, but seemed so much shorter than we thought it would. It's always so nice to get away, but always so nice to come back home too.

Yesterday morning, we packed up all our stuff (which was all over Gram's and Krampa's house!), 

and we said goodbye to Snickers. 

   

He is staying there until he finds a new home. 

We finally decided he would be better taken care of with another family. 

So, we said goodbye to him and Gram and Krampa and made the trek back home...

Sunny Saturday

Saturday we hung out with Gram and Krampa in the morning. 

Gram & Krampa rigged up a little swing just for Annie

 Then we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Lopshire's house. They had no power since the storm the evening before, and it didn't look like it was going to be fixed anytime soon, so we decided to go in to Eric and Marti's house for the evening. 

 Jeremy dropped me and Sylvia off at the baby shower for Amy and Jalynn, which was very lovely. I was so honored to be invited, and had such a nice time.



Jeremy took Annah to see Uncle Walt and Aunt Joyce for a bit. Their power was out too, so Annah got to play outside for the afternoon.

 Then Jeremy picked me and Sylvie up and we all went in to Eric's and Marti's. Poor Marti was so gracious to agree to having us all over, especially after being (unsuccessfully) induced the day before! We all thought we would be spending that evening at the hospital oohing and aahing over the new baby, but he has decided he's not ready to meet us all yet!

2 ornery 2-year-olds

Annah dragged the giant Elmo all the way up the stairs.

Charles Walter

Wilson: "Wanna wrestle?!"

Apparently, summer heat causes reindeer to be angry!

Wet 4th of July

Our 4th of July in Indiana was quite WET! 

 The girls and I visited with Great Grandma C. for a bit in the morning while Jeremy and Dad worked on putting new siding up on the barn. 

Annah can get quite frustrated by Silly Putty.

 Annah got to stay with Gram for a bit while Sylvie and I went to see Lori B for lunch. On our way to town, there were thunderstorms. 

 But--tonight on our way to Kraig's and Susan's house, we were driving in such a terrible storm! The winds were so high that they did tornado-like damage to trees and houses. There was terrible rain and a bit of hail too. We pulled off the road once to wait it out a bit, and a couple times for Jeremy and Dad to get out and move some huge branches off the road so we could get through. We really should not have been out driving around in it, but rather in a safe basement somewhere! It was pretty scary!

We tried to see a bit of the fireworks display in Columbia City on our way home, but they had obviously gotten wet sitting out in the storm earlier in the day. They were few and far between, and the ones that actually got up in the air were pretty much "duds." So, we took the girls home and put them to bed.

Annah and Dady tried to watch the fireworks from the car.

Hot Fun in the Summertime

Today, Wendy, Jim and Aidan stopped by the McEowen's for a bit in the morning on their way to Michigan. It is always so great to spend time with them--no matter how short. It was most likely the last time we'll see them before Esme arrives!

Wendy practiced holding two kids at once--3 really, since she has a baby in her belly too!

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 Amy and baby Jalynn came to see us at my parents' house for a little bit in the afternoon.


Jalynn is such a teeny, sweetie baby.


It was so neat to to sit and talk "baby stuff" with Amy and hang out with the girls. If only we lived closer together...

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 In the evening, we went to Grandpa and Grandma Lopshire's for dinner with them and Eric and Marti, Wilson and Charlie, and Great Grandma D. It was a fun time.

Charlie is proof that when you play hard, you have to sleep hard too.

Uncle Eric and Cousin Wilson had a chat with baby Sylvia

Great Grandma D.

Jeremy and Annah and Charlie

Wilson gets some advice from "Uncle" Steve

Fishing

Today, we went to see Grandma Lopshire, who was watching Wilson and Charlie. Annah enjoyed playing with the ornery little guys, and even got to go swimming in the little kiddie pool with them.

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This afternoon, Jeremy and Dad went fishing. Jeremy caught a bigger bass than Dad did, and claims it was despite Dad's efforts to keep him from doing so. He also almost landed a 3 foot karp on a 5-foot ultralite rod with 4 pound test line, but it went under the boat head first and was too big to net from the tail.

showing Annah their catch

Jeremy points out whose bass is bigger....

Sylvia enjoyed some tummy time on Gram's rug in the sunroom.

1st trip to the zoo!

Today was Annah's and Sylvia's first trip to the zoo! The four of us, plus Gram and Krampa Mc, and Aunt Erin took the whole day off work to go with us to the Ft. Wayne Children's Zoo!

The first thing we saw were the snakes, which Annah thought were really cool. We are a liitle unnerved that our daughter likes snakes, but what can we do?! 

Then we saw monkeys, giraffes, and zebras. 

We rode in the zebra cars on the African Veldt ride, and Annah got to "drive."



I think she was pretending to be an animal? 

Then we saw sea lions, which we all though were very cool, then penguins. 

All the McEowen kids used to get their pictures taken in Little Poof when we went to the zoo;
now Annah has too! 

And, she got to ring the bell too! 

And, she got to sit in the car it pulls.

Krampa and Annah fed corn to the geese and ducks.

The whole time we were there, all Annah really wanted to see were the chicks. So, by the time we were all getting ridiculously hot, and Sylvia was tired of being carried in her Baby Bjorn carrier, it was time to visit the "Indiana Farm" part of the zoo. Grandpa held a couple baby chicks for her, and Annah was elated to get to pet them.
And she got to pet a yellow one too! 

The moment Annah had been waiting for...the chicks!

After the zoo, we went to Annah's newest favorite restaurant--Dairy Queen--and she got to have her first ice cream cone.

Thanks for taking us to the zoo, Gram and Krampa,
and thanks for taking the day off to go with us Aunt Erin!

Cute Chick

Katy Lane gave us this outfit for Sylvia when she was born.  She just looks too adorable in it!