June activities

Obviously, we've been very busy (too busy to blog).

June definitely kept us hopping. Last we blogged, Grandma Hart was down to visit for a few days while she underwent some testing.  Didn't find much out, but trying a few medications, and seeing how it goes.

Aunt Lori (and soon to be Uncle Tyler) graduated from The Ohio State University on June 12th.  Brian went to the ceremony by himself, as there was no way the boys could have sat through over 3 hours in the stadium.  Wishing Lori and Tyler both luck with the job hunt!

For Father's Day, Brian wanted to take the boys to the Fort Recovery Jubilee Parade.  He was sure that Lincoln would go nuts seeing the tractors.  Instead, Lincoln chilled in a little lawn chair, and just watched everything go by.  We ended up chasing Jackson around of course, but still fun other than the rain that fell toward the end of the parade.  After the parade, we celebrated cousin Seth's 5th birthday with a jello cake and presents!

Brian's birthday was the 23rd.  I made him a cake, but we were busy preparing to leave town, so he didn't even get a piece of cake for his birthday!  We had a delicious chicken dinner with sweet potato casserole from Boston Market though, so he was happy!

We headed out around 8:30 a.m. on Friday 6/24 to head north for the Relay for Life event.  We were able to join Mawma, Pawpa, Pete and Great-Grandma Hug for fish at Sam's just after noon.  Jackson was more impressed with the tartar sauce than the fish, but they were both really good while we were out for lunch.  While at lunch we saw Dick and Sally Steffes, and are so happy to hear that they are going to be grandparents again!  Congratulations to Kim, Matt, and Bowen!

The Relay event itself was a very fun experience.  We arrived at the fair grounds around 3:00 on Friday, and we were there till after noon on Saturday. The boys stayed with us the whole time.  They love being outdoors!   It was a bit chilly on Friday, and we had to break out blue jeans and coats for the boys (who would have thought we would need those in June).  The event kicked off at 6:00 with the survivors lap, caregivers, then everyone walked.  We walked for a while, then found some food for the boys (and us).  Most of the evening was spent visiting with family and friends.  The boys were up until around 10 that night, just because there were so many people around.  After they completely checked out the tent, they laid down and went to sleep.  Brian stayed and napped with the boys while I helped man the cookies and walked.  Somewhere around 2:00 they both woke up - mostly as they rolled off the airmattress and were startled, not knowing where they were.  We wrapped them in blankets, and snuggled them back to sleep pretty quickly.  I decided to rest with the boys for a little while, so Brian took to the track from 2:00 till around 4:00 in the morning.  I rested till around 6:00, then went back to fullfilling our team duties for the event. 
Jackson slept till around 7:00, and Lincoln till almost 8:30.  We were able to grab some pancakes and sausage, and then enjoyed the closing ceremonies.  It was shortly after noon when we had the entire campsite cleaned up, and headed to mom and dad's house.

I am very proud to say that our "Counting Our Blessings" team raised nearly $5,000 for cancer research! This is more than twice our original goal, and quite good considering we didn't even start talking about the event until late January. Thanks to everyone who made a donation and supported our team in this endeavor!


The rest of the weekend was busy.  We had a bit of lunch when we got back to mom and dads house, then went to cleaning things up, and preparing dinner.  We had prime rib, baked potatoes, and salad for dinner, follwed by cake (Brian's birthday cake) and homemade ice cream.  Thanks to Uncle Bryce for the prime rib, and for coming over to visit and spend time with all of us.  Uncle Dave and Aunt Ruth came over later and had ice cream with us as well.

Sunday morning was packing things up, and getting things ready for Great Grandma Emmie's 83rd birthday party.  It was great to see all of our aunts, uncles, cousins, and 10 of Gram's 11 great-grandchildren.  the family has grown SO MUCH in the past 4 years!  We hit the road around 4:00 to head back to Cincy, very tired from a great, but very long weekend.

All in all, June was a great month, full of celebrations and time with family.  We hope you all enjoyed the first month of summer just as much!