Much of July has turned out to be a tranquil month for us, and it came with much appreciation. In a whirlwind of events, activities, projects and trips the past several months; some down time was just the right medicine for all of us. We are now starting to feel rejuvenated and ready for the next wave, we may not know when that is or what tomorrow will bring but we are ready with new vigor.
As it is well known that Blaine’s mom is battling Brain cancer, here is the latest update. Since she was diagnosed in January the months following have had their ups and downs, and while the majority of the progress has been increasing it does seems to go in a peak and valley type pace. We are currently in a valley and she has been maintaining since the last surgery that took place in mid June. She has also made the decision that she will be moving to Georgia this fall to live with her sister. The decision while it be hard on all of us, it is at the same time an easy one looking at the circumstances. Talk about a conundrum! Currently she lives is a small farm home where her wheel chair can only fit into 2 rooms; imagine spending your days looking at the same 8 walls and out the same window always at the same scenery. When winter comes going outside will be that much more difficult here in the North. We don’t know when this move will be exactly but we know it is coming and will do our best to send her off without regret as this is truly the best for her. Here is a picture of her from our wedding, it was one of the few pictures that she let anyone take of her without catching her off guard.
Over the 4th we spent three nights and two full days up at mom and dad’s lake, it was the most perfect weather that I think we have ever had up there; at least during the waking hours! On Sunday night we had a storm come through, as we do most 4th of July weekends, which raised everyone out of slumber to look outside. (Except dad, he had his ear plugs in – smart guy) Yep, just as we had suspected…hail…on mom’s brand new Terrain. Fortunately, there was no damage but Blaine saved a nice bowl of hail to show dad in the morning what he had missed.
After our long 4 hour ride home from the lake we arrived to a storm brewing, I tried to take pictures of the eerie sky but my camera couldn’t keep up with its churning and all the lightening. It was a wild night to say the least. After another late night we all decided that we would sleep in on our final day off…this turned out to be not such a great idea as around 7 am I started stirring due to some loud rumblings outside and assumed it was a train and rolled back over…I should have gotten up. Around 7:45 I awoke again to these same noises and decided this cannot be a train still. I rose up the blinds that cover our front window and to my surprise…there are tractors everywhere on our road…or what USED to be our road. We knew that work was going to be performed on our cul-de-sac at some point this summer but did not know it was going to be that morning (we found out later that a note should have been left on our front door but either ours blew away OR one of the sitters picked it up and it didn’t make it to us). I immediately try to rationalize in my head what to do next since both Blaine and my trucks were in the garage and the road at this point had already cut down about a foot to a foot and a half in front of our driveway and they were already half way around the circle. I decided I better wake Blaine. He drives both trucks over the neighbor’s front lawn to the adjoining side street. Thank goodness they are among one of nicest families we have lived by and thought nothing of it. Dilemma averted by Mr. Fix-it All.
Blaine has been helping Missy out at her house the past few weekends as well, she is getting her house ready to sell and needed a handy man to hang some doors, light fixtures and trim work, Mr. Fix-it to the rescue. Seems the work is all done as her house will be on the market in the next few days. I am happy for her and their exciting new adventure but will miss her being just a few short blocks away; with any luck the area she chooses to build at will also be only a few short blocks away as well, just in a different direction…no pressure here MissyJ.
The kids have kept pretty busy so far this summer. Justin is involved in a summer camp that is being put on by the Concordia College Hockey coach; this consists of 5 days a week for about 2 hours. They have been doing anything from shooting skills, to sprints to PX90 workouts. He will be starting football the 2nd week of August and Hockey is following at his heels. We also started Justin up in guitar lessons that take place once a week. He and his instructor have made lots of progress. At the end of one of his lessons a week or so ago his instructor Ben said he is doing very well and has either been doing a lot of practicing or has magic fingers. Makayla did a hockey camp in Fargo through June, a Volley ball camp, and will be starting soccer in the next few weeks as well as Hockey. School too is just around the corner, Justin will be moving to the middle school and Kayla will be a 5th grader. It really is hard to believe that school will be starting in about 5 weeks, but it is even harder to think how quickly time has gone from little kids to tweeners.
As for me I have been busy working on my photography skills or lack thereof; I took some pictures of mom and dad at the lake and found exactly where I am deficient and hoping that they either find 1 that they like or will let me re-do them. I would prefer to redo them and find them one that they love. After their pictures I took to reading and studying some more and then took to the kids for their photo-shoots…aaannnd I guess I still need a little more practice and a lot more knowledge. I found all my errors afterwards on the computer, but regardless it was still fun picking them up and having to be asked again to sign a release form from the “photographer” – LOL! If they only had a clue! I’ve been looking for some more photography classes that I can take but unfortunately they seem to be very hard to come by in this area. I will have to continue to buy books since our local library doesn’t carry really anything. Hope the kids don’t get too bored with me snapping pictures and asking them to give me an hour to “mess around” with the camera.