Summer 2018

Seeing as it’s the middle of September, Labor Day weekend has come and gone, and Kaffee has introduced the Pumpkin Patch Latte (for several weeks now…), I’d say it’s time to do a recap of the summer. I had great intentions of blogging more on each topic but that’s just not going to happen. So instead of calling it a lost cause (like I’m realizing happened with winter/spring 2018) I’m going to do a quick summary highlighting just a few of the things that have kept me (and us) busy this summer.

At the beginning of the summer my horse moved to Illinois. It’s been a source of both relaxation and anxiety. He’s about 10 miles away on the beautiful farm of a family from church. It’s been a great opportunity to connect with their kids as I go out and we brush him or they sit on his back as he grazes. Recently I’ve been giving “lessons” to the oldest and it’s fun for me to watch her enjoy riding him since I’m waiting til after baby comes to ride again. In the mean time, it’s been good to have an excuse to escape into the countryside for some quiet time to read. And yet there’s always been this internal struggle of how much time is appropriate to spend over there. Various times we’ve had him cooped up in the round pen so for his sake I want to be over there often to let him out. At the same time, this has been a big summer with the move and trips here and there and plenty of people who could use my time more than a horse needs it. Still, in all of this I have learned and continue to learn some really important lessons and I don’t think it’s such a terrible thing to have a place where time slows down. And this week some goats joined the farm who will be let in with Bandit and provide some companionship–and meat I believe–so that will be helpful this winter when I’m not able to go out as often. You’ll notice in the collage below that Seth has been a huge supporter through all of this and there have been some sweet memories made as we spend time there together.

I mentioned that we’ve had a few trips this summer. Family vacation was the big one, but we took a rather last minute visit up to Michigan in July together and enjoyed a weekend with McCormicks. Then the first weekend of August I went back up for some time with my mom and sisters and Adeline.

A few weekends later I had a baby shower in Remington but unfortunately the only picture I have to show for that is of my plate at lunch. It was delicious, but the highlight was seeing family and friends and being reminded of how loved our little baby already is! Then we slipped in a getaway to the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter in northern Kentucky: an idea we had planned for back in May but never followed through with after buying the house.

And below is a collage of other memorable times: day trip to Chicago with Oma and Lehman cousins, Sunday afternoon trip to Turkey Run for our anniversary, Memorial Day yard work at Dad and Mom Waibels, and various family get togethers that include some fishing, of course.

This post is not how I had hoped to capture the summer, but sometimes getting something up on the blog is better than absolutely nothing.