This summer we spent an intentional weekend with our Northern family.
We've not made it to Fort Wayne near enough in recent years
so it was very nice to make a trip full of intention and not pack it full
so we could enjoy it in a big way.
Sam had a golf lesson in the morning and then we drove up to Fort Wayne
then over into Hicksville, OH to visit some special family members.
Grandpa Donnie had a cousin Mary and husband Junior that he was raised with and Dan wanted
to visit her on the farm in Ohio. We called ahead to let them know we were planning to come visit.
We arrived and he remembered the home place from childhood.
She has several children that Dan made tons of memories with and they all
were there or came in from putting away hay while we visited. I wasn't sure about
sitting around the front yard in the middle of July - but it was a lovely day
and the shade was nice. We were invited in to see the place, she had placed Grandma Ida's clock front and center on the wall and was thrilled when I noticed it.
She also hoped we would stay for supper and we should have known better than to not plan on it, but
had plans to make it to Dan's cousins. She accepted our regrets but only we took pie.
Of course, the pie was delicious but the visit was even better.
I left wondering why we hadn't made a visit there more times over the years,
but very grateful for this one.
And then we journeyed over to spend the weekend with a familiar and cherished family
in the Bontrager home. We were in town for a wedding a family reunion and we
decided the best way to enjoy a good visit was to spend 2 nights.
We sure missed Kevin and Caedmon but understood his opportunity to develop his basketball talents!
We enjoyed taco salad and cards on Friday night and caught up with the kids
and their summer fun.
Saturday morning breakfast was bed and breakfast worthy.
I thoroughly enjoyed Saturday around their home spending a bit of time with each kid
and playing Sudoku on their TV, who knew!
Dan took Sam and cousin Kayia to visit some other family and they came back with
Mt Dew and Kickstarts - terrible influence he is!
I enjoyed catching up with this sweet mama friend of mine. We can talk loving Jesus, adoption, parenting teens, busy schedules, and now pool maintenance! We were there as their brand new pool was filling up! We snuck in the fence to see how cold it was.
It was warm so it felt refreshing (on our feet).
Joe and cousin Luca.
There's the kid net, he caught us inside. Oops.
We all got ready and enjoyed the most meaningful wedding.
It was fun ceremony and reception between a sweet couple we
learned to know at our last family reunion. We played some intense 9 square games with them
and really enjoyed them. We were happy to be there as they began their life together.
We enjoyed the wedding very much!
And returned in time for a night swim for the kids!
Joe was the first to jump in so he kept teasing Sherri calling it Joe's pool.
Saturday well spent!
