A great picnic day at the lake!

What a great day with Nina and Pops!  Headed out to the lake after church and had a lovely picnic lunch and fished the day away at the lake dam.  It started with just a nice peaceful fish or two then it turned into a mad crazy competitive game of who could catch the most fish and the biggest.  Nina even threw out a bet of $100.  Or $50 for most caught and $50 for biggest catch.  Guess who won the biggest catch...Loggy!  With his 9in Crappie! 🐟 Now he’s well on his way to getting that metal detector for when he lives on the beach in Fl! 😂. And Dylan and Shelby has a fierce competition where eventually Dyl won out catching 16 fish and Shelb caught 14.  Ash had a bit of a dramatic entrance and came in 2 hrs late with 8 fish but she had the prettiest sunfish and only bass.  Anyway, it was a beautiful day and we even stopped by the overlook real quick.  We headed home where the guys worked on the new playset and a huge thunderstorm rolled in.  Trees were falling over.  The playset broke. Daddy had to go to work after a power outage. Yikes.  And the girls were baking fiends for the fair and boys were deep in a pool competition. A full day. ❤️

He’s back in America! 🇺🇸

Our British boy is back in America! 🇺🇸 Woohoo!  It was so good to see him again!  A joyful airport reunion and he was all talk about his trip and amazing times!  And so excited to give us awesome souvenirs!  He got me the absolute best London “son” shirt. He’s a hoot!  And he really did good shopping for us. He even came back with almost all his British pounds.  We were shocked. We hit the ground running after the airport and went to mother bears for dinner and home for USA desserts (FYI did you know the British don’t eat many desserts). I would not survive over there! 😂  Anyway, Dyl played pool, b-ball, took a shower and was fast asleep before us all.  He did sleep most of the flight home but I’m glad it seems he’s back on track and not too jet lagged.  We’ll see how tomorrow goes 😂❤️🇺🇸

Nina and Pops are here...flamingo mingle at the zoo...

A busy day here on the homefront!  Shelb finished her first of 4 weeks at her violin summer academy. She’s exhausted.  Almost 8hrs of playing today. I took Loggy and ash and her friend to the Indy zoo to do the flamingo mingle.  A total blast.  Those flamingos are awesome...chewing on our hair and getting in our personal space. 😂 So fun!  It was toasty though. The zoo in the summer is not my fav. Too many people!  We had fun at pizza king for lunch too.  I love a place where a train brings you your drinks. My first time going.  And the best part of the day was having Nina and pops here. They arrived with gusto and we had a great afternoon/evening outside and a yummy pulled pork dinner in our new insta-pot. And the longest fireworks display at the fairgrounds—with a whopping finale! 😳🎇 Oh and our Hays...She’s busy being toasty in Germany and watching Semperoper’s final ballets of the season.  In a week we’ll be prepping to see her!  Can’t wait!

His final day in England—a great time in London!🇬🇧

Well right now dyl is waking up and heading to the airport to make his way back to the good ol USA!  Hard to believe he’ll be home in less than 12hrs.  Yay!  I don’t know much about his day or time in London but I know they said goodbye to their hosts and school this morn and spent the whole day galavanting around London. I saw pics of the Tower of London, buckingham palace, the Eye, a red phone booth, London bridge, etc. Dylan’s mostly “where’s Waldo” in the group pics bc he’s the tall guy in the back that you can barely see. 🙄 But he sure looks like he had a great day.  I think his highlight was the London shake shack.  Have I mentioned he loves food. 🍔And he especially liked to rub that one in our faces.  We miss our shake shack. 😖. Can’t wait to see my long lost British boy tomorrow and hear about all his adventures! ❤️Cheerio!

Last day at English school

I heard practically nothing from our Bourne boy today and the only pic he took was of fish n chips.  I assume he ate it.  And he must like it since it’s his second time having eating it. Hope he had a good last day with his host family and at school.  Tomorrow is London with the Americans.  Then home.  Wish I was in London tonight. I’m tired of home.  Two weeks from today we head to Europe for a month. I can’t wait but am totally unprepared.  In other news, Ash had two friends over today at separate times and played volleyball and waterslide all day, had her last day of tennis and is in the midst of a sleepover so we can head to the zoo in the morning and finally mingle and feed the flamingos.  Something she wanted desperately to do since she turned double digits.  She’s already done it once before with scouts.  But wanted to take a friend and mingle this time.  It’ll be hot but fun.  Logan was excited we set up our pool finally. Shelb is exhausted by XC and violin.  She’s basically working a 9-5 job doing these for a month.  Poor kid.  Rest could do us all good.

An English day at the port with ships n stuff ⚓️⛴

As the days progress I hear less and less from my long lost British boy.  Today I got, “I’m tired.  Night”. So I really don’t know how his day went aside from a few btv Instagram pics and surfing thru funny videos and ship pics on iCloud from his phone.  It looks like he had another dashing day at Portsmouth and visited a couple big ships (one that battled Napoleon) and took a boat ride too. And I know he had a yummy looking pizza, sandwich and sprite.  I think the British kids joined them after school bc I saw a bunch of faceswap pics🤣.  Lol.  The boy cracks me up. Tomorrow is the last day at Bourne community college and the last host day.  Kinda sad. 😢 Friday is London touring.  Saturday is home.  Crazy how fast the time flew. What an awesome adventure for a 13 year old. 🇬🇧❤️

Shelb the violist?! 🤣

Why not take on a new instrument today?! 😬

An English castle day👑

Dyl had the day off from British college and headed on the train to Arundel with the American group—to see a cool ol castle. I have’t seen many pics yet but I know the sights were beautiful and he saw a knight in shining armor.  Reminded me of a Scooby movie! 😬 They also went bowling where he had a mediocre game and complained about too small of a bowling ball! 😂 He spent the evening back with Thomas and family and they went rock climbing and had pasta.  He’s still loving all the food!  He FaceTimed us too and we got to meet his awesome host family and see their nice house.  He’s sharing a bunk with Thomas so it’s almost like he’s home with his Bro! 😂. And we had to show off his coin collection.  Apparently they love coins in England as much as he does.  So it was fun to chat with Dyl and the fam.  Tomorrow I believe they tour the shipyard and pier. Dylan’s already been there but I’m sure they’ll do more sightseeing.  What an adventure he’s having!

Shelby’s first day of Jr String Academy at iu.

Today Shelby started her biggest challenge.   Jr String Academy at iu. I know she was nervous about it, but it went great.  2hrs of class today and 4hrs of practice at home.  On top of running XC in the early morn for an hour.  Her new routine. 5-7hrs of running a week.  Plus 15hrs of violin class and 28hrs of at home practice.  For 4 weeks.  You do the math.  No wonder you can make a year’s worth of progress in one month. But it’s exciting and overwhelming at the same time.  I’m proud of her for tackling this during her summer vacation. She’s one persistent, hard working gal.  Go, violinist Shelb!

He spent the day at British college

Another day spent at Bourne community college for our Dyl.  I think it was a full day bc I only got one word texts from him after school and a funny voice message about his competitive game of rounders with the British kids. All I know is he loved it and said he only messed up twice and his team won. 🤣⚾️The only pic I saw was one of his pizza for dinner.  Looked yummy!  And I know he’s really enjoyed both his host families, both of whom are avid coin collectors like himself. That was the other picture I saw on iCloud.  Coins.  I love our traveling boy. He has so many interests and he acclimates so well. So grateful he’s getting this experience.  Tomorrow the group heads to Arundel Castle.  Sounds fun!  Ps.  He did like the fish n chips!  He might be a better eater than his non-fish loving father! 🐟😬

He ate fish n chips! 🐟

We hardly heard from our long lost British boy today, but thankfully his pics are in the cloud so we sneaked a peek.  And guess what?!  He actually ate fish n chips! 🐟🐟🐟I was shocked and so proud.  Not even Shelby did this two years ago on her visit!  I have no confirmation that he ate it all or liked it, but I’m still proud our baby food eating baby boy branched out!  He looks like he’s having a marvelous time..hanging out at the beach at Portsmouth and chilling on the boardwalk. And taking funny pics with his girl hosts.  Then we discovered why he didn’t text us back...he moved over to his new host, Thomas’ house and was watching World Cup and playing virtual reality all evening. I love that our boy acclimates so well to all homes.  He’s a hoot!  Cheerio!

Dyl’s 2nd English day, Ashley’s horse show and our besties over! 🇬🇧🐴❤️

Sounds like our Dyl had a jolly good time in England today again. His weekend host family is awesome. I was a little worried when he told me at 7am he had “raspberries and scum”, but he said he liked it so I didn’t question it.  Turns out he meant scones! 😂. And he had the best sandwich he’d ever had for lunch. He took a few pics of that!  Have I mentioned our growing boy loves food!  lol!  And he had yummy pasta for dinner.  They are treating him well.  They went to a historical English museum and played table tennis and ended the night at an English type urban air. Called flip out?!  Right up his alley!  He’s having the best time!  We FaceTimed him tonight and he has a big room all to himself with a big tv (our girls/Shelby especially were jealous) And they have a Nintendo switch that he plays with his girl host (who might be better than him! 🤣). The boy is in heaven.  He’s such an easy going guy.  He could probably travel around Europe and hang with new people every day. 😬. And back in the USA it was horse show day.  Ash had a butthead horse with a saddle that was falling off and she got 5th place. She was a good sport but quite annoyed bc she’s a great rider.  And we had our besties over for dinner and hanging out.  Love them!  Just wish tomorrow was Saturday again!  I need a day to do nothing and sleep in!

Dyl’s in England!

My baby boy is across the world chillin in England.  Lucky duck!🇬🇧  He (and his 14 schoolmates and 3 teachers) arrived in London around 6am and changed into their ties and fancy school clothes and were off to Bourne community college to meet the exchange students and spend the day at school.  All I know is he had pizza for lunch (hmmm, very British?) and he has a temporary girl host while his other one is gone for the weekend. He says she’s great and her family took him on a walk.  They must be near the water bc the pics were pretty.  And they have a darling house.  He was exhausted after missing a night of sleep so that’s all I know. Hope he’s sleeping tight tonight!  And he did send me a video of his international flight meal.  Food is a highlight for him these days.  He’s come a long way since his kindergarten baby food days.  Just praying no one asks him to eat bangers and mash!  That’s a gagfest for the poor kid! 🙄😜

Our big boy is off to Britain!🇬🇧

Hope he has a jolly good time! 🇬🇧

Back from scout camp and ready to head to England!

Cheerio!🇬🇧

Happy Dad’s Day!

Happy father’s day to all the dear dads out there!  We had a great relaxing day!

A pre Father’s Day train ride :)

Toot toot!  We had fun riding the rails with Nina and poppy Stegs yesterday!

Her dancing days are over :(

And I missed the final bow. Simply said, that’s how I feel.  My heart aches a little today but as is with this whole year, God is teaching me to focus on the bright side...on His plan, not mine.  So I shall try.

Dylan ranked up in scouts and lots of grad parties!