Reunions and Grandkids and Trips – Oh My!!

I’m back!! And what a time it’s been. While I only took two weeks off from blogging, my last five weeks have been crazy. Lots of fun stuff, but I told Tim I’m ready to settle back into my normal routine. July just flew by.

Reunions

It all started with my first of two high school class reunions. Why two? Well, I lived in one town through my sophomore year in high school and actually graduated from another one after we moved.

Reunion #1 was June 28 and 29 and was in my “old” town. Both nights were pretty casual. Several of us stayed with one of our friends who lives in town. That was the best part!!

It’s always nice to see people especially those I’ve known since grade school. I think there’s a special bond when you’ve shared those experiences.

Reunion #2 was July 13 in my “new” town. There was a more informal get-together on the 12th, but I chose not to go. Before the reunion, I got together with my three best friends from high school. The reunion itself was fun and I was able to see several people I haven’t seen in a long time.

Thanks to everyone from both reunions who commented on my blog. It means a lot to have you as followers. And to all the new followers since then, welcome!!

Reunions are both fun and nerve-wracking for me. I’m always excited to see people but small talk is not my thing. I prefer to talk to people in a group rather than one on one, although that depends on how well I know someone.

Another common thing is how everyone talks to everyone. Sure, you still tend to navigate towards the people you know well, but I find that everyone is interesting to talk to and no one is excluded.

Not surprising, there were classmates at my second reunion that I’m acquainted with but don’t really know. I’d like to strike up a conversation but I’m just not comfortable.

What might be surprising to some is there were also people from my first reunion that I never knew all that well. But if they weren’t in my grade school or junior high/high school classes or other activities, then I wouldn’t have had a chance to really know them. Some you know more by reputation!!

Grandkids

Ever since I’ve known Tim, he’s run in the BIX7 in Davenport the last weekend in July. His daughter lives in Bettendorf, so we always stay with them. This gives us time with the grandkids too.

We’ve been wanting to have them come stay with us (by themselves) and thought it would work great to have them come home with us. It was especially good timing because they typically stay with Tim’s ex-wife the last part of the week. So, we’d have them Sunday through Tuesday and we’d meet so she could take them Wednesday through Friday.

We had a great time!! Only one meltdown and that didn’t last long. We baked and frosted cupcakes, we painted paper plates, and we made chocolate chip cookies. We also visited the Science Center and ate lunch at Zombie Burger.

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Everywhere we went, Carly wanted books. I will never refuse to buy a book for her!! I think she came up with some good ones, although one I know is a little beyond her age. She’s not really reading yet, but she enjoys the pictures and making up her own story!!

Brady broke his wrist the day before we went to their house. He was still able to come and it only limited us a little bit, primarily at bath time. But he and Grandpa weren’t able to play catch as planned. Oh well, maybe next year.

We ate ice cream cones and Tropical Sno cones. Who cares if you make a mess? I didn’t even care about the mess we made while baking and painting.

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We also watched movies and ate popcorn. Can you believe they chose Christmas movies? We also watched the Wizard of Oz, which you should know is one of my favorite classics.

As we said goodbye, they said they wanted to do it again next year, so we must have passed the test!!

Trips

In between my two reunions, we went to the Black Hills. You can read about that trip here. Tim picked me up from where I was staying for the reunion and we left from there. If you recall, I mentioned that was a quick and somewhat tiring trip. But I’m glad we did it.

The last trip was with my friends for life. These are friends from my “old” town, two of which I went to grade school with. This is the third year we went to Lake Okoboji in northwest Iowa to stay at our friend Lori’s lake home. (She calls it a cabin, but I think it’s too nice for that. Maybe it was once a cabin, but it’s been remodeled and is quite up to date.)

I love this long weekend. It’s so relaxing. We shop a little, boat a little, drink a little and talk and eat a lot!! Perfect!!

It’s funny how when we were younger, the kids kept everyone busy and made it tough for us to get together. Now, it’s the grandkids!! One of our friends didn’t make it because she was on a trip with her daughter’s family and they got home a day later than planned.

And one friend had to leave on Saturday instead of Sunday to get ready for her grandson’s birthday party the next day. Another friend had just returned earlier in the week from time with her grandkids in Pittsburgh and St. Louis and we’d just had ours here. Whew!!

Ready to relax

Everything I did was fun, but I’m ready for some normal time. Am I too set in my ways?

My studio is nothing but piles of stuff. I have a box with all the crafting supplies we used that need to be put away. I have sewing projects ready to sew, but I really need to clean my machine first. I have new tools for cardmaking that I’m dying to start using, especially after I attended a class last week and learned some new techniques. I need to get back on track with our financial activities.

And I’m ready to blog again. Life is good!!