A Great June

The past month was a big one for us. We started off by getting Janell's mother's house ready to put on the market. Then, during the latter half, we were blessed to have Stacy, Hutch, and Elsa visit. Putting icing on the cake, Sean and Tara spent Father's Day weekend with us. It was so wonderful having everyone here except Alex (he had to stay in Charlottesville to oversee the packing and loading of their household in preparation for moving to Montana). We had a good time swimming and hanging out.

The weather here has been toasty. As Waylon Jennings put it, "... hotter than nine kinds of Hell...". The one way we have at our disposal to beat the heat, other than central air conditioning, is our swimming pool. I would never build one, but ours was part of the house when we bought it, and it was a big hit with the grandkinder. Hutch talked Sean into doing cannonballs off the diving board, and was impressed with the fallout. Elsa was a bit more circumspect. She's a tough, but cute, sell on things like this.

Hutch and Elsa were happy to do whatever they wanted and have doting adults to help them. Elsa is on the verge of walking, and is a crawling machine. She is a pistol when it comes personality. A happy, active, almost one year old, charmer. She was happy exploring everything. We got a real kick out of her when we went out to eat. She loves people watching and is engaged in what is going on around her. No shrinking violet she.

Hutch had a list of things to do when he got here, and I think he managed to do them all. After a couple of false starts, we finally found the floaties combination that let him have a great time in the pool. We sat on the lawn tractors at Lowe's, rode mine in the driveway, and played endlessly with cars and trucks.

We cherish our time with our children and their families. It's not often that we are able to get everyone together, so Father's Day was special. Getting to strengthen bonds with our grandchildren is important to us, so this visit was a great joy. We can only thank God for the blessings of our wonderful children, spouses, and their children.