Patio Ponderings

I was sitting on my patio today being thoroughly thankful for the 78 degree breezy weather after spending two and 1/2 weeks in Tennessee's 95 degree humid weather. (How do you people survive down there?) Here are a few of the ways we stayed cool while we were there.

Swimming in Poppa and Grammy's pool

Playing in the Creek at Ron's house

Water temp - 54 degrees - REFRESHING!

Eating lots of Ice Pops

Water gun fights

Swimming at Tim's house

One of my favorite things to do at my mom's has always been to sit on her patio in the early morning in my p.j.'s (before it gets unbearably hot) and watch the beautiful blue birds that live in her yard. I love sitting on the patio. I started almost every day of my trip that way. A few years ago I got my very own patio and I love it. (I don't have beautiful blue birds, but my neighbor's yard is like a beautiful park.) Here are some shots of my favorite 'room".

After sitting for a while on my patio today and watching the boys play, I realized it was beginning to sound like a hail storm around me as our 150 year old oak tree began dropping acorns every few seconds. (It was quite breezy!) It reminded me that autumn is just around the corner. I'm so sad summer is almost over. The pool just closed yesterday, and the kids start school next week. I'll miss the scents of summer: freshly mown grass, suntan lotion, bug spray, grilled burgers, and the smell of a late night fire. I'll also miss some of the sights and sounds of summer: children laughing outside, splashing at the pool, ice cream truck that frequents our neighborhood, kids riding their bikes, flipflops all over my house, dinners on the patio, etc... I'm just glad we got to spend two weeks in Tennessee. It was a great way to end our summer break before heading back to school. I'm sad that my days enjoying the patio will be gone too soon (and then I won't even be able to find it as it will be buried under feet of snow), but I will cherish each last alfresco dinner, and I will grab as many moments of sunshine as I can and store them in my memory. Maybe I can pull them out in February and wear them like a warm coat.

Here are some of my favorite moments from this summer.

Goodbye summer. We'll miss you.

Friends

Tonight I had dinner with my girls. We've been celebrating birthdays together for years, and so tonight we gathered to honor one of the gang. We laughed, we learned (black tongue!), we ate, and we laughed some more (no tears tonight!), and when we got too cold dining under the stars at one restaurant, we moved on to another. We left as they were shutting down.

These are the people who know me better than anyone, except my family. They are the ones who know my strengths and my weaknesses. They know when I'm up and when I'm down. They know when I'm not the best person because I don't have to hide my ugliness from them. They challenge me, sometimes with words, but most of the time just by being who they are. They each have their own gifts and passions. We are all so very different, and yet, that is what makes our time together so rich. They make me want to be a better woman, wife and mother because they are such great women, wives and mothers.

Here are some of my favorite moments together:

• Watching movies at Julie's cabin 'til we can't see straight
• Hearing men's voices in the cabin late at night and being scared to death
• Putting cucumbers on our eyes, highlights in our hair, food in our faces, and fingernail polish all over Laura's brand new outfit at the cabin
• Pool parties at Angie's
• Traipsing through every Goodwill store in the state (slight over exaggeration) on the way to the cabin
• Filling up every chair at the salon for pedicures on my 40th birthday
• Couples' dinners with our hubbies
• Watching our 17 children dig holes, build sandcastles, & chase balloons on the shores of Lake Michigan
• Kidnapping Laura for her birthday and having to dig our way into the cabin in winter
• Play dates when the kids were little (MOPS) and keeping each other from losing our minds
• Bonfires at Jeni's house
• Christmas Eves at Laura's house

I know true friends are a rare treasure, and I am blessed to have found so many. I thank God for friendship and how he has used these dear friends to make my life complete.

Girls, if you are reading this, I love you!

Celebrating Eight Years

While we were traveling to Tennessee, Ellis and Aidan got to do something they've wanted to do for years. They have always wanted to stop at Dinosaur World in Kentucky when we travel south, but because the trip is usually about 14 hours long, we've never done it. This year, we were traveling on their 8th birthday and decided to surprise them. Can you believe it - you get in free on your birthday! What a treat! We spent the night before in a hotel (one of their very favorite things to do) and then spent the next morning looking at dinosaurs. We had a great time and they said it was the best birthday ever! Here are the highlights:

Going Home Again

Today is my first day back after being in my wonderful home state for 2 1/2 weeks. It felt wierd all day being back in the north after having spent so much time down south. Here's what's different:

• I can't seem to lose the southern accent
• For the life of me, I can't keep the house straight (like mom's)
• It was too cold to swim in Wisconsin today
• Nobody has called me "hon" (short for honey) all day
• I didn't have to worry about fighting mosquitoes once
• I haven't had sweet tea in 24 hours
• There's no Sonic half price drinks
• There's no Grandma to do the cooking, clean the laundry or love my children
• There's no family at all (I loved being with my family!)

Reflecting on how much I miss my family and living in the south made me think of some writing I did a few years ago. It paints a picture of what I miss most. I wrote this in my journal on July 4, 2005.

Here I am - my hometown. It's the 4th of July and I've come "home" to be with family. My husband, Ken, left our home in Wisconsin three days ago and headed north to the boundary waters to canoe and fish with friends. Determined not to be left alone with my children for the holiday, I packed us all like sardines into our Toyota Sienna, along with Sadie, the twelve-year-old daughter of a friend, and headed south with promises of fun and adventure.

The South has always been a place to look forward to for me. It's where I was born. It's where I went to school and made friends and fell in love. It's where I spent the 1st half of my life, and it's where all my family is now. I've been gone for 20 years now, but somehow, it still has a hold on me. It made me who I am today, and it's how I still define myself. I'm a Southerner. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but it's a label I wear like a badge of honor.

I've lived in the Midwest now for as long as I lived in the South, and yet, I am not a Midwesterner. And now, when I meet someone from the South, there is an instant comraderie - a quiet understanding that we are part of the same sorority, or should I say cult, where the foods we eat, the beverages we drink, and the words we say set us apart from all the rest. There's just something about the South, and now here I am - home!

Today, we spent the day with family. My siblings and I gathered our 12 children along with grandparents and great-grandparents to swim and celebrate together. I watched as cousins got reacquainted, as aunts and uncles held new nieces and nephews, as grandparents laughed at the adorable antics of grandchildren and as my mom reveled in the togetherness of family. It was a beautiful day full of sunshine, good food and fireworks, and I smiled as I watched my life replaying itself in the lives of my children.

The older children ran around the house in little clusters hunting for one another in a game of hide-and-seek until one by one they came and asked for jars to collect lightning bugs. The smaller children were shouting in delight everytime one would light up, and they would take off, hands in the air, trying to catch one for their collection. The goal - who could get the most in their jar? Just when they didn't think they could run another step, Granny came to the rescue with a batch of homemade vanilla ice cream. We sat on Mom's porch and ate until our teeth hurt from the cold. A sudden quietness fell over us as we relived a night like so many nights that had come before - in our childhood.

I remember the summer nights as a child...when we would gather the neighborhood kids for a huge game of "kick the can". Somehow our yard was always the starting point...Life was simple, neighborhoods were safe and homemade ice cream was always the perfect way to end the evening.

And now, my children run this same playing field, hide in the same bushes and sit on the same porch to catch their breath. They were not born here, and yet, they are southerners just like me. Someday, they might not think so, but for now, that's how I see them.

Well, as the day came to a close, we piled into our cars and headed out in search of fireworks to end our day together. We sat on a blanket in the middle of a dark soccer field. We sprayed bug spray, ate popcorn, and listened to the oohs & aahs of our children with each and every pop. When the show was over, it was one more game of freeze tag for the kids. I just sat back and thought how most people would see this day as boring or "small town", but to me, it was perfect!