What a summer!

It's been quite a summer! Almost two years ago we surprised Mom for her 70th birthday. This year was Dad's 70th birthday. When Mom had her birthday, I blogged that we'd have to celebrate Dad's birthday a year early or a year late to surprise him. Well, that didn't happen. We were trying to set a date for his party. His birthday is July 27th. It didn't suit everyone to have his birthday then. We settled on June 29th. It worked perfectly! Mom's sister, Ruby, and her husband, Dale, came to visit them for the weekend. They told Mom that they wanted to spend time with each of us kids. They made the rounds to everyone's house. Donna conveniently invited them to come down on Sunday. Dale & Ruby didn't mind being used to get Dad down to Richard & Donna's house. It was so fun to see Dad's face when everyone filed into the pews behind them at church. I still can't believe that a) we all made it and pulled it off and b) we surprised him!
Mom, Dad, & us 5 kids.
Ruby, Mom, Dad, & Dale
It would have been nice to have pictures of the whole family. It was starting to rain, though, so we were happy to get the pictures that we did. Harold & Carol Uhl, our neighbors from 1970 to 1981 even stopped by to wish Dad happy birthday.


Brenda, Phyllis, & I had fun surprising Elaine with a cooking class for her birthday. We told her to wear clothes that she didn't mind getting dirty (true) with closed-toe shoes (true) because we were going spelunking (not true). I acted like I let it slip that we were going to go traipsying through a cave. This is NOT Elaine's idea of a good time. Brenda played right along, acting like I had really let the cat out of the bag. She acted like she was really upset that I let it slip. I'm not that good of an actress, though. Elaine was really quiet, looking down at her soup. She finally looked up and said, "I really hate picking peas." She was quite happy, though, when we walked up to Sur la Table and she realized what we really going on. Our teacher was very good and the four of us were the only ones in the class. We learned how to make French desserts.


It was really nice to be home for Red, White, & Boom on July 3rd. It's one of those things that I love to do in Columbus. We've also been to Schiller Park a couple of times for free Shakespeare. We got free Ohio State Fair tickets. The Fair isn't as fun as it used to be when we were young and crazy. Brian & I did, however, break the mouse roller-coaster/whirly ride. He denies it, but I still think that Brian prayed for that to happen. It didn't go around as it went up and down the hills. He's not so pumped up about rides that go around and around and around. He was a good sport, though, to go with me.

We've been cleaning out the storage shed that we've had for 7 years. WOW! What a job! We are astounded at the stuff we've been paying to store for so long! We are having a humongous garage sale on Sept. 4, 5, & 6 if anyone needs anything. Come on over!


Last week Brenda & I drove to Michigan to spend two nights in a cabin with Jenni & her family. Jenni's sister, Rachel, go married in Indiana on August 9th (Congratulations, Rachel!). We spent Tuesday sitting by Lake Michigan watching the boys play in the sand. It was Hannah's first trip to the beach. She didn't really seem to enjoy it. I'll have pictures later. It was so good to actually spend some time with her family! It's always good to see Jenni, too.


This summer was Grandma Helmuth's 90th birthday, Dad's 70th birthday, and Brian's Dad's 60th birthday. We left Columbus yesterday, knowing that T.S. Fay was pounding Florida with rain. We were very happy that we were able make it down. We were a bit anxious about flights being cancelled, but our flights were both on time. We had no difficulties. However, the landing was one of those where everyone clapped when the pilot actually got the plane on the ground. We had one nice drop that I enjoyed, but some people screamed. When we actually were landing the plane was rocking back and forth quite a bit. They were just getting people ready to go ride roller coasters! We worked Tuesday night and only slept on the planes. When we got here we were quite tired, so we were in bed by 9:30. Brian woke up (and woke me up) at 4. Oh well, we're on vacation. We'll just take a nap this afternoon. Claire & Arlene picked us up at the airport and brought us over to Brian's parents' house. Larry was sitting at the table eating when we walked in. It was so fun to see his face when he saw that it was us! We're taking him out to eat tonight and then having a bigger party on Saturday. Brian said that we're not flying anywhere for any more surprise birthday parties. (See blog about Mom's 70th birthday.) He already told his mom that we'd be here for her 60th. The county just southeast of where we're at is being seriously flooded right now by T.S. Fay. It's raining here, but no flooding yet. The schools in Seminole County aren't even closed today, so it must not be too bad out there. It's supposed to rain through Friday. They really needed the rain here, though. We're looking forward to a relaxing weekend with family and friends.


As you can see, this summer has been a great one to reconnect with friends and family. Does it get any better?