Summer....winding down!

I have mentioned that this summer has been extraordinary and though, uneventful in many ways, truly bizarre in other ways. We have spent our first summer ever at our home in Michigan. Well, we spent it at times at the cottage and times at Heidi's home. Here is Richard playing with our youngest grandchild, Layne at the cottage. We have been very very happy to have had lots of time with family this summer. Makes me laugh and smile. Consider this once, type A executive, bathing and putting to bed four children under 7 and it has to make YOU laugh!! Grandma gives a mean bath in the kitchen sink...which I was told was not appropriate for a 9 month old!

We also spent ten days enjoying concerts and bands in various parks around Caseville during "Cheeseburger," a Jimmy Buffet tribute. I even volunteered one evening and met some of Caseville's movers and shakers...and one entirely creepy drunk man who had his fist in my face and a male stranger, a dwarf, came to my immediate defense and helped me get rid of the imbecile.

While at a concert with Kristin's three children, and Chase, Heidi and Chris' son, I was able to watch the three older kids kick back and dance their hearts out in front of the stage. At one point, I had to heard the kids away because there were so many adult dancers, I lost sight of them and was a tad concerned that they would get stomped to death...NOT on my watch!

Chase clearly is a smart young man as seen here with his MSU sweatshirt on. He knows the real Michigan University!!

Oh, and one of my tasks has been training and teaching grandkids a variety of things...best yet, how to wipe one's crack rather than one's hip! Two five year old boys start kindergarden this year and neither can wipe the crack!! I have also taught and the grandkids have learned to make fried dough, make jam, can veggies, use chorizo, make a frittata, freeze fruits for the winter and oh, so many more things that I hope the kids will remember when we are long gone. The little boys went to their first concerts, heard their first bands and ate many new foods. Wishing my older grandson were here and missing my son very much though he is successfully navigating his new job and beginning his new studies at the University of Alaska in Juneau.

Missing friends and missing our home in Florida but being eternally grateful that I have had the time to watch our home addition being built; time with the girls and their families and for the first time ever in my adult life...six or more weeks with NO work. Makes me nuts but learning that I can do nothing all day very successfully! Missing wandering and trying to finalize upcoming work in Yemen and go to Rwanda again the end of September. Looking forward to seeing my five teams of guys I worked with a few months ago and will again stay with my good friend Eddie who works for the US Embassy in Kigali.

Our only bad news is that we may have to have Paco put down...he is having serious back issues and is in pain. Quality of life, his and ours, is at risk due to his inability to walk or climb the stairs. We shall see. Heidi is off with me to the Mayo Clinic in less than two weeks now and we are looking forward to meeting neurological experts galore...and praying for answers.

More soon.....