Week 22--Tim McGraw & the Maine Gang

Tuesday, May 31st

We took Rocco out for his family birthday dinner.  Our closest Outback closed permanently before Covid, so we've been driving half an hour to the next closest since restrictions lifted.  We were all set to leave when Maddy texted, "Enfield Outback is permanently closed."

Shoot!!!  Now what??  All I can say is we are innocent in any part of their demise; we did our fair share of contributing to the franchise!  We scrambled to find another local birthday tradition spot.  Not sure it'll stick, but we all loved our evening together celebrating the newest teenager!

He's sooooo excited to be on xBox playing Fort Nite with friends.  Finally!

Wednesday, June 1st

He finished assembling his Lego gift from David.  The Lego head on his shirt happened to look like part of it.

Thursday, June 2nd

Fresh from the neighbors' yard.

Rocco and I played an epic game, ending with only one tile left in the pile!

Date night: Tim McGraw concert.  

Friday, June 3rd

We got wet, but it was still a lovely walk with Lisa.

Trevor had the day off so I decided to surprise the 3 littles with a quick half day at Six Flags; first time of the season.  My hope was to hit it before schools are out and therefore deal with little to no crowds.  That plan would have worked except on the first Friday in June every year, there is a HUGE "Music in the Park" festival.  There were thousands of middle and high school band and choir groups from all over Southern New England there.  We still had a great time and hit a handful of the bigger rides early, before the crowds grew.  Renna is now tall enough for every ride in the park!

Renna had a random Friday night game.  Manchester vs. Berlin.  After, we went to grab pizza with 8 or so families from the two towns that overlap on our CFC team. 

Saturday, June 4th

Game #1, bright and early!

Game #2.

We surprised Juliet at her work and grabbed lunch.

After 20+ years, I served my last Saturday night in the nursery.  Leadership has decided to dissolve Saturday night services.  This decision greatly impacts our family for multiple reasons.  I have many feelings and words around it, but it's all still too fresh to comment on without saying something I might regret.

Sunday, June 5th

It had been a very long time (2.5 years) since we'd seen any of the Maine gang.  Nick and Katie, who live close to the halfway point, hosted a beautiful picnic so we could all reconnect.  We missed Jon, Annie, and the girls, but everyone else was there and it was so good to connect, meet 3 new cousins, and enjoy a beautiful day together!

And finally...just an old favorite that popped up in memories.

Week 21--Memorial Day Weekend

Monday, May 23rd

Trevor's best bud, Jack, was playing his last baseball game of the season so I took Trevor to watch him play.  

My shrub roses are bursting and both Rocco and Renna love walking the yard with my camera.

Tuesday, May 24th

Renna's getting better with her hair skills.

Usually this is a welcomed, happy sight, but this year I only see dollar signs.  We need to replace the liner and diving board; not a surprise to us.  Like all home projects, it's like pulling a thread on a sweater.  We've had multiple ideas, plans, people, budgets, quotes, solutions presented to us.  For now, I think we've landed on a conservative option to get us up and running again.  I'm crossing fingers the work is done by July 1.

First dinner on the back deck this season.  Taco Tuesday!  Just missing Nathanael who was in Boston for the day with his friends.

Wednesday, May 25th

Renna woke up sick and spent the day here.  Thankfully it was just a standard 12-hour bug.

Isaac came over to do Colombo's office floor since Colombo was out of the office all day.  Done with the very orange, splintering, worn-out old and dated!  Now I really want to paint the built-ins and desk.

I'm not sure how "Boys, help Isaac pack up his tools and clean up the mess for him" turns into karate, but it does.

Thursday, May 26th

No picture, but I fully enjoyed our Girls' Night Out.

Friday, May 27th

Lisa and I and the dogs walked.  We pretty much had the path to ourselves!  So grateful her body and the weather permit such a luxury!

At youth group, Nathanael was surprised to learn that he would be hosting a "Get to Know Your New Youth Pastor" type of interview.

Saturday, May 28th

A Memorial Day Weekend soccer tournament for Renna meant 5 games in 3 days, 3 very early mornings, lots of sitting and waiting between games, lots of cousin / friend time.  I had Harlem for the day and he was a hit!

Bob and Jules invited us over for dinner after church, so we all worked together to set up outside.

Only to have to change course minutes later because of the weird weather.

Sunday, May 29th

There's another teenager in the house!!!!  I'll post separately.

Renna and I were at the field bright and early.  Again.  Mercifully two strategic trees provided shade to the two team benches.

Lisa sent me some pictures of my boys in action.  Every single Sunday, they get up hours before they'd like and faithfully choose to serve in Kids Church.

Hopefully they sufficiently embarrassed him for his birthday!

I'm going to include Monday since it was part of the holiday weekend and the end of Renna's tournament.

Monday, May 30th

I'm not one to blame losses on reffing or judges or make excuses for coming in less than first place, BUT...

I can't even begin to express the poor, poor reffing.  In the end we fell 5-3.  In my heart it should've been 3-3, had the ref had a clue!  He was terrible and threatened the parents that if he heard anything further from the sides, that he would forfeit our team!  So our girls took 2nd place.  The medals were a nice consolation.  They played a year up, meaning our 10-year team played in an 11-year old bracket of bigger, stronger, more experienced girls.  This was our first loss of the season.  They took it in stride and learned some good lessons over the weekend about digging deep, coming from behind, and never giving up!

We scooted home to scoop everyone up and headed down to Harkness for a Top 10 day!  The weather, the view, the food, the company!  Wow!  I brought extras of course!  Mason A. and the Cour kids joined us for the day!