"What's the Most Fun Thing you Did this Summer?"

This post is inspired by a question that I asked the kids in our Unit Study group when we met for the first time this school year. The question was then turned on me by one of the other moms. Of course, summer has been full of many pleasurable activities, so my answer was not easy to come by. Because of the rarity of being able to spend long periods of time with my siblings, I chose "having my brother and his two boys come to Indiana". I'll share some pictures with you, and a developing theme from the week.

This is the little guy, Mitchell, who started our theme from the week with his desires for Sundaes. I had chosen to stop at a unique Ice Cream and Sandwich shop in Upland called Ivanhoes, and that is where the fun all began. This is my one and only "little" brother, Clyde. I have four older brothers too. The kids exploring and having fun back at our place. You might remember Spike from my very first post :-) Mitchell was also amazing at "hot peppering" the volleyball. Clyde and Michael played a little basketball in the hay mow of the barn. A little farming experience was in order. Both a ride on the tractor on our farm and a visit to a local Amish farm. Schmuchers One more farm experience was visiting Joel at his house, where he is raising cattle. Unfortunately, they had a bit of sickness on the farm that day. Our newest member of the extended family is Joel's dog, Stewart. We made a stop at the Woodburn Dairy Sweet on the way home to get a "sundae", of course. I got to cut my nephew Matthews lovely locks. Can you imagine that burning trash was one of the most fun things that they did. I guess they don't get to do that in Lake Oswego, Oregon :-). They don't get to pump their own gas either, so my brother offered to do that the first chance he hand. Unfortunately he was an amateur at that and sprayed himself with gas...poor guy. Of course playing games was also a highlight. Uno for the younger kids and Scrabble for the older ones. Our last refreshing stop was at Alexander's in Noblesville, after a bike ride through the woods near the White River. After leaving Indiana we traveled to Kentucky for my nephew's wedding. This is Ted and Becca. He is named after my dad. :-) Clyde, Steve and I and my brother Jared and his wife (parents of the groom). We spent two days at Six Flags in Louisville after the wedding. The "icy" tradition must continue on there. After the Weisses returned home to Oregon I had these t-shirts made for all of us, in memory of the wonderful time. If you made it to the end, I'll have to tell you one more thing :-) I started this post the middle September, but I thought that I lost it, until I started another one last night and found it in my drafts. Oh, sometimes I feel so inept at this and wonder why I go through the effort. So, I hope you enjoyed my lengthly post--no apologies there--I wanted to post a couple of more photos, but I think I reached my limit. Because it won't let me get anymore. Maybe I'll figure that out next time. Family is a blessing and so are my dear friends. I love you.