Friday, July 30, 2010

A Visit with the Warrens!

What a treat!  Michelle and Dave Warren were back in Ohio visiting Dave's family.   They managed to get away for a day to spend some time in NW Ohio.  How fun to spend an evening with them.  It was way too short, but how inspiring to hear their philosophy of family vacations, Michelle's new work in public policy and the excitement of getting a bill passed in Colorado. 

And what a reminder of the blessing of health after hearing of Michelle's challenges the past year.

Oak Openings

We had a fun hike through Oak Openings.  Laura came along with us on the Sand Dunes trail -- and Rania didn't stop every few feet to get sand out of her crocks! 

Despite the heat, it was a nice walk in such a beautiful setting.  The girls were also eager to pet the few dogs we encountered on our walk. 

We are definitely lucky to have such a nice park so close by.

Year in Birthdays


Instead of trying to keep track of all our cousins birthdays and try to buy gifts ahead, hopefully remember to have then taken out at the appropriate time, and try to make sure everyone has their birthday presents on time, in the great wisdom of the adults, it was decided to have the Year in Birthdays -- the cousins version.

So the Woodwards gave all their gifts to the Sandlin and Quockert kids for the year, and the Woodward kids received their birthday presents for the year. (Gabi wasn't feeling so good -- so she didn't make the picture from this angle.)

What a fun day -- and even a cake and lots of good times to go with it.

Laura also decided that Rania needed to have a "photo shoot" so she made up Rania's hair and directed a photo shoot -- telling Rania how to hold her hands and how to look as we took pictures around the house. (If only we had a photographer who knew what he was doing!)

Monday, July 26, 2010

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Slip'N Slide

Back in Ohio, Aunt Carrie and Uncle Perry got the Slip'N Slide out again. How fun!

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Indianapolis

 
After Iowa, we headed to Indianapolis, where we were able to spend some time with friends.

It, as always, was a huge blessing to stay with Amy & Doug and for our kids to get to play with their kids. It was also lots of fun to see the Vanests and their new baby. The time went way too fast, and much of it was spent working on our house, which we would desperately like to sell. A bit of landscaping, some cleaning, and some sorting of our things made for a busy day.


Unfortunately, we lost several hours due to a bit of an adventure when Rania stuck a bead up her nose instead of on the craft she was making. After a call to Dr. Gil, we realized a trip to the emergency room was necessary -- so several hours and $383 later, we were very grateful that all was clear. Once the doctor came in with the right tool, the bead was out within a few seconds. It might have been easier, except for the hole in the middle of the bead, which meant she couldn't blow it out her nose. Even Tracy's attempt at one nostril mouth-to-mouth couldn't get the bead out. But it is a good technique to have for any future beads in the nose.


It was good to have some time with good friends. And how fun to see our kids pick up with their friends so quickly and rapidly.

Fireworks!


Aaron, David and Kristen helped us have a wonderful evening with some fun fireworks.  They had some smoke bombs and a bunch of other fireworks which were lots of fun for our kids as we got to watch the big ones. 




We had a fire, got to grill hot dogs and had lots of fun playing with sparklers before Aaron, David & Kristen lit off some bigger fireworks. 

Family Reunion Photos

Thanks to Grandpa Levi, we had a celebration at Bangor Liberty Friends Church to connect with everyone.  There were family photos for each group, groups, parents, kids, and grandkids.  Then grandpa led us in a wonderful celebration and brief introductions of what we were all doing. 



Some of the fun photos of the day.

Scenes on the Farm

How fun to spend time on the farm.

One night provided a spectacular rainbow.

Uncle Ray's Farm



A lot of time during our visit was spent just down the road at Uncle Ray's farm. The girls were crazy about seeing the new kittens that had just been born on the form. So they had lots of fun going down and petting, holding, playing, and just seeing the kittens. Several times a day, they would make the trip down the road to see the kittens.

Aunt Robin had planned a celebration in honor of Ray's 60th birthday (from the winter), and everyone got to tell stories about what happened to Uncle Ray -- and Reeve jumped right up and told the story of when Ray had taken some twine out of the bailer, thought he would be in trouble, and went and hid under a car in the barn. After hours of searching, the sheriff, the neighbors and everyone was looking for little Ray (at the age of 4 or 5). He was finally found sound asleep and quite fine.


Uncle Ray let all the grandkids drive his huge tractor, and took them for a ride in a semi. Auntie Marta and Tracy also had the chance to drive along in the semi -- with lots of room for everyone in the two beds in the back. He also let us see the combine and some of his other huge equipment he uses to farm. What a treat to spend some time on the farm!

My oh my, the tires sure are HUGE!

Fun on the Farm

As part of the reunion, there was a lot of soccer played in the yard next to Grandpa Levi's house. The kids sure did have fun playing. Reeve trying to take on his opponents; Micah kicking (and sometimes hitting the ball), and Auntie Tasha trying to be a superstar in the goal. Doug was quite super sad that his knee injury prevented him from playing, but the Aunties (and Uncle Mark) sure took care of the kids with endless soccer matches. We even got to catch some of the quarterfinals of the World Cup between matches.


It was also lots of fun to see cousins (Gabi with Mark Willits) and spend time with Grandpa Levi and Grandma Ramona.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Friday, July 16, 2010

Hilarious sayings

Auntie Tasha took Reeve, Daniel and Eli on a special outing to see the Karate Kid II.

Conversations overheard in the backseat,

Eli: "When we went to the cemetery, we saw our great-great-great-great grandfather."

Reeve: "Did you dig up the body?"

Eli: (matter-of-factly) "No."


-----------
(later). Grandpa Levi gave each grandchild and great-grandchild a very, very generous gift.

Reeve: "I am going to save the money forever and ever, until I get to heaven."

Eli: "Yea, I am going to save the money until I get to heaven too. Then I'm going to run for President of heaven.

(pause)

Eli: "Oh, wait. I think Jesus is already President of heaven."

Horses!


Thanks to Grandpa Levi & Grandma Ramona, they arranged for a horse to come over and for the girls to ride the horse. My oh my, did they have fun. After a bit of practice, they even got to ride with reins.


Plenty of time to pose with pictures! Nothing like a horse and some girls to burn film!

Iowa Reunion

What a great time with the 2010 Willits Family reunion. We had lots of fun being together as a family, as well as meeting new members of the family, spouses of cousins whom Doug had not yet met.

How fun to see Grandpa driving all the kids in the riding lawn mower.
It was also a spectacular time to play with cousins! Gabi & Rania even got to meet Ally -- their second cousin, and they had a LOT of fun with Ally while Reeve played a lot with his cousins.


It was also great to see Uncle Don & Aunt Lynn after too long apart! They even gave up their traditional 4th of July boat parade for the first time in modern history to be a part of the reunion.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Nappanee

We had an absolutely wonderful time returning to the scene of the crime -- to Nappanee, Indiana, where we were married 11 years ago this summer.

The obvious highlight was getting to see friends and Tracy had an absolutely great time with Dina & Heather, as well as many, many others of her friends from her years in Nappanee.


We had the privilege of staying with Heather & Ken -- and their kids were so incredibly gracious to give up their rooms so we could use their beds. It was so fun to see our kids hit it off immediately as though they were long lost friends.

We also got to see Dina & Matt's house and spend an afternoon with them. It was absolutely spectacular weather -- even a bit chilly, and to celebrate Tracy's birthday (and homecoming), Heather had invited some of Tracy's best friends from her 5 years in Nappanee. Lots of stories were shared, memories were retold and new ones were created. Tears were also shed, and the timelessness of great friendships was proven true once again. Thanks to Ken, we had a great BBQ, and everyone chipped in some incredibly delicious food as we ate and ate and laughed and laughed.



Gabriella, of course, found the new puppy and Dina's two dogs to be life-long friends and spent hours and hours with dogs. After a couple of initial scares -- accidentally dropping the little puppy, she learned how to hold the puppy better and was his constant companion. Gabi also made sure to tell us how well she had trained Dina's dogs who would come to her when she called and slapped her knees, (It worked out well since the dogs are in obedience competitions.)

We were also able to return to the chapel where we were married and reenacted the kiss that sealed our marriage -- though our kids didn't seem quite as interested and were were surprised how small the chapel seemed without any chairs or in the excitement of the moment.