Summer at Lake Bella Vista officially kicked off over Memorial Day Weekend a few weeks ago with family. We had perfect weather and spent most of our time sitting in the sun, playing in the sand and tubing behind the boat. We also golfed a round at Sunnybrook that Sunday morning as well as played a handful of rounds of ‘birdie-ball’ back at the lake. It was great to be back cruising on the pontoon for happy hour and sitting around the campfire with family again.
A week later the kids wrapped on their 2022-2023 school year with a bang! After a half day at school, I scooped them up for an afternoon of fun with friends. First, at Reeds Lake at the GR Yacht Club with schoolmates for pizza and popsicles. Later for happy hour on the porch with neighbors followed by a swift change of clothes for dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Kladder at One Bourbon before checking out the Lantern Festival at John Ball Zoo.
The Lantern Festival both awed and disappointed. We were all a little bummed that the animals were tucked away for the evening, but we did think that the lights were pretty cool - especially as it got darker. We had never seen the zoo so full of visitors and assume that the event was a huge success and predict that it’ll be back again in the near future.
Before school let out for the summer the kids finished up a handful of fun activities including a couple field trips. I was able to chaperon Natalie’s trip to Fredrick Meijer Gardens for a lesson on edible plants. The kids taste tested dill and carrots and spent time examining the plants like they would if they were scientists. We later explored the children’s garden where the kids ran off all their remaining energy before lunch at the nearby township park.
Thomas visited the Critter Barn with his classroom for their year end trip and told us his favorite part was milking a goat. As I’m looking through the photos to post and share with you all I’m feeling pretty grateful for the opportunities our kids get to experience on these field trips, because I’m personally not striving to farm edible plants or raise goats in our backyard here in the city.
Thomas also capped off his Run Club season with the Mighty Mile Race at GRCS High School. It was fun to watch Thomas and his buddies run the one mile race together and see their excitement in receiving their honorary medals. The energy was high as the organizers blasted upbeat music and parents cheered on their runners. There were good vibes everywhere.
In other news, we now own a fish. It’s been a long time coming after Natalie’s ongoing campaign for a pet. For the record, we love animals - we just don’t want to own one. When the kids ask me… I tell them to ask their Dad. And when they ask Jeff, he’s usually rock solid in listing the reasons why we don’t have one: mostly because we aren’t home during the day - Jeff and I both work and the kids are at school or daycare. He’ll explain we’re gone too much on the weekends and that mom (me) is allergic to cats, which is the absolute truth. So the ask quickly turned to a fish. And Natalie must have caught Jeff in the right mood because hours later we found ourselves at Petco picking out $150 worth of fish stuff - fish included.
The saga continues… the next morning, not 24 hours after the fish was settled in its new home… we found ourselves with a lifeless Beta. And before we could even process how we’d killed it Natalie scooped out the fish, flushed it down the mudroom toilet and asked when we could go to purchase a new one. Both shocked and sort of impressed by her lack of sadness, we agreed we’d head back to Petco after church and pick out a new one. Later that day Jeff did a bit more reading on how one should balance the water chemicals in a fish tank before dropping Stone II (named after the late Stone the first) into his new, safe habitat. The kids are thrilled to feed the fish each day and I’ve actually really enjoyed watching Stone II flit around the tank while I’m working in the kitchen. He’s very pretty with his long flowing fins.
A quick fish follow up story: after a few days and some heavy convincing… Thomas is finally using the mudroom bathroom again. He was worried he was going to the bathroom on a dead fish.
This past weekend I celebrated 36-years of life on this earth while working out of town in Chicago for my 8th NeoCon Show at the Merchandise Mart. This year the team and I covered three different projects including a couple segments for our quarterly sales broadcast, three promos for social media (showing now on instagram!) and a series of videos for an internal audience, all covering the show. Steelcase and Halcon (a Steelcase acquisition that was announced one year ago this week) both won awards for our curved conferencing tables and overall, the event was a great success.
While in town I was able to celebrate my birthday with both my co-workers as well as with one of my oldest friends, Cassie, who lives there. Cassie and I went to grade school together and she was also my maid of honor in our wedding. I blew out a couple candles and made wishes that I hope come true!
And with summer upon us, golf season is in full swing. Both Jeff and I are well into our perspective leagues on Wednesday and Thursday nights and Thomas began his once a week junior golf program at Watermark as well. In addition to our league commitments, we do are best to incorporate golf into our weekends including fun outings with friends as well as family golf with the kids after church on Sunday afternoons.
The rest of June is carefully planned with both adventure and relaxation beginning with our annual camping trip to Silver Lake with friends this weekend. The mudroom is currently piled high with totes filled with flashlights and s’more supplies and we’re counting down the hours until we can tune out and slow down for a few days. We wish you the same bit of summer enjoyment and relaxation. Until next time!