family retreat

During the Easter celebration at my mom's house this year, my cousins Maria, Kelsey, and Emma approached me with a couple of requests. They wanted to know if I could help them make two things happen: 1. a family weekend away at a state park inn, and 2. a family beach vacation. Over the weekend, we made their first request happen. (The second is in the works for next summer, with Matt and Katie taking over the planning, with my gratitude.)

Gah, these girls! My heart can't take it.

Believe it or not, Easter was actually kind of late to be planning a summer weekend at one of the state park inns, and most of them were already booked up, so we ended up pushing it to this late September weekend and picking Potawatomi Inn at Pokagon State Park based on availability alone. We have stayed here before, though, with the Kruyers and Holidays, so we knew we would have plenty of fun and a variety of things to do. Mike and Henry opted to stay with the doggos and work on projects around the house, so the Fort contingent was me, Max, and Liam.

sandhill crane

Lake Lonidaw

The way the timing worked out, most of us arrived on Friday, September 20, my sixteenth anniversary, and also the first anniversary of Gramps dying. That made it a little bittersweet, but I have to say it was heavy on the sweet and light on the bitter. Gramps was very clear in his last days that his biggest worry was that our family would drift apart after he was gone, so I can think of no better way to honor him than a collection of his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren making the effort to spend a weekend away together for no particular occasion or holiday, but just because we like and enjoy each other.

Anyway, the participants this time around were my mom and dad; Kent and Maria; Mike; Laura, Kelsey, Emma, Jimmy, Gracie, and Elly; and me, Liam, and Max. A good crowd. Not so big as to be overwhelming, but big enough to keep it interesting. I opted to get up early both mornings to watch the sun rise, and Laura, Emma, Gracie, and Elly joined me both days, with Maria coming along on Saturday morning. We all had breakfast together at the inn dining room Saturday morning (and a smaller group of us did Sunday morning, while others opted to go into town for doughnuts instead). The kids went swimming in the lake and in the indoor pool, played ping-pong in the game room, and spent a LOT of time in the library playing board games. A bunch of us went to the craft room Saturday afternoon to paint some wooden items (mine is a birdhouse, of course). Saturday night we took over one of the lounges to watch the Notre Dame game. Sunday morning turned out to be the annual Seaplane Splash-In, so we got to see a bunch of seaplanes taking off and landing. You get the idea.

All in all, it was a lovely, relaxing weekend. This is my favorite kind of family gathering: no holiday pressure, no specific traditions to observe, just plenty of time to spend with people I love, talking and laughing and doing as we please. I would do this all the time if I could.

sixteen

Somehow I doubt that Mike believed me when I told him that 16 is the bird anniversary (modern, of course; traditional is wax, believe it or not), but he humored me anyway and bought me the Lego bird set I've been hankering for. And that, friends, sort of encapsulates the past 16 years. We are weirdos, but we're each weird in a way that's perfect for the other. We are imperfect, but we're each imperfect in a way that is charming to the other. We are funny and sarcastic and earnest and nerdy and sometimes overwhelmed and willing to engage on any topic with each other. We aren't perfect, but we fit perfectly together. Happy anniversary, Mike. I'm so glad we're on this trip together.

P.S. The modern gift for 16 years is silver hollowware, whatever the heck that is. Give me something nerdy over that any day!

smash cancer night

Last night was the annual Smash Cancer Night for tennis. The players spent the past few weeks calling companies to ask for donations/sponsorships, and they managed to raise $1,500 this year for cancer research. Each of the players got to pick the color of his shirt to represent a certain type of cancer and/or to honor someone, and Liam picked gold for bladder cancer to honor Gramps. Oh my heart.

one last glimpse

After he sold Indiana Motor Bus Company, my great-grandpa started a car dealership, Jeffirs Motor Company. Once Gramps got old enough, he went to work for his dad. Here's how he describes it in his obituary, which he wrote himself:

In 1950, Mike began working part time at Jeffirs Motor Company, his father's car agency. After high school graduation, he continued working there while attending the South Bend College of Commerce. In late 1953, Mike volunteered for the draft at the age 19. He served active duty from January 1954 to January 1956. Back home in 1956, he returned to work at Jeffirs Motor Company, working at every position from car washer to president for a total of 23 years.

Grandpa Jeff died in 1976 (when I was two years old), and the following year, Gramps decided it was time to part ways with the car dealership. Again, his own words:

In early 1977, Mike decided he had seen all the cars he ever needed to see and sold the agency.

I'm not sure exactly what happened to the car dealership business after 1977, but the building itself remained, on Jefferson Street near Dairy Queen in Plymouth. Until today, that is. Today they started demolition on the building, and in the process we discovered something wonderful: The new owners, back in 1977, decided to cover the building with an aluminum facade instead of repainting the exterior. So when they took down the facade today and started the demolition, we got to see the original signage one last time.

I drove the boys over there after school to show them, and Henry was sad at the half-torn-down building until I reminded him how special it is to have this unexpected and firsthand glimpse into our history. It touched me deeply to see it, and I know it brought back all kinds of memories for my mom and her brothers and sisters. What a gift.

henry at ten

Friends, it's official: We've managed to shepherd each of our children into double digits, because today Henry is 10. Can you believe it? We certainly can't.

At 10, our Henry is a walking inquisitor. If there's a topic he's interested in, he asks all the questions he can think of, and then comes up with some follow-up questions for good measure. And believe me, he is interested in a LOT of things. He'll ask about politics, current events, lawn maintenance and gardening, history, the benefits of using a credit card versus a debit card, and of course, video games. He's so eager to learn anything and everything he can get his hands on and wrap his mind around. It's a joy to watch, even if it is a little exhausting to participate in.

Henry is just starting fourth grade, making him one of the elder statesmen in his (k-4) school. He's come so far from the kid who led a warring faction against another group in first grade. Now, for the most part, he's kind and helpful to his fellow students, and he loves nothing better than helping a friend figure out how to solve a particularly challenging problem in math (or any other subject, really). He has the same teacher this year (Mrs. U) he had in first grade too, and she has remarked more than once on how much he's grown (she means figuratively, though he has grown quite literally too).

Henry's favorite things are spending time playing video games and watching YouTube, riding his bike, playing with the dogs, and building Lego Architecture sets. Every flat surface in his room (shelves, bookcases, dressers, his wardrobe) is covered in treasures, including the Lego sets, model cars from Gramps, oversized chess pieces, folded paper stars, and paperweights. You name it. His room is basically a garage sale waiting to happen, and he loves it.

Like any younger brother, Henry spends a lot of his energy trying to keep up with his older brothers. It's frustrating to him that he can't do all the things they do, or have the same freedoms. It's doubly frustrating because Liam and Max's best friends are brothers, but there are only two kids in their family, so Henry feels like the odd man out when the older boys have friends over. Henry hasn't quite reached that stage of having sleepovers and friend parties yet (though he's getting to be about the age Max was when he started), but he's definitely aware enough to feel left out. We're working on it.

As you can see from his green mop of hair, Henry's not afraid to try new things. He's bold and brave and smart, he loves to travel, and he makes us laugh every day. We're so proud to be the parents of this outstanding 10-year-old, and we can't wait to see what his second decade brings.

Happy birthday, Henry!

holding on to summer

It's just so pretty right now. I know it won't be long until fall hits with a vengeance, but for right now, there's still plenty a-blooming here at CFHQ. The front porch looks downright lush, and our back fence is covered in morning glories that somehow miraculously the dogs haven't eaten or torn down. Behold!

glass-tastrophe

Liam called today from tennis practice.

"Mom, can you bring my extra pair of glasses to the court? I'm okay, but my glasses ... not so much."

Turns out he was running and just (I guess) didn't see a bench and tripped over it and went skidding across the court on his face. ON HIS FACE. Look at these glasses! All I can think is that would have been his eyes if he hadn't been wearing them.

Luckily, I bought a warranty when we got the glasses, so I just brought the spares to the tennis courts, collected the broken ones, and drove them straight to the optometrist's office to ask for a replacement. So all's well that ends ... without scraped-up eyeballs.