Reflecting back on all we packed into summer, I think spending time with my cousin Blaine and his family is definitely one of the top highlights for me. Burke and I attended a very memorable beer festival with Blaine and his wife Erin - memorable due to the thunderstorm and great conversations/connections. Evan and their son Joshua really have a great time playing together. Blaine's mom [my Aunt Carol] and my parents all went out to lunch before they headed home. It was definitely treasured time with extended family.
We went to this ropes course type place, and spent some time discovering muscles we didn't realize we had, and pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones. We all had a blast!
Ryan traversing the bridge!
Evan on a different bridge with different stability and supports
Ryan requested I take a picture of the courses from this view.
Evan clipping in for safety to transition to the next section.
Evan made it across. Now it's my turn!
Evan zip lining to finish the course.
Ryan is tired out!
I declared to Burke that what I'd like as a birthday present is to go visit my dear college friend Jeanette. It turned out that it was easiest to meet in Las Vegas. We spent a couple days together, floating the pool, chatting and chatting, and people-watching on the strip. As we head into another busy school year, when I reach moments of overwhelm, I'm planning to visualize myself in the pool floating and chatting with my good friend to help me recenter. This time with Jeanette was also a treasured highlight of summer.
The boys went to VBS, and enjoyed themselves! Evan attended as a student. Ryan fell into the "helper" age group, and served as an assistant. The theme was Power Up, and they performed a song at church.
We headed to the east side of the state to Frankenmuth, where my Rittmuller [mom's dad's family] roots run deep. We spent a few hours at a reunion, familiarizing ourselves with extended family and talking about family history. Below are my mom's aunts and uncle, her father's siblings. Her father [my grandfather] is Walter. We called him Poppa. He passed away in 2007. Another brother, Gibby, is no longer living. These 5 siblings had 18 total children, 10 of which attended this reunion - so those are my mom and her siblings/cousins. A few of their children, including me, attended as well. Since there were also little one's of Ryan & Evan's generation there - I guess that makes 4 generations of Rittmuellers!
After the reunion we walked up and down Main Street, which is touristy, but fun.
After exploring a bit, we headed back to our car along this pleasant walkway along the Cass River.
Summer is really drawing to close!
Time to gear up for new school year adventures.
