July Goal Update!

I don't know about you but I am more than ready for August. July is a busy work month and all of the kids had things going on too. We finished strong with the County Fair and now we have Daryl's 4-H Exchange happening. I have been doing nothing the past few weeks except check to do items off of the list. 

I am ready for some days in my sewing room just working on my quilt and my clothes projects. I'm ready for some me time! 

Read 24 Books 12/24

Finished two book in July. Both fiction and I loved both of them! 

The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah has been on my library hold list for a couple of months. I now know why there were so many people in line to read it. It was a great story about sisters during the German invasion of France in WWII. The full circle at the end was a masterpiece. Truly a book I wished wasn't ending. Check it out at the library, it is worth the wait. 

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn was my second book for the month and I just finished it today. I picked up this great read at the Library book sale for $2. Worth every penny. It was a who done it, in a small town. Very messed up family, made you keep reading when you should have gone to bed. 

Run 650 Miles 328/650

I ran 40 miles in July. The two weeks it was so hot and muggy, I lost my will to run. However, as of this morning, it is back! Ya for some early morning runs in less that 80 degree weather! 

Money Goals

Fund 3-6 month ER Fund- Done April 2025! Yay for selling my house! 

Pay off Car - Done April 2025! Yay for selling my house! 

UFOs (unfinished objects) that need Finished 

T-Shirt Quilt (have the shirts)

Alpaca Quilt Nada in July 

Placemats - Done April 2025 

Alex and Daryl Photo Books 2021-I got both boys 2021 books done in May! 2022-Got Daryl's done in June! Halfway through Alex's. 

Now a random photo dump!

Did I mention I went to my first Transit conference in July? It was in Kansas City so I got to drive there and get cute stickers in my goody bag!

This is a great read!

Alex practicing his serve in the driveway? 

In July, indoor pickleball is the way to go! 

At the fair I ran into my old 4-H dog club crew, They are all in college or graduated from college! Successful young women that all used to be shorter than me. 😀

2025 Shawnee County Fair

 Today, we put everything away for the 2025 Shawnee County Fair. It is not as much work as it was when I worked in 4-H but it is still some long days and LOTS of steps! This was the first fair since my first one 14 years ago when I didn't have any Meerpohl entry card. The boys have been slowing down on their 4-H activities and they decided they didn't want to have any entries this year. They are both doing other youth development activities so I didn't feel like I needed to force the issue. 

They still came and worked the pancake feed and Daryl helped me set up the clothing area. It took a little stress off the week and maybe that's why this was one of the smoothest fairs I can remember. 

Fair is such a team effort I can't even explain how every volunteer, parent and staff member does their part and the whole thing just works. Today, we had time for conversations about next year, improvements we want to make, but I think for the next week I'm just going to enjoy what this one was. A great display of youth work and community spirit! 

Working the pancake feed, they were happy they didn't have the first shift this year!

Hopefully Daryl continues to help me with set up!

Daryl and I got to help the 4-H Exchange group at the bull riding event. 
We didn't stay to see the show but working with him was a lot of fun!

Our theme had great decorations this year. "Barnyard Bash" was a hit!

Some fair throw backs!

He used to be so blonde!

Jeff and I will have our two year anniversary in September. So it was time to have him help with tear down at the fair! He did good! 

Happy Birthday Week, Dear Alex!

 Both of my kids are officially teenagers, as of today! Alex has always been my county fair baby, so he is used to being flexible with his celebration. I haven't been the 4-H Agent in four years but we still shuffle around work things. 

All this to say, yesterday I left for a work conference and Alex just rolled with it. Granted, I made sure he was thoroughly spoiled all week. On Wednesday, we had our family celebration. This year that has consisted of the restaurant of the birthday person's choice and cake and ice cream at home. Alex picked Texas Roadhouse and had steak and shrimp, his favorite! 

On Friday he had his "friend" party and three of his buddies went to Cici's pizza and Skyzone for a night of pizza and jumping. Grandma Rosie kept me company while they jumped for every bit of their 90 minutes. It can be hard to get your friends together when you have a summer birthday, but Alex's buddies always pull through. He is also planning a sleepover for his dad's house. I'll let Kelly stay up all night. LOL 

And on the eve of his 13th birthday, I made him birthday pancakes! He is so sweet, when I told him I would be in Kansas City for his actual birthday he said, "We can just pretend like Saturday is my birthday!" 

I've got some great kids, they are understanding, empathetic and still take wrestling in the living room too far at 16 and 13! Just keeping it real, right before I left the house they were both in trouble for beating on each other in not a nice way. Boys. Oh well, three out of four days of being nice to each other isn't bad!

We didn't have 13 candles but 1 and 3 will do the trick!

Daryl decorated Al's cake for him, peanut M&Ms were a great choice!

On your birthday, you get steak! 

After 90 minutes of jumping these guys were so sweaty! LOL 

One eye open for his birthday pancakes. This was not early!
I called him down at 8:30am. LOL

Camp Week! (Last Week)

 Last week four of our five kids were at camp. Four different camps! 

Lucas was at Sternberg Science camp all around Northwest Kansas. He went last year and he really enjoys it. Anna was at Rock Springs 4-H Camp. It was fun to drop her off as I have not been to Rock Springs in 3 years. It has changed a lot. She had fun and wants to go back next year. Joseph had Zoo camp at the Topeka Zoo. He doesn't get to stay over night but he has been going most of the summer and he will know the zoo better than the rest of us! Alex had his first session of Tennis lessons at Kossover. Not technically a camp but the closest thing that he would let me enroll him in. 

Since the kids had a week of having fun, Jeff and I decided last weekend it was our turn. We had our "summer camp" at The Elms in Excelsior Springs, Mo. I have been wanting to visit The Elms for awhile and it lived up to all of my expectations. The grounds are very cool, we enjoyed the spa, indoor pool and piano bar. It was a couple of days of just relaxing and it should get us through the second part of summer!

Our kids activities won't be slowing down, but that's ok, we are ready! I did really bad with pictures during all of our busyness! I can't believe I didn't get shots of the kids being dropped off for camp. Oops! 

A part of our relaxing was reading time. I have finished my first book for May!

Happy 4th of July!

This long weekend was needed; yesterday, I got a recharge from my friends, and today I have gotten all the things done. On the 4th, we always start in Potwin to see the parade, then shrimp boil at my best friend's house. We came home and did some fireworks, took a nap then went to Lake Shawnee to see the big show. I have lived in Topeka for 18 years and have never ventured out of town for this show. We did it, and it was fun! 

It was nice to sleep in today, and I get to do it one more time tomorrow! The 4th of July on Friday might be the best. :-) 

July 2024

Trying to recreate the photo in 2025! 

Decided to watch the fireworks from across the street so we could get out of traffic!

It more-or-less worked. 

It was a great show! 

June Goal Update

We are halfway through 2025. That seems unreal. I should be half done with all of my goals but maybe I was going uphill and now I'm ready for that downhill. Do I seem preoccupied with hills? I finally found the 3 mile route around my new neighborhood. It doesn't have just one hill, it has two, not a fan. You might say run another way. But you can't, this part of Topeka is nothing but hills! If I move again I will give heavy consideration to the elevation of the neighborhood. LOL 

Hope you are all ready to celebrate America, my neighborhood is already at it! Good things it doesn't bother the dogs that much. 

Read 24 Books 10/24

Finished two book in June. They were both pretty good, I recommend both! 

Gifted and Talented, by Olivie Blake was a book recommended by the library newsletter. I love trying books that way because I haven't been failed yet. It was in the fantasy genre and I haven't really read much fantasy so that was good for me too. The book is about three siblings who all have very limited magic powers. Their dad is the head of a huge company and doesn't get along with 2/3 of them. He dies and the entire book happens over a week when the siblings have to sort through the mess of the unexpected death while they all have chaos in their own lives at the same time. I read it mostly on the drive to and from Michigan, it was perfect for that! 

Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann was my next read in my journey to learn more American history that doesn't get taught. America right now is messy, truth be told it has always been messy. I don't think we have ever been this selfish and hateful, but Native Americans, Americans who were put in internment camps during WWII and Black Americans that lived in the Jim Crow South might all disagree. Not saying what is going on is ok, it's not, but I'm working on understanding more about my country and the people I live here with. It feels like the right thing to do. 

Killer of the Flower Moon is very well written. I've actually seen the movie made from the book and the story is so much more than they could cover in a movie. I didn't really understand from the movie how the murder of the Osage Indians for their oil-rich land shaped the FBI. This one will go on my shelf! Topeka's own Charles Curtis plays a role in this story. So now my next books needs to be on the early days of Kansas. 

Run 650 Miles 288/650

I ran 57 miles in June. I thought I would run 65 this month but took the entire week of our vacation off. So I was scrambling to get what I did get. I am halfway through the year but not halfway through my running goal. Oops....

Money Goals

Fund 3-6 month ER Fund- Done April 2025! Yay for selling my house! 

Pay off Car - Done April 2025! Yay for selling my house! 

UFOs (unfinished objects) that need Finished 

T-Shirt Quilt (have the shirts)

Alpaca Quilt Did not make any progress on this in June, but it was too nice out to be inside sewing, it's getting hot now so I'll be indoors more. 

Placemats - Done April 2025 

Alex and Daryl Photo Books 2021-I got both boys 2021 books done in May! 2022-Got Daryl's done in June! Halfway through 2022. 2023

I visited my nieces Wheezy and Thelma in Lawrence last weekend. Their mom who is going to KU in the fall wouldn't let me take them home. Boo 

I got new running shoes this month! Aren't they pretty!

Michigan Vacation Part 2

 While Michigan was lovely, and the weather cool, we took a few days to knock some extra states off of my list. We stayed one night in Indianapolis and had too much fun at the NCAA Athletics museum. The first floor was an awesome showcase of all of the NCAA sports. There were the ones we knew like Football and Track but then there were surprises like fencing and rifle shooting! 

Then on the 2nd floor they had all of the things you could play with! I think the boys could have stayed in the quarterback simulator all day. We also ate at a huge food court called The Garage. It was a delight for a family that can never agree on where to eat. Alex had Indian, I had Greek, the Bergmans had BBQ and Daryl had a lobster tail. Oh, Daryl! LOL 

Before we left Indy we stopped by the War museum. It was a little eerie because the night before we learned about the missiles that the US ordered to hit Iran. Hopefully there is not a new exhibit at the War museum anytime soon! It was good to visit a place that Lucas and Joseph could get as excited about as much as Daryl and Alex got about the NCAA exhibits. We all learned stuff at both places! 

Our last stop before we headed back to Kansas was Casey, IL where we saw a lot of Big Things! World's largest to be specific! Last year I saw this town featured on CBS Sunday Morning. The town created tourism in the middle of Illinois and it was really cool! The perfect end to our road trip. What is more Americana than building a huge rocking chair or mailbox?!

There were other families lining up to try the quarterback simulator. I had to move my boys along, much to their dismay!

We did shoot hoops for a long time. It was nice after being in the van so long!

The War Museum was built after WWI, I wonder what they would have done with all of the space if that was the last war, now they might run out of space.....:-(

When you want to mail your entire family some place!

Or need a birdcage for 7!

When those mice get a little too big.....

The map is looking great!

Bonus of Air BNBs over hotels. Cats! There were six at this particular one and they all loved scritches. I called this guy Baby Mitts because he kinda looks like Mittens.  

Michigan Vacation Part 1

 Last Tuesday through today was our first family vacation with a party of 7! Last year Alex couldn't go because his appendix decided to burst a few days before we left for South Carolina. 

Not only did we visiting where Jeff grew up in Michigan but we are crossed some states off of my list. On the agenda were Indiana, Ohio and Michigan! We rented a big van to take our party of seven. This was the best idea we had of the whole trip. The kids were all able to have a little space as we drove 11 hours to Michigan then to Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Casey, IL! 

In Michigan we got to meet with some of Jeff's Michigan friends. We visited all the restaurants he likes, fished and visited the roller coaster park Michigan Adventure. It rained a little every day but when we had our day at the pool the sun was shining and it was perfect. After our few days in the Muskegon area of Michigan we headed to Cincinnati. In Ohio we enjoyed the River Walk and visited the Ohio Black Music Hall of Fame. It was a cool area and let me check Ohio off of my states list! 

Part 2 coming next so I can include lots of pictures! 

Our rented van for the trip! We didn't tip over!!

Day 1 in Michigan we got to go fishing!

Putting our toes in cold Lake Michigan 

He humored me with a picture by the sign of his Alma Mater

Swinging at the Cincinnati river walk

Our view from the top of the Ferris wheel at Michigan Adventure Land

Belated Last Day of School Lunch!

 Traditions are important, since both Daryl and Alex have been in school, we have had last day of school lunch. In their school district the last day is always a half day. I pick them up and go to the restaurant of their choice to celebrate another school year completed. While the last day of school was last week, we had our traditional lunch yesterday! 

This year we took on and and won 7th grade and 10th grade. The boys both hit their strides, Alex in Middle School and Daryl in High School. Both had really good friend groups and activities they could really shine in. Daryl took on Wrestling and Baseball again and it was a lot of fun! The unknown of his year was the newscast he did in second semester. He had a blast and he was really good at it. Maybe a little of that journalism skill comes from mom ;-). 

Alex almost quit the trumpet but stuck with it and his end of the year concert was a triumph. Then he surprised us all with how good he did at Tennis. We actually all three went to the tennis court today and while we were just goofing he was on one side and Daryl and I were on the other. LOL He could take us both on! 

Way to go boys, enjoy your summer, you earned it! 

At lunch time Daryl drove Alex to my office so I could take us to lunch. Man, has him being able to drive come in handy this year!

Last day of school pictured captured by dad!

Flashback to first day of school!