July in Ohio

 Most of July so far has gone to travel. Nat and the kids went to Farley's while Holly and I took a road trip vacation to the Southwest and Rocky Mountains.  A definite change and not the easiest one for me, as you all know how much of my heart is at the Point.  But everyone involved had an amazing time on their respective vacations, so it is all ok. I'll put up separate posts for the trips but for now here's what we've been up to since we've been back in the state.

Not pictured:  getting back to my tutoring schedule, lots of house cleaning, and trying to get a bit more exercise and eat more healthfully in an effort to increase wellness and decrease waistline...)

Pictured:

A fabulous beach day with Melinda and Jen.  So much food and so much laughter.

Brunch with my dear friend Elizabeth from my Trinity youth group days.

A kitty who finally got over me being gone for two weeks.

Dinner at Zhug with my love.

Even more swim meets... Here's Jack in the chair to give his friend a break and pass time between events.  

A perfect evening at Blossom with COC friends.

Lake sunsets

Alice's first trip to Home Depot on a leash!  She trotted along like she owned the place.

Starting to put up a privacy fence at the new place.  "Operation: turn the backyard into an oasis" is getting (slowly) underway...

A number of pool days.

The Museum of Illusions-- a fun little outing but not as expansive as I would have liked.

Exploring the Brownhoist building, Asian Market shopping, and discovering random parking lot concerts with Jen.

Welcoming Ivy home (how I have missed her!) with a trip to the barn and then a spontaneous stop at the greek festival on the way home...

A Little More of June... (Or Alice goes all the places and meets all the people, some more)

Since I am typing this on JULY 25th I will keep the verbiage succint and get this post up.

The second half of June was full of time with friends and family (see below post about Michigan...)

A very special Cocktail Choir at Van Aken-  wedding song theme night.  And Mika and Nikki came!  And we ran into Nidhi there!  And Alice was a pied piper to the hordes of children. And the air was soft and the light was perfect and I got to sing with some of my favorite humans. 

This one is entitled "Alice meets Pumpkin.  On Ivy."

Alice also got to meet Cousin Diana!  We had a great, if exceedinly HOT happy hour with her and John on our way to Akron for Sarah's burthday party.

Have I mentioned before that I have the BEST cousins?

Here's Sarah's birthday party.  A blast as always, enhanced by puppy snuggles...

More swim meets!  Last one for Ivy before Champs, as the crew headed to Farley's at the beginning of July...

Cleveland Heights Pride.  A rainy day put a damper on the festival but our Windsong performance was the best of the month and I was honored to sing as part of a trio on One Voice, and one of the solos in For Good.  I can't beleive I got to sing ON THE SAME STAGE as the Indigo Girls! :) 

 

Michigan and Family

Dear Michigan,

How I love you.  Your glorious lake, your cool summer nights... and my family, too.

We had our second annual Henderson Cousin reunion at the Paw Paw Lake compound and it was just right. 

With all the changes in my life, a constant is my remarkable family.  Kind and accepting and loving and so, so much fun.  I love these people so much.

The kids have jam packed summers this year so we came up with a plan to meet everyone's needs.  Nat and the kids and I went up and spent the first two days with everyone, then he took the kids back for work and practice (Jack) and horse camp counselor-ing (Ivy), and Holly and Alice joined me for the second half of the stay.  Everyone had fun, everyone got to see everyone, and it all workd out perfectly. 

It's nice when that happens from time to  time...

In addition to a good deal of sitting at patio tables and day drinking, here's what we did on the trip. 

Campfires of course.

And beach days! We loved the South Beach at South Haven. Calm and expansive.

Oh that Lake Michigan blue!

Cornhole! 

Playing with dogs!

Lots and lots of chalk drawing with Leo.   Lots of generally keeping up with Leo, too.  Three year olds are SO cute and have SO much energy.

Vintage board games (thanks John!)

(Did I mention day drinking and talking?)

A wonderful trip to St Joes for pizza and some great conversation with Meggan and John's lovely new girlfriend before they each had to leave the next day.

Sunsets...

More playing with dogs!

Time with Aunt Mary <3 

A beach day and exploring the town of Holland Michgan for Holly and me.  We enjoyed the just-right level of kitch at Windmill Island Park...

... then headed to Tunnel Beach for some sand and sun.

And drinks on the way home.  To keep with the theme.

Before keeping with the theme some more back at the compound :) 

 

A fun campfire with Alisa's family at Laura and Alisa's house...

And then brunch the next day with everyone who was still there. 

Beautiful days with beautiful people in a beautiful place.  So lucky.