A Short and Sweet Catch up of our Summer...So Far

August 13, 2019

The Best Thing that Happened This Summer!!!!

We arrived downstate and set up at Algonac State Park on June 20th.  Actually we plugged in made sure the refrigerator was working, popped out the slides, cracked a few windows and headed over to our sons. We were both anxious for grandchildren hugs. Arrived back to the Stinger "B" around 10 o'clock and  looked around and decided to finish setting in the morning. Around 5:00AM we got a phone call from our son telling us our daughter-in-law was in labor. We got to the hospital about an hour after they did and Tom took the three grandchildren and headed back to their place to wait for the news. The three of us spent a lot of our time as we waited discussing names. They had decided not to find out ahead of time if it was a boy our girl and though they had a name picked out for a boy they could not come to an agreement about a girl's name.  About 6 hours later Thomas Norman Duchaine arrived. He looks a lot like his dad, his two brothers, and his sister and as you can see by the pictures everyone was very happy to see him. (Thank goodness it was a boy had it been a girl I think she would have gone home as Baby Girl Duchaine...lol)  The really important part is he is a healthy little boy.

I may be a little bias but I think he is just do darn cute.

Holding Thomas for the first time.

The 4th of July at the Stinger "B" parked at Algonac State Park.
There was the roasting of the hot dogs and smores.
It was a rough day. She made it up the stairs laid down and
was sound a sleep  right there on the floor.

Besides celebrating the birth of our newest grandson we had several Birthdays. June 19th Noah turned 9, on July 21st Jonah turned 7, Charlotte turned 8 on July 30th, and on August 1st Adelaide turned 3. On August 15th Marcella will be 5. Nathaniel is the only one who does not have a summer Birthday he has to wait until January 17th to turn 5.

We spent July 25th through the 29th parked out at Wells State Park about 30 miles south of us on Lake Michigan. My sister and her husband brought there new 5th wheel up and we had a fun camping weekend. Thomas and Nadine drove up and spent a couple of nights camping in their tent.
Well Thomas and his three oldest did. After one night Nadine and the newest member of our family joined Tom and I inside the Stinger "B". We had more family come out and spend some time with us which added to the weekend. This is a nice park with a great play area for the kids along with a beach area for swimming.  There are no pictures because no one thought to do so.

Okay so I lied, I did take one picture. Everyone was off doing something.
 It was just Thomas and I sitting under the awning enjoying a quiet moment.

Monday morning we headed back to our driveway and Thomas and Nadine along with their four kids stopped by before continuing on their long journey home. Thomas wanted to take one last walk through the house. I decided it might be nice to take a picture of the four of them on the front porch. The reason Marci is smiling, well she has the baby. It was the only way she would sit down. Noah and Jonah are not happy, because they do not have the baby. Luckily he is a good baby and goes with the flow. Plus, I forgot about the reflection in the window. At least all four are in the picture along with Nadine and I in the background.

I have to go through my pictures. I am pretty sure I have
a picture of every grandchild on this chair.
Which we left with the house.

At Bessie Park with Rachel's kids. This is as good as it  got.

More pictures of Thomas with his siblings.
He is a well loved baby.

With a sigh of relief we signed the final papers on August 2nd and we became HOUSELESS!!!

On Thursday August 1st Tom backed the Stinger "B" out of the driveway
for the last time. Bottom right is with our Realtor.

We walked out the door for the last time on Thursday and we were smiling but it still felt strange to close the door for the last time. Lots of memories walked out the door with us. I moved into this house with my parents in 1963. Tom and I moved into this house with our kids in 1994. Lots of special occasions were celebrated in this place but it was time to walk away and look ahead to the future and all the possibilities. A very young couple will now make this house their home and they are excited about the possibilities and just thinking about that makes me smile.

Today we are headed back down to Thomas and Nadine's for a couple of weeks. Then we will drive back up here. As I look at the calendar it is hard to believe by then it will be September. We have a tentative plan for this fall and winter but after the last two years until we are on the move we are not making a definite plan. We will be flying by "the seat of our pants" but then that is what makes, in our opinion, the journey fun.

Hope you are having a wonderful summer!

We are so glad you took the time to stop by to see what we have been up to. 

If you have time to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you.