So Much Going On

Today was just as busy as yesterday and by the end of it Brett was able to do everything he set out to do during his visit.  He started at 9:30 a.m. mass with Doug, Meg and Cam.  When that was over he and Doug headed to Linway to see the new Alien movie.  They liked it, although, it was a lot like the previous ones.  While they were gone, Meg and I got some cleaning down.  Cam played golf with my parents until the storm hit and Cal went over to HM's to celebrate Robyn's birthday.

When Doug got home, he and Meg headed to a graduation open house for one of the soccer seniors.  They enjoyed it.  I spent my time visiting with Brett.  At five we all headed to Mad Anthony's for dinner.  It was great to have everyone together and the food was delicious.  Afterward my parents joined us for games and a bonfire.  It was the perfect way to end a fantastic weekend.  We all really appreciated Brett coming home and are looking forward to visiting him in July.

Twenty Four Hours of Fun

Brett started his day at Shopoff's having lunch and visiting with a friend from high school.  Brett has enjoyed eating at the root beer stand since he first went with my parents almost 20 years ago.  Unlike most customers he prefers the booths to sitting in his vehicle.  He had a great visit and enjoyed the food as always.  After lunch Meg and I went to the Round Barn at Amish Acres to see "Plain and Fancy" with him. We all enjoyed it as always although the character of Ezra was changed from the past.  It made for a different story, but as we had seen it so many times before it was alright with us.

After the musical Doug, Meg, Cam, Brett and I went to the winery.  We all got something to drink and Cam even tried the Korean tacos from the food truck.  They have games for the kids to play, so tonight's activity was Scattergories.  I was the big winner, but it was close.  From the winery we headed home for dinner.  Cal and my parents joined us for spaghetti and salad.  My mom brought the desserts and everyone tried a piece of pie.  Cam wanted to play croquet again.  Meg, Cal and I watched as Doug took everyone out one by one.

I started to wear out around 9, so I decided to enjoy Harry Potter weekend on TV while reading Prisoner of Azkaban.  Brett, Cam and my parents played Hearts.  Meg FaceTimed Preston and Aaron and Doug enjoyed a bonfire.  It was a wonderful day.  We are looking forward to another one just like it tomorrow.

School's Out for Summer!

It's official!  Cameron had his last day and so did I.  Thus, he, Meg, Cal and I are all officially on summer vacation.   Adding to our celebration was the fact that Brett came home this weekend to visit.  We hadn't see him since April 1st and my parents hadn't seen him since the beginning of February.  Last night we all went to Buffalo Wild Wings together.  Today Brett had breakfast with several friends from Warsaw.  Then he and Meg went to lunch at Maria's.  Dad and Mom joined him for dinner at Maria's and to top off the evening, Brett, Cam and I all went uptown to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie - Dead Men Tell No Tales.  What an awesome start to summer break.  We have been looking forward to this for quite some time.  We will appreciate the rest and enjoy the fun.

She Did It!!

Meg finished her last day at WHS with all A's and an A+ in Honors/Dual Credit Pre-Calculus.  She turned in her Chrome Book today and when everyone asked if she was sad to be leaving Wawasee,  she said, "No."  She did not make the decision to transfer to Bethany on a whim.  She weighed her options and in the end decided that a small, Christian based, academically challenging environment was exactly what she needed.  Proud of her for trying something new.  There will be new challenges in August, but Meg is ready for them.   We are so incredibly proud of her and all that she has accomplished these past two years.  One chapter of her life may be closing, but the story continues.

Academic Super Bowl Dinner

Tonight Meg experienced her first academic super bowl dinner.  The food was better than I remembered it being and we did get to sit with the Dunithan family.  We appreciated that as Doug had never met Preston's father and we had someone to talk to that we knew or at least had something in common with.  Meg got a medal and chevron for her jacket.  The evening did get a little long when Mrs. Dixon got up to rant about the lack of support for the academic program.  It lasted over 20 minutes.  We could have done without that, but as Meg said, "She's old and that happens."  Overall it went well and Meg said that being a part of the math team was one of her favorite activities this year.

Track Regionals

Tonight I experienced my first track meet ever.  Hannah-Marie competed in the South Bend St. Joseph regional and Meg and I decided to support her.  As an added bonus, Cal rode with us.  I was glad to spend the evening with him and he was a big help in explaining the events.  We first started at the long jump pit.  I couldn't believe how close we were able to stand to the pit.  Hannah-Mare had three jumps to qualify for the finals.  She did well and found herself in fifth place after the qualifiers which put her in the middle of the pack for the finals to be completed later in the evening.

After the long jump qualifiers we moved to the bleachers for her next event the 100 meter high hurdles.  That was an impressive event as I could not envision having to jump the hurdles and run at the same time.  There were two heats of hurdles and at the end of the second one HM found herself in the finals by one one-hundredth of a second.

We had a half hour break between the hurdles and the start of the finals.  Meg and I took a walk around the school.  She needed a pencil to do her homework.  We didn't find one, but we were impressed with St. Joe high school.  We had seriously considered putting the Heinisch children in the St. Joe school district five years ago.  Cal said he would have hated it, but it sure looked like an awesome facility to learn at.

The finals for the hurdles were shortly after the national anthem.  HM ran a personal best and finished 8th.  We were excited for her.  Her last event of the night was the finals for the long jump.  Hannah-Marie did very well and moved up to 4th place by the end of the evening.  Unfortunately, only the top three places move on to the state finals.  We were disappointed for her.  We reminisced about all of the times Cal or his golf team finished in 4th place, just shy of a trip out of sectionals.  Track is different, however, as there are callbacks for events.  Thus, HM still has a chance.  Either way we are very proud of how she finished her track season.

Flowers Are Done!

Tonight Doug picked up mulch from Menards to put around our planted flowers.  I didn't realize that he was going to put it down tonight too, but he got it done.  It was a beautiful evening to work outside.  Meg and I also took advantage of the sun and warm weather to fill our last planter.  We found the perfect red hibiscus at Clayton's and a place on the porch for it.  With that work our yard was complete.  

Meg enjoyed helping with the flowers this year and I appreciated her joining in.  She told me that our yard was beautiful.  In fact the only yard that she felt beat it in our community was Teresa's (when they still lived next door.)  We both agreed that neither compared to Grandma and Grandpa Heinisch's when Jeanette was still alive.  Their gardens flowed with perennials and annuals every year and we always enjoyed walking through the yard to admire them.  Now that Meg knows how much work planting and watering really are, she was even more impressed with the time that Carl and Jeanette put into theirs.