Time marches on

About 2 weeks ago I dropped Jay off at church for what was his fourth CIY trip.  We checked in and I noticed this time it was different.  There were no more medications to check in, there were no instructions, other than to tell us small group leaders were in the gym.  Jay wasn't anxious, wanting to check the list of which kids were in his group.  I asked Jay if he wanted me to walk him to the gym.  Surprisingly enough he did.  We walked to the gym in silence, which is typical for us.  Again, giving birth to Jay was easier than getting him to talk.  I took about 5 steps into the gym, he turned to me and said goodbye and walked across the gym to his small group leader.  In that instant I could see Jay about 4 feet tall with his buzzed hair cut, big brown eyes, not sitting or standing still for one second self run across that gym, ready for his next adventure.  In reality he was over 6 foot tall with a sun kissed face and hair from vacation, dashing good looks and some really long (and hairy) legs walking casually, not running (what a concept).  Dropping Jay off some kind of summer camp has been going on since he was 5!  In that moment I reminded myself my days of dropping Jay off at summer camp was closing in on me.  As parents there are certain things that seem like they will never end, until they do and you're left with the sweet memories like I had in that gym.  I am thankful God gave me my boys, and I truly see this last stretch of parenting as the very best!

A bittersweet week

 As I write this blog the Ausili's are en route to TX.  Jenny and the kids will be back in another week but Mike is there to stay.  I knew today was coming but it sure snuck up on me.  Every time the Ausili's came out in the last month I would tell the boys, "Guys, this is probably the last time they will be out here and all 8 of us will be together."  But then another few days would go by and they would come out and we'd all be together again.  It was better that I just didn't know when the "last time" would arrive, but it did.  Little did we know it would be Father's Day.  Ausili's came out again two nights ago so Sieb could give Faith her bags set (see below) but Jay was gone (more on that later) so it was 7 of us instead of 8.  Nick and Mike are big conservatives and Nick bought them Trump cups.  They toasted each other for the good times to come!  Mike is already challenging Nick to jump off the roof in TX and into their pool.  Yeah, I'm not really okay with that but they joke about it anyway.

Sieb made Faith an AL bags set!  Me, Mike, Sieb and Jenny played each other and had a great time.  Who knew I could enjoy bags so much?  Ha.

 As usual Cole made himself comfortable on Curt's lap.  Notice he was also in the picture above with Sieb and Faith.

 I just love this picture.  Last night was Faith's friend graduation party.  I joked that John and Nick sure knew how to get a party started!

 We got our pictures back this week from our session in June and I wanted to include these two pictures as they are my absolute favorites.  Last night as I watched Faith with her friends I was reminded of how fast time flies.  We have raised these four kids as siblings.  What are the next two years going to look like for Jay and Curt (without them being so close geographically)?  What are Nick's high school years going to look like?  And will these four kids remember how much time we spent together, the laughs we shared, the endless games of zombie tag they played, all the bon fires we sat around or will they slowly drift apart as the years go by?  That is why this picture means so much to me.  It was a moment in time when these four kids were thick as thieves.  They knew what made them tick and they knew how to have fun together.  It demonstrates their innocence, a time in their life when all they had to worry about was whether or not they had enough gas in their tank, except for Nick and his biggest concern was what time he would get up to fish.  It's a picture that captures life before "real" life takes over and that is why I love it so much!

This week Jay went to MI for a CIY event.  Jay has been going to CIY since he was in 6th grade with the same boys that have been in his small group since yep, you guessed it, 6th grade.  It was a quiet week.  Nick worked with Mike all week and I worked in peace catching up from my vacation last week.  It was lovely.  Mike has multiple projects going on in our house right now that range from building a deck, re-designing the playground area, putting down a wood floor in our bedroom, and putting in new doors in our house.  For some reason he decided to start four projects at once so it's interesting in our house right now, to say the least.

Ocean Sun Rises

 Mike was bound and determined to see the sun rise over the ocean.  Most mornings he set his alarm for 5:30.  He would ask me if I wanted to join him on his morning walks and as I recall I responded with a few choice words for him.  I don't get up before 8:00 on my vacations.  One morning, however, I did join him, we just didn't go out until after 10:00.  Ha.  The boys, however, were all for the early morning walks.  I don't think there was one morning that Mike had to walk solo.  Either Jay or Nick would walk with him.  There was only morning where there was no cloud cover and Mike and Nick shot the picture above.  Beautiful!

Look at these two sleepy heads.  I love this picture because of the memory it will forever hold and I also love it because Mike Siebert actually took a selfie!  God must have really been moving in his heart that morning!  This particular morning Mike and Nick walked 7 miles.  Jay and I slept, which in my opinion is what you're supposed to do on vacation.

Para-Sailing

 Jay and Mike were supposed to fly home 2 days before Nick and I but their flight got cancelled.  Just a small hiccup!  On the day that Mike was supposed have been home working instead he went para-sailing with Nick!  Nick is always up for anything.  I encouraged the two of them to do it (Jay didn't care to give it a try), so they did!

 If you look closely Mike is yelling something and Nick is laughing.  This was so worth the money!

Until we meet again, Dad

 One evening our crew headed over to the beach at dusk to give the beach send off we knew dad would have loved!  There isn't a doubt he was smiling down on us from above.  My aunt read a sweet poem in dad's honor and my sister reminisced about the time, over 30 years ago, when our parents took us to Myrtle Beach.  My dad loved vacation and he loved the beach.

 Let it never be said that our family doesn't have a sense of humor.  We spread some of dad's ashes in the ocean and Jay wasn't overly thrilled about carrying the canister, but he humored us!

                                              Karen and Kim giving their tributes.

                                                              A final toast to dad!

My sweet hubby!  He really was a good sport on this vaca because a beach vacation is not his idea of a good time!

Myrtle Beach

 Aunt Karen and Uncle Kerry once again graciously invited us to join them in Myrtle Beach!  This year Jay and Mike joined us.  Kim's family also went.  This year was really special because we spent so much time remembering dad, sharing laughs and reminding ourselves how precious time with family really is.  There were 18 of us on this trip and at times it was a HOT MESS, but it is my hope that I created lasting memories for my boys and that the message loud and clear was and is family is family!  Certainly Karen and Kerry demonstrate this with their big hearts and generosity.  The weather was hot and it only rained one day.  It would sometimes rain in the evenings but it would usually storm and pass over.  The boys swam in the pool, and skimmed with their boards in the ocean.  I know without a doubt Nick took 5 years of my life with his stunts in the ocean.  I am not a helicopter parent except when it comes to the ocean.  Jay, especially, got sick of me telling them they were out too far, but geesh, it's the ocean!

 Notice how far Nick was headed out.  He was always farther out than anyone else, hence my constant screaming at him that he was too far out!  Ugh!

 One day a DJ came to the pool.  My sister was all over it!  The boys were deep sea fishing so Kim and I had a few cocktails and let lose.  My cousin, Michelle and her baby even got in on the action!

 Walking the beach.  I believe there was a RIP tide this day and I didn't let the boys go into the ocean.  Once again, neither of them were happy with me.  We spent a lot of time walking the beach, especially Mike (more on that later)

 Cousins!  This is a picture of every child on this trip.  The kids ranged in age from 16 (Jay) to 6 months (Joycelyn).

 Deep sea fishing!  Sadly no sharks were caught this year, much to Nick's dismay.  But the weather was beautiful and it was an experience!

 Jayde was still her sweet self this year.  She and Lauren were thick as thieves but in this picture she was giving Nick some loves.  There is a funny story about Jayde and because it's so incredibly sweet I must share.  Jayde is Matthew's daughter, but never have I ever heard anyone in our family refer to her as a step child.  She is so much a part of our family that my husband who doesn't keep up on who is who in the family, simply thought that Michelle and Matthew had adopted her right before they got married.  Our family is a true example of how to embrace a child.  Jayde was with her peeps all week and she has added so much spark to our family.

 As the week progressed nobody could get Jay to smile quite like Jocelyn and slowly but surely Jay became more comfortable with holding her.

This might be my favorite picture of Nick on this trip!  Nick loves his country!  On our rainy day we went shopping and he was determined to find red, white and blue swim trucks.  He ended up buying flag jammies too!  I love this picture of Nick because it's so him.  He loves his country, he loves the beach and he loves the sun.  He's sun kissed and sweet!

The Illinois Chapter

 I thought about entitling this blog Goodbye or Farewell but it's so not a goodbye or farewell blog.  It's a truth blog.  The truth is life changes.  The days go slow but the years go fast.  Our friendship with the Ausili's have spanned over 25 plus years.  We have raised our kids together, shared laughs together, and prayed for one another.  Our friendship doesn't end at our final IL backyard bonfire, but instead a new chapter begins over state lines that involves TX and a pool - no joke, a pool!  I can see Jenny and I now in the water with our cosmos and this new chapter we will be adults, like serious adults.  After all our IL chapter started with our weddings, a move from our Orr apartment to becoming official homeowners.  Then we transitioned into dirty diapers, chasing toddlers, fretting and worrying while our kids were in middle school and high school (I still have more fretting and worrying to do).  We took our kids to TN together for 7 straight years.  We went through a devastating job loss together, and now a major move together.  While it is true I don't know what our lives are supposed to look like without the Ausili's presence, I do have faith in God's plans for our families and I do look forward for our TX chapter to be written.  

This might be my favorite picture of these 4!