Weekend At The Adams - Sunday

When we woke up - SUNSHINE! Since half of us did not get to have any boating fun on Saturday, the Gongaware's decided to stay for Sunday and enjoy some Geist boating fun. Ginger & Brian took off early to see their Queen Stella, I think Dustin and Emily had enough time with the munchkins pulling on them all the time (especially Emily! - that woman is a saint). So we packed up an enormous amount of food (we are Ringgers aren't we?) and headed out. The day was beautiful. Each Gongaware got a little pink today, even with 70 sunscreen on! How does that happen? Carlie and Lucy swam almost the entire time, even though the water was a bit cold...okay, freezing. Both girls thanked Lacey and Jerome in their prayers tonight for a fun weekend, and God for holding off the rain. Sometimes I am so proud of them, my heart hurts.

This one is for the frames...do their eyes look alike?

P-Diddy Jerome and his one woman posse...

Lucy has a horrible "strap burn" between her legs...wonder why? I guess we should have loosened this up some..perhaps a bit sooner than we did!



The Cousins...minus the cousin who DID NOT want to get in the water.

Can you tell Lacey is peeing here?

They hold the key to my heart :)

Weekend At the Adams - Saturday

Well, I started this Blog, and decided that we had way too much fun this weekend to make it just one post. Not many weekends are considered a "two post blog!" The weather did not cooperate on Saturday during the day, it was rainy, cold and overcast. Eight adults and four kids make for a very nervous and antsy Dustin. But around 2:00p, the weather started to clear off and those who didn't have kids, headed to the boat. While, Lacey and I and the two little one's stayed back and enjoyed a quiet house for a couple of hours. Although we had two (three?) reservations made at Maggiano's in case of rain, God was smiling on us and we got to head to the game. We ALL piled in our van (thinking back, maybe this wasn't a very responsible decision), and headed downtown Indy. We started out with multiple appetizers and brewery beer at Ram before the game. And thanks to Ginger's friend ... (is it bad that I can't remember her name, but know that her boyfriend was Big Juan Mateo??) .. we had great seats and many laughs during the game. It wasn't even the bottom of the 1st and Lacey was ready to start walking around, as she was a bit "bored." I have to laugh, because some things never change.

The Sisters

As Jeff caught this shirt, he kept saying, "Who is the best son-in-law ever?"

Beautiful Couple #1 (After many "retake" angles...)

Beautiful Couple #2

Beautiful Couple #3

And finally, Beautiful Couple #4

Stop The Clock!!

Can next week be August already? Wait - hold that calendar...only three more "mama days" until school starts? NOOOOO! As a child, I remember summers being so long and filled with lazy days at Erv & Annie or the Haines' pond. I remember endless hours in the barn fixing up my hideout (very similar to the fairy garden...), I remember waiting forever for the 4-H fair so I could see all my friends again. Summers are very different now. Summers are filled with "busyiness" and I am not sure if that is a good or bad thing. I am still trying to decide. We started out our summer with Tball, then straight into swim lessons, which lead directly into Zoo Camp, which lead into a week of VBS (pictures below), and next week we start our Upward Cheerleading. Hey...I don't remember any laziness and much pond action there. Note to self: Next summer make an intentional effort to be lazy. Silly that we have to "intentionally" plan those things, doesn't it? In any event, VBS was a huge success, and the girls loved every minute of it. I really enjoy helping out and not being in charge (that's new for me!). But don't stop the calendar quite yet, we still have lake weekends planned, and you better believe we are looking forward to those!

Date Night At The TinCaps

Jeff and I got to have a much needed "date night" at Manly Monday at the FW TinCaps baseball stadium. We got unlimited beer tasting, hamburgers, hot dogs, brats, pulled pork, ribs tips, wings, apple crisps and cookies...all you could eat. Oh my - not to mention glass beer mugs to take home! All of this took place on the "Rooftop" of the TinCaps Stadium (same kind of feel as Wrigley Field Rooftops). I have to admit when I purchased the tickets for Jeff and I, I didn't give much thought the the title "Manly Monday"... until we arrived. There was 12 men for each 1 woman....and this includes the Coors Light girls who were working! Ultimately, we ate too much and enjoyed the TinCaps pulling off a giant win. Oh - also discovered a new beer or two we enjoyed!

Long Weekend

Whew...long weekends are so fun, but physically exhausting. We started out our Friday by a day of "nothing." We had nothing planned but time as a family. It was intentional and needed. We are so busy running some days, we forget just to have fun as the four of us. We visited the Fort Wayne Farmer's Market and made some homemade crafts and bought lots of yummy veggies for the grill that night, and to make some homemade salsa. Jeff even found some great deals on some herbs to plant - $1 each! Almost a steal!


Saturday we visited Cedar Lake in Howe, Indiana. This is our third annual trip to this lake over the Fourth of July weekend, and again, it did not fail us. We had fun catching up with the extended Gongaware family (which we only see during the 4th and at Christmas). The cousins fished and fished and fished, took boat rides, picked mulberries and blackberries, laughed and even tried to swim (little too chilly) and ate and ate and did I mention that we ate? Both girls stayed awake for the fireworks, which ended around 11:00p. By the time we drove home, it was past midnight and the girls were wiped out. Each of them went to bed smelling of Off, campfire smoke and sweat. I loved kissing them good night last night.


Sunday - after church and mandatory naps - we headed to the TinCaps with Grandpa Toad and Grandma Barb. It was hot! Where was that sun yesterday when we could swim?? Carlie attempted her climb at the "wall" and made it nearly half the way to the top. The smile on her face was priceless. After fun in the sun and a full belly of Mexican food, I am sitting here with my best friend and husband and just cherishing how lucky I am. I am still so deeply in love with my husband that sometimes I get butterflies when we go on our "date night" - I have two healthy beautiful well behaved (for most the time) girls - we have a roof over our head - jobs to go to every day - a church that we belong and love going to - so many opportunities that are not awarded in other countries. God has been good to this Gongaware family.