We’re in a rut of sauna like weather this week. The problem with relief from the heat in the Midwest in the summer is that it is preceded by violence in the form of severe storms. We will get that again in a few days.
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Birthday surprise from my son Chris[/caption]It’s been one of those busy weekends that in my working days I would say, I came back to work on Monday to rest up from the weekend. My birthday on Friday was a real joy. Very seldom in my career did I get my birthday off. Even if it fell on a weekend, I had a knack for picking careers that included weekend work, like many of us. This year I had a day off to be a lawn chair supervisor and was surprised by visits from both of our boys.
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Miss Sydney Rose[/caption]Randy, the oldest drove down from Jewel and had with him our oldest great granddaughter whom, I thought I had missed for the summer. She left the following day to go to California for her required 6- week custody agreement stay with her mother. I was thrilled that she was still here! Our next oldest Chris, who lives 100 miles away in northwest Iowa, happened to be in Des Moines for a shop meeting and stopped by to visit as well. Dinner out with our summer volunteer family rounded out a very enjoyable day.
Yesterday, we got out on the water on our pontoon boat and relaxed in the water-cooled summer air and worked on our tans. Hot weather has not only brought many to the lakes but has been a sobering reminder of the dangers of water. At least two people have drowned this weekend, one is still missing and another, a two-year old, is in critical condition after nearly drowning 5 miles away at Big Creek Lake last evening.
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Who needs a water gun when you have a hose![/caption]Today we spent the day at our daughter’s house with her in-laws. It's a fun day as we have always got on great with Kay and Mike and consider each other friends. We had a good afternoon playing with the kids outside. We took our swimming suits and put the sprinkler in the back yard and played baseball with Hunter in the cool shower of water, then when JP came out with the water guns I retreated to the deck with my daughter and watched the boys wage water gun wars on each other. Their 3-year old quickly figured out that the hose they were filling the water guns with was a much more effective weapon. Leave it to the littlest one to put big brother, Dad and Grandpa on the retreat! It was pretty funny to watch from the second story deck.
As I sit here and look back on the weekend and ahead to this week, I realize amidst all of the mechanical failures the past several weeks, the extreme weather swings and people who are absent from my life, I am fortunate to be able to literally live my dream of being a full-time RV volunteer and have so many awesome people in my life. I savor these summer holiday weekends knowing I will miss many events this winter when we are in parts south. I saw all three kids, some of the grandkids and many friends this weekend. It doesn’t get much more perfect than that.
Until tomorrow…
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