There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart. ~Celia Thaxter

July 7 ~ such a nice gift

July 7 ~ Knox practicing his catching. And pitching.

July 7 ~ Grandpa=practice coach

July 7 ~ daughter Kelly, lady in waiting

July 8 ~ heading to Bible class

July 8 ~ Sunday morning happy feet

July 10 ~ catch of the day

July 10 ~ our favorite Thai food restaurant, Ocha, reopened after a three month hiatus

July 10 ~ assembling a Lego Star Wars star fighter 

July 10 ~ finished product ~ he's a pro

July 11  ~ Knox, Elijah, Shelby at the pool ~ Knox prepares to be launched

July 11 ~ splash

July 12 ~ Elijah, bff Anthony, and Knox doing their gaming thing

July 12 ~ Elijah and Anthony have been buddies since almost forever ~ they were next door neighbors until Anthony moved far away several years ago ~ he visits when he can ~ this year he came all the way from Alaska

July 12 ~ their friendship has endured the test of time and distance

July 13 ~ my sweet niece Sarah celebrated her 23rd birthday

July 15 ~ Sunday evening

July 15 ~ the 3 amigos ~ we were saying our goodbyes to Anthony that night before he left to head back to Alaska the next morning ~ however, he ended up missing his flight and couldn't get another one until the 20th

July 16 ~ land of the free ...

July 17 ~ 

July 18 ~ granddaughter Shelby celebrated her 17th birthday ...

.... with a birthday lunch at Ocha ....

.... and ice cream at Cream City

July 18 ~ you can't go to Cream City without crossing the street afterwards to climb on the train cars at the depot

Elijah ~ photo by Shelby ~ she was having fun trying out the camera on her new phone

July 18 ~ checking out the depot museum

July 18 ~ photo by Shelby on her iPhone X

July 18 ~ photo by Shelby ~ (I think I have iPhone camera envy)

July 18 ~ Shelby and her mom Holly ~ birthday hug

July 19 ~ upheaval in the living room ~ Neil is busy pulling our ancient carpet back and tearing out the particle board which is nailed (oh so many nails!) to the original wood floor so he can repair some floor joists and level the floor ~ after all that we hope to lay a hardwood floor. In the meantime ....

.... demolition ....

.... and upheaval. It'll be worth it. 

July 19

Hey! It’s summer! Be free and happy and danceful and uninhibited and now-y! 

~Terri Guillemets

Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June. ~Al Bernstein

June 2 ~ Strawberries and cream

June 2 ~ Pretty lily blooming in our yard

June 7 ~ Neil power washed our back porch and deck to within an inch of its life and once it was dry, prepped it to stain

I'm partial to the natural wood, but we agonized over the right stain color ....

.... and chose the wrong stain color. Talk about freaking out! It's gray! It's blue! It's bluegray!! Holy cow. It was so not the right color and didn't jive with the siding or the roof or anything else out there. You can't judge a color by its paint/stain chip. Neil forged ahead with the staining anyway. It's been three weeks since this. It did dry somewhat lighter. We're getting used to it. We have to.

This is what we got ....

.... but this is what we were expecting. Neil realized after all was said and done that it would've helped to wipe the excess stain off so the color wasn't so intense and the browns in the wood could've shown through better. Oh well. 

June 11 ~ My sister Jane, brother Ken, and I were happy to be able to visit with our cousin Mike who had traveled from Texas to Tennessee for a dear friend's funeral. We enjoyed catching up with family stuff and laughing a lot for a couple of hours before he had to head back home. 

June 12 ~ A new ice cream place opened in our town ~ Crepe and Cream ~ Rolled ice cream ~ delicious! I'd like to try one of the crepes sometime

June 15 ~ A big ole bird, a grackle I think, picked the worst possible location to build her nest ~ Our electrical box is on our back porch (unfortunately) and this bird somehow squeezed her way through the top of the door covering the box and built this huge nest. Straw was sticking out and falling out all over the porch. We hated to disturb her homemaking and let it go until we noticed she wasn't coming around anymore. I guess all Neil's power washing and such scared her off. At least she abandoned her nest before she had any babies. It took some force to remove that thing, but not only was it messy, it was also a fire hazard.

June 15 ~ Love coneflowers ~ we need lots more of these in our yard

June 16 ~ I covet this patriotic banner draped across Cracker Barrel's fireplace ~ they didn't have any for sale in the store and I couldn't find it online ~ I'm too lazy to make one

June 17 ~ Father's Day ~ Our son-in-law Jerry with his kiddos Elijah and Shelby

Grandpa Neil with his grandpeeps Elijah, Knox, and Shelby

And with his own two kiddos Holly and Kelly

June 17 ~ Bloom where you are planted ~ This pretty sunflower took the advice and grew right up out of the asphalt beside this pole near our house

Happy Face

Granddaughter Shelby in one of the poses for her senior pictures ~ Is she gorgeous, or what? This is one of my favorites, and it is so hard to choose just one favorite. I'd love to share them all because they're all so wonderful. Her photos were done by Zack and Sarah, a fabulous husband and wife team  who are amazing photographers. They also do engagement and wedding photography. Check them out:

http://www.zachandsarahphotography.com

June 21 ~ Grandpeeps Elijah, Shelby, and Knox ~ they spent a good part of the first day of summer trying to level up in Zelda ~ Shelby started the game five or six years ago and finally had to give up ~ Elijah has played a few times and Knox tried to get into it, but it's a complicated and often frustrating game ~ Shelby picked up where she'd left off all those years ago and at last! beat the level she'd been stuck on. Lots of celebrating that day. Unfortunately there's always the next level ....

June 21 ~ Off to Steak n Shake for some lunch

June 23 ~ Daughter Kelly discovered this little place with some co-workers a while back and they loved it. 

They serve breakfast on Saturdays 

This is the first time I've ever tasted chocolate gravy. (It's a Southern thing, y'all) My taste buds did a happy dance. Can't believe I'd never had this before. 

June 27 ~ Heading toward the square ~ pretty sky

June 28 ~ Frozen treats at the Lazy Cow Creamery ~ Best ice cream on the planet ~ Shelby and Elijah and Elijah's BFF Anthony spent the day and night with us ~ Anthony and his family moved to Alaska a couple of years ago, but he and Elijah play video games together long distance ~ their friendship has endured the test of time and distance and when Anthony came to visit for a few weeks, he and Elijah picked right up where they left off 

June 30 ~ We're already a week into summer. June slipped away at the speed of light it seems and the year is half gone. I need a Pause button.

June is the gateway to summer. ~Jean Hersey