Dienner Reunion.

Reunion number two for the summer was with Dienners!  This is my mom's side of the family!  We all gathered at my parents farm for a family reunion and we had a wonderful time!

My nieces painted faces!

Games were played!

My dad made chicken BBQ and we ate in their barn!

Great grandchildren are starting to show up family reunions!

It was on Father's Day and we ate well!

My parents had two pickleball courts set up out back and a wiffleball game was happening in the meadow.

A soft serve ice cream machine with toppings and brewed tea and meadow tea are always expected at these gatherings!

Spike ball played by the teens and a bouncy house for the littles!!!!

Mom got a clown outfit that Austin put on during the candy scramble.

Cutest little guy!!!!!

And here are my mom's siblings!!!!  As they decided how to stand, the two youngest came up asking where Mommy D's favorites should stand!!!! 🤣

All the Aunts and Uncles were able to come!  All of these people are special to me and we did miss Daudy and Mommy D on this special day!!!!

I grew up living next to some of these.  Some have children exactly my age that I still see often!  Almost all these men had open heart surgery in the past or some kind of heart procedure.  One Aunt had a stroke.  It's a blessing to have them all gather together and have fun!

We were coming to the end of the day when Matthew and Daisy showed up.  They had just come from the pets emergency because their dog Ridley took off after a ball while being tied on a leash and she paralyzed her two back legs.  This was of course devastating to us and especially for Matt and Daisy.  I could tell they were barely keeping it together.  They love Ridley and she's still so young.  Ridley loved them!  They had to decide to put her down the next day because caring for a paralyzed dog is just too much.  She was not well.  Sometimes we don't know why things like this happen.  We try to remember that it's just a pet but it's also a pet they loved and entertained and wanted for many years!!!!

It was dark before we said goodbye to family and friends.  I love the Dienner family!

Summer loves ....

Things we've been loving this summer so far ....

I love summer nights on the back porch!  This space has been such a blessing to us!  Adding a roof over the porch a few years ago was a wonderful idea!  We spend a lot of our time here on the porch!  I also love low lights!  We had this lamp for a few years and I decided to add it to the porch and it's dreamy!  The soft glow is just perfect!

 

Fresh flowers!  I love that I can go outside with a clippers in my hand and find myself a fresh bouquet of flowers!  All these white ones look great in the kitchen!

I added these seeds out back and I really hope to have more fresh bouquets in a few weeks!

I love summer mornings walking at the park!  My friend Linda and I have been doing this for over two years.  It's so low maintenance that when it doesn't suit one of us, we just text and meet up the next day!  This summer we've been meeting a 7 AM!

I love when we can spend time with Gunnar!  He stays here when Hadassah cleans and he always wants to give Sunny, neighbors horse, a carrot and then go on a brum brum ride!!!!  We go see the cows down the road and then on up to see the donkeys and goats in our Amish neighbors meadow.  Gunnar LOVES THIS!!!!

He loves his Daudy/Grandpa!!!!  Gunnar had his first sleepover without his momma or daddy here!  He slept great and Hadassah got to enjoy a full day on the beach!

I love a good book and this was recommended and I know why!!!!  It's a wonderful read and challenging!  Asking what would Jesus do before every decision is life changing!  You should read this book too!

Summer is the time to fish and Austin and his cousins love to fish at the park!

They also had a sleepover here and ate French toast sticks for breakfast.

We've been watering the grass seeds off of the back porch to help repair the yard!

Something we don't love is sickness.  Austin was down with a headache and just not feeling well for one day.  I'm so glad it didn't last long!  We hear that Measles are actually going around to.  I hope to stay clear of that!!!!  While he was not well, I started a summer puzzle in the living room.  We listened to Adventures in Odyssey while he rested and I did puzzle.  Even when life is not great, this really wasn't bad!

With it only being 300 pieces, we had this done in not time.

We do love birthdays and we have a young man with one coming up.  He made a few birthday lists for those who might ask!!!!

We love our hometown!  Wow, back a few weeks when I was on jury duty, I missed driving through our town and grabbing some groceries!  Heritage Days is when tons of people come to our hometown park and watch volleyball games, eat good local food and then see fireworks in the night sky on Saturday night!  Mike was in Canada on a golf trip and was going to fly home on Friday night.  The flight was canceled because of technical problems on the plane and he didn't come home till Saturday night.  We grabbed dinner in our home town and it's great to have him back home!

Our summer with two children at home is relaxing.  Ashlyn is playing volleyball and Austin is into baseball.  Mike and I love both sports!  We are loving the nights on the back porch watching the Phillies games!  Isn't summer just the best???

I love summer time!

Riehl Reunion!

 We have a number of family reunions this summer and this is the first one.  The RIEHLS are such a fun bunch of good people!!!!  My dad and his siblings ALWAYS invite every single person to all their gatherings!  We drove to a small camping area with a pavilion and pond and ball diamond!  We've been here often and this was perfect weather for a two day reunion!

My parents were in charge of the food on Monday night.  As soon as the food was ate the rook cards came out!  Ballgames were played and Austin was having a blast!

Cousins were there along with a lot of other extended relatives that Ausin didn't know.  Mike was out of town and missed out.  The kids were sure that the green pond water was warmer than the tempts outside and after a swim, they gathered around the campfire to warm up and sip on hot meadow tea!

We went home to sleep but came back for day two.  So many ballgames were played and Austin loved playing second base and my Uncle JR played first base.  His loud voice and encouragement to all the batters was fun for Austin to see.  JR is a fun man and he made Austin feel right at home, amongst many Amish relatives.  The pond water looks like slime but the kids loved it!  The food was good!!!!

Tuesday night, we ate supper together and then Ashlyn played some spike ball with her extended family friends!

The Riehl's are a lively bunch and so fun!  This was a great two days spent with family!

Green Dragon.

We say every summer that we want to go see Green Dragon or Roots Farmers market.  Well, we got it done!!!!  We invited the kids to all go along and we piled into the Audi on a Friday night.  With the AC blasting on high, the weather was warm and we arrived in time for some fish sandwiches and pretzel wraps!  

But what I really wanted to see was the animal auction!  People crammed into this tiny barn space and there were animals in big and little crates.  Baby chicks.  Roosters.  A goose.  Rabbits, goats, a calf ... so many birds and it smelled like a barnyard!!!!  My videos don't upload on my blog but I have some cute videos of Gunnar looking at the animals and totally being amazed!!!!  It was so hot in the barn and we only watched the auctioneer for awhile before moving along!  Now we know how this goes!

We chased a gorgeous sunset on the way home!!!!

 Summer time is for farmers markets and animal auctions and sweaty nights.  We sure had all of that here!