Almost summer, and still waiting for the other boy to get here

Our month here in Monroe is winding down, and we’re still waiting for Nicolas to get released from his command in Charleston so he can spend some time with us before he reports in Norfolk.  He’s finished with his training, his stuff is all packed up, and he’s ready to hit the road . . . he just needs his updated orders.

With all of his nuclear qualifications complete, he re-enlisted last week, and is now a Petty Officer, 2nd Class.  Congrats, Nick!!

We’ve continued to search for trucks while we wait for him to get here, and last Saturday, we took a drive into the country to check out a few that we found online. 

We loaded Casey into the back of the Jeep, and headed out for a roadtrip!

We found a Ford dealer who had several trucks, none that quite met Nicolas’ criteria, but we talked to the sales manager who does their shopping at the auto auction, and he’s got a handle on what we’re looking for and agreed to try to get some for Nick to look at.  Hopefully by the time he gets here, they’ll have a couple!

We drove as far west as Sturgis, MI, and then went into Indiana to visit my sister and brother-in-law and see their new trailer.  They still have a seasonal site in a campground where most of our family spent decades of summers, and just moved onto my Mom & Dad’s old site overlooking the lake.

There new trailer has so much room, and they are going to have a huge deck surrounding it . . . hopefully soon!

We had a few raindrops right after we got there, but it didn’t amount to anything and was over in a few minutes, so we were able to have dinner outside.  With the sun back out after dinner, Danny took us for a ride around the lake in their boat, which had just been put back in the water that morning.

It was a beautiful afternoon, and we took a nice little rider around the lake to check out any new homes that had popped up over the winter. 

The water was almost like glass, with just a few other boats out there with us.  What a beautiful afternoon!

After our tour, we returned to the camper where we sat on the deck and enjoyed the rest of the evening.

It was nearly 10pm when we loaded Casey back into the Jeep for the drive home.  It was a lot shorter drive on the way home, but still almost midnight when we arrived back in Monroe.

Thanks for a great afternoon and evening at the lake, Dee & Dan!

Meanwhile, back in Michigan, Bryce was at the Tough Mudder Michigan with some friends from MSU.

They battled mud & water – over, under and through a multitude of obstacles – and came out victorious, with just some bumps and bruises!

Not something I would attempt, but the kids had fun!

Around the campground, Tom has been helping out with some of the spring cleanup by trimming bushes . . . and he never trimmed bushes at our house!

The other day, I took Casey for a walk and stopped by him and Paul to see how the trimming was going . . . they showed me a bush that they had just finished . . . and the little guys that they almost didn’t see!  Fortunately,they did see them in time, and no lives were lost!

Today, Bryce headed back to his summer job at Cedar Point, and his last week staying in the dorms.  Next week, we move to Sandusky, and he’ll be able to stay with us the rest of the summer.  Hopefully Nicolas will be here by then, and we’ll have a completely full house.  It’ll be cozy in the motorhome, but I’m going to love having both boys home for a while!!

   Happy Momma!