Settling in at Camp Sandusky, and our Sailor finally arrived!

As we were packing up and preparing for our short travel day from Monroe, MI to Sandusky, OH, Nicolas packed up all of his belongings and finally made the move from Charleston, SC to Norfolk, VA.  He just made a short stop there to unpack his stuff into a storage unit, and then he met us in Ohio to enjoy some well-earned leave time!

He was tired when he finally arrived, and ready to relax for a while!

Casey was so excited to see him, and could hardly wait for him to come through the door!  She hardly ever leaves his side now!

We spent a few days back in Michigan in order to get some things taken care of right away when he arrived – renewing Nicolas’ drivers license and applying for his passport, dinner with the family on Father’s Day,

and Hannah’s graduation party.

Unfortunately, Bryce had to work and couldn’t spend the day with us.

Back here in Sandusky, the guys got my brakes working on my bike,

we enjoyed some fabulous ice cream at the local dairy,

and found a beautiful local church to attend.

After that first weekend, Tom and Nicolas got serious about searching for a truck for Nick.  We had gone back & forth quite a bit about the truck and RV that will serve Nicolas best, and although the last couple of months he had been focused on a Super Duty, we ultimately decided that he should go with an F-150 instead.  So, with that decision made, they searched for ones that matched Nicolas’ criteria for what he wanted in a truck.

They spent a full day looking at several available trucks, driving the ones he was interested in, and calling on a few more, and then he picked one – once he had it narrowed down, it was actually a pretty easy decision.  On Wednesday afternoon, we all returned to the dealership to complete the purchase.    

He’s a happy truck owner!

Dad’s happy that Nick got what he wanted!

The first order of business after getting the truck home, was to find a tonneau cover for the bed so he could get his stuff out of our Jeep and into the truck.  He found a nice tri-fold cover by Lund that is a fabric very similar to the Jeep convertible top.  We ordered it on Amazon (birthday present from Mom and Dad), and it arrived the very next day!

It was a breeze to install . . . lining it up on the bed,

checking for gaps,

and it looks pretty good!

With our work complete, it was time for a weekend of fun.  Saturday started with an adventure that will get it’s own blog post, and we finished it off with a campfire – the first one we’ve had all year!  Nicolas says we’ve forgotten how to “camp”!

We were joined by our neighbors – a nice young military family who are on their way from Norfolk, VA to their new duty station in Anchorage, Alaska.  With 2 young boys, 3 dogs and a cat, they decided that an RV was their best option for making the cross-country trip.  We really enjoyed getting to know them over the weekend, sharing RVing tips with them while they shared information about Virginia and military life with Nicolas, and watching the boys play reminded us of our own early camping days!  Safe travels, Adam and Blanton!  Maybe we’ll get to Alaska while you’re still there!

On Sunday I got laundry done after picking strawberries at a local farm.

It was a beautiful day,

and I came home with 10 lbs. of delicious berries!

Meanwhile, Tom and Nicolas ventured to the nearby town of Norwalk, OH for the NHRA Nationals.  They had a great afternoon of father/son bonding . . . although they wished they had earplugs!

They had fun, though!