We've had a busy last couple of weeks,
so I'm just going to fill you in on life lately.
It has been insanely hot down here in
Shen. You all know that I'm not a heat person and here I am. We were in an extreme heat warning all last week and feels like temps were 110-115. I was
not impressed. I
will be happier about the warmer temps in the winter, right?!
One of the best parts of the move in my
children's eyes is that they have a nice aquatic center. The pool
passes for a family of six were super cheap! We've been down there
for a month and we've already more than used it. I told Aaron the
other day, “The good news is there's a pool in Shen! The bad news
is there's a pool in Shen!”
What I mean by that is the boys
especially only have their eyes on the prize – going to the pool –
every day. EVERY. DAY. Sometimes, this mom just doesn't want to go
to the pool because she wants to pick a project around the house or
perhaps just sit in the air-conditioning. I'm just saying. We kind
of have it down to two hours and that's it per day. The kids are
accepting and I can get on board with a couple of hours.
This was the only scary part. You have to ride a bridge over the river and everybody was a tad freaked out. We made it though. Jenna also ran over a snake and I'm sure her scream could be heard for miles.... ;)
We made our first trip from Shenandoah
to Mankato to help my brother move and celebrate my nephew's fourth
birthday last weekend! When Aaron accepted the job, this was
something I was concerned about, the distance from my brother and his
family. We see them quite a bit and going from just over three hours
to five and a half is a doozy. Well, we survived thanks to the help
of four devices, Netflix and headphones. Each kid was able to watch
their own movie and life was good. We got it all moved and they got kind
of settled and we celebrated the birthday with donuts!
Aaron and I had both driven from Shen
to Cherokee and dropped off a vehicle here because of the state
softball tournament. We realized it made no sense for us to drive
all the way back to Shen (3 hrs, 15 minutes), when the kids and I
could stay in Cherokee and drive from here (1 hr, 30 minutes) to Fort
Dodge. Plus, it's a couple bonus days with the cousins.
State Softball is my jam. So many good memories of that place and I still cherish them and probably always will!
Aunt Jamie watched all six kiddos before state softball. We had a great time despite the heat. We spent the morning at Spring Lake Park exploring and playing and then invaded Grandma Jo's house!
In addition to his children, this may be Aaron's pride and joy. Aaron, Justin and Mitch love to be meat smoking cronies together. It's actually kind of cute how they can talk about smoking meat for hours and send each other pictures back and forth. Justin and Mitch both have an ugly drum smoker and Mitch hooked Aaron up with this barrel so he could make one of his own. Aaron was super proud and made a rack of ribs and pork loin Sunday night. It was a-mazing!
Tennis is a thing here. I know, it seems strange to me too since I've never been around it. That being said, I know my SW Iowa friend Mr. Barry used to coach tennis at Harlan and just this year the Shen girls tennis team was third at state. People are always playing tennis. It's not really in our wheelhouse, but we went and bought some cheap rackets to try it out. It's pretty ugly, but the kids enjoy it and are always asking to go play.
All in all, things are going well down here. Aaron is staying busy with his job. I'm working remotely for the paper as much as I can. The kiddos have met some kids. It is so BEAUTIFUL down here, I can't get over it!
We're just soaking up the rest of summer. School will be here before we know it. We've already registered! AHHH!!!
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