Welcome back. So you survived part I and returned for the Sequel.
Summer brought lengthy trips; it was the first summer since 1990 that Carolyn had not taught or taken classes. Carolyn flew to Texas in time to see her brother Dee marry Tina, a wonderful lady with two teenage boys. She then rode with the family to Oklahoma where she was joined by son Curt and Mandy’s mom, Nancy, in the birthing room to see our daughter-in-law Mandy give birth to our beautiful baby granddaughter Ella. It was a wonderful experience and, of course, Ella is exceptional. Mandy is in her second year of teaching 5th grade in Oklahoma City and Curt is in the insurance game. I love this picture of newborn Ella and Grandpa Kevin (apparently now sometimes called G-Kev).
Kevin followed a week later and we helped Mom with some repairs on her house. Mom is doing well, volunteering at the hospital, and doting on Toto, her Yorkie (or Toto Baggypants the Flobbit for those of you who are big fans of "Lord of the Beans"). We spent most of the balance of time helping Andrew with the home he bought just a couple of days after Kevin arrived. It is in a very nice area, but had some serious cosmetic issues (as in YUCK). We cleaned, painted, ripped out and scrubbed as long as we were there. His home is now looking great and we look forward to seeing it more complete when we return.
Some very special news was received in person while in Oklahoma. Chris and his wife Bethany announced that they were expecting. We can hardly wait to see our new grandson, Liam, who is due early in January. Chris is continuing his role as architect overseeing the building of several medical schools in the Caribbean and Bethany continues to excel at her position as an Architectural Engineer (you go girl! Can you still say that? Could be outdated…whatever). We are very proud of all our children and the remarkable accomplishments they have made so our apologies if we are a bit boastful.
From Oklahoma we traveled east to Hot Springs, AK where Kevin was introduced to chiggers (he itched all the way home to Michigan), then to Memphis where we took the obligatory picture in front of Graceland and a quick stop at Sun Studios, then on to Kentucky. We had some quiet time at Kevin’s mom’s and grandparent’s graves and stopped by the house where his mom grew up. We continued on in Carolyn’s family ancestral footsteps where we met a somewhat distant relative who told stories of the Bush family and took us to where the ancestral Bush’s had lived. It was an experience to remember.From Kentucky we traveled to Madison, WI for yet another conference. Madison is Carolyn’s favorite large city and now Kevin knows why. We had a great time and uncovered quite a bit of info in the genealogical library on the U of W campus. From there it was home again and back to school a couple of days later. We had some opportunities to do a little canoeing around here and outside Traverse City, but need friends and family to come and help us get the canoes wet more often (We have two Kevlar lightweight canoes). Below is a picture of the Platte River near Traverse City, Michigan taken from our canoe.
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