Calvin - Driving again

I finally got to drive again. I sold my truck a while back. So I while I was legal to drive again last week. There was a whole bunch of hassle getting Ethan's car (which is what I'll be driving) registered in Michigan because the registration was more than 90 days lapsed. 

It's a bit different than what I've owned before but it's much nicer. It's a 2019 toyota corolla with only 5000 miles on it. I got all the tires pumped up, put all my car stuff inside, and just kinda took over his car. He doesn't have a license so it's insured in my name which means I'll be the only one driving it because my driving record is perfect and I don't want my premiums to go up because somebody else marred it. We inflated all the tires, went to the gas station, gassed it up, took it for a jaunt around the neighborhood, did some difficult left turns then got some dairy queen and went home. I'm just easing back into driving because it's been so long, for me and the car lol. The brakes looked so rusted before we left, so I was a little heavy on them to clean them up and by the time we got home they were gorgeous. Looking forward to going back into the office, showing Ethan my history in Ann Arbor, and taking Petra to the dog park. 

A Tearful Goodbye

Last weekend, we all (except Quincy who couldn't) congregated in Cincinnati to say a final goodbye to Coco. She'd been having issues for a while just because she was so old, her groomers wouldn't even groom her because she had gotten so frail, so we decided the big sleep was the right option. Max was the one who was with her the week before so he spoiled her, gave her pizza, and took her to the beach which she has always loved.

 

She REFUSED to stop staring after Max gave her some pizza.

In Memoriam:

She was quite the predator.

Clearly the favorite child.

Always a good nap buddy.

Got to meet her niece and they eventually got along.

Quincy's last goodbye before London.

The original Beach.

Hard to believe this was only 2 years ago.

She did age quite gracefully though:

 

Here is when we originally bought her.

And some early puppy play time. She may have been the runt of her litter but she definitely played a huge, if not the biggest, role in ours and we'll remember her forever. 

Thank You Coco For Being Everyone's Favorite Sibling

Father's Day (A Bit Late)

 We celebrated Father's Day with Josh a bit late this year as we had to find a time when 3/4 kids could come home.  Calvin planned out a great weekend though and we really enjoyed spending time together. We truly all miss Quincy with these gatherings but certainly appreciate What'sApp and FaceTime for keeping in touch.

C, M, and T came home early in the day on Saturday and we were able to hang out down the street at a new wine bar in the afternoon and then make homemade pizzas on the grill in the evening.  

The next day was all about speed and excitement. The kids arranged for a day of go-karting, axe throwing, games, and eating.  

Lots of fun!  Josh is the natural racer with Max as a close second.

Everyone had fun throwing axes although all were better than I am!

Adult kids are such fun to spend time with. Ours especially!  We are lucky!

Quincy's Update

 Well, I guess I am going to have to take charge of this since Quincy does not seem to get around to posting!

Quincy's update (mostly his words):

2021 - Moved to London to study film making at MET Film School

2023 - Graduated from MET Film School

2024- Continuing to get ghosted by BBC and the rest of them in his film job search

2024 - Employed full time at Passeyunk Avenue pub

2024- Writing a play and producing a pilot episode for TV

2024 - Has a Scottish girlfriend named Ella

Forgive Quincy's goofy face in the picture, it comes naturally!

Calvin - The Fun of the Fourth and Friendly Farming Fundamentals

As I'm sure many of you know I'm not the most sociable of people but every year there are 2 big exceptions where I invite a few people to my house and have a little party, the 4th of July and New Years. This year's fourth of July was a bit smaller than usual: Taba's pet-sitter fell through so her fiance Matt couldn't make it, my friend Ethan Lambert betrayed his country and went to Canada to support his cousin in the paralympics, My friends Evan and Lilly couldn't get Friday off of work, and my friend Zoe recently started her residency at UMass so couldn't exactly pull her away from that. As a result it ended up being a much smaller group than past years with just Ethan and I, Max, Taba, and my friends Kaleb and Sage. Still, it was a lot of fun, we cooked out, played some board games, and enjoyed the summer weather! Experience is a good teacher and I learned not to try to cook multiple racks of ribs with different thicknesses at the same time:

 

Though after some re-grilling of the under-done ones ended up with some delicious dry-rubbed ribs along with some other 4th of July staples I think the food turned out pretty well: 

Thanks to those that made it though I know most of you don't read this blog. 

Farming

A little while ago Ethan and decided to do a little fruit/veggie garden/hobby farm so we got a rototiller and tilled up a corner of the yard.

 

 

 Then planted a bunch of veggies.

It seems to be doing pretty well (ignore the weeds), except we had 2 beautiful rows of corn shoots until the squirrels/raccoon decided to eat them.

Petra

The "farm" is fenced off from Petra but she's been taking care of it the best she can by killing squirrels and even a raccoon. The raccoon got in a little scrape but Ethan and Jen took her to the vet because I'm visiting Taba and Matt and the vet said it was superficial enough that it didn't need any treatment so they didn't even charge for the checkup.

It already looked much better the next day after some clean-up and she seemed to have forgotten about it completely.

I may add more pictures, I'm uncomfortable taking pictures of people but Taba is like a fairy leaving behind Polaroids instead of fairy dust so I may scan and add some of those when I get home.

Don't Use the App

 I once again tried to use the app to create a post while we were in the Virgin Islands but it doesn't work well and always seem to create huge pictures and duplicate posts.  So, ignore that previous post, if you will!

Josh and I spoiled ourselves rotten by booking a sailing adventure in the USVI and BVI at the end of June.  Josh had taken Max and his friend, Sam, along with Josh's friend Tim and his son, Connor when the boys were all seniors in high school on a similar trip. They all absolutely loved it so of course, I have been jealous for the past five years.  This time, we had Tim and his wife, Stephanie, join us so we were a grand total of 4 people on a four bedroom, 2 bath, 40 foot catamaran.  We rented it out of St Thomas and lived onboard for 7 nights.
Although it was hot and muggy, the conditions and trip were just beautiful and we truly relaxed for the first time in a long time.  We ended up going to five different islands where we hiked and swam, lounged on the beach and ate.  We ended up staying two nights on a mooring ball at the Bitter End Resort in Virgin Gorda as we loved it so much!
We will definitely repeat this vacation another time!  Maybe with some different friends or even family!

Sailing the Virgin Islands

Josh and I flew down to St Thomas yesterday where we rented a 40 foot catamaran with our friends, Tim and Stephanie from Cleveland. With our first day out to sea under our belts, we are sweaty and sticky and sunburned and bug bit but had a nice day. We were able to catch a mooring ball off of St John with some struggles. Discovering a missing piece to our grill changed our dinner plans but we still managed to eat well and will certainly sleep soundly tonight!