We were so lucky to spend Memorial Day Weekend with Mike this year. Over the course of 13 years, we always looked forward to our visits with Mike and Joanie. Now, since Joanie's passing two years ago, we look forward to our visits with Mike.....and with flowers in hand, our visits to the Tahoma National Cemetery where Joanie is interred.
With the kids getting older, they sure do have a lot of ants in their pants. Of course they are good with just hanging out....but after a while, they're pulling us up from relaxing on the couch and asking to get in some play time. Or ice cream. Or meat sticks. Or window shopping. Good thing we like all of those things too! This visit we found this little park that had fun swings and a basketball court. The kids loved that we had the whole park to ourselves!
Usually the weather is gorgeous over Memorial Day Weekend. However, this time we weren't granted perfect weather the whole time we were there. The mornings always started out chilly, overcast, and rainy. But by late afternoon the clouds would part and the sun made it's way out. No matter the weather, we were in the pool! Mike had it at 86* for us, so even with it only being 60* out, we were toasty warm and having a great time! The pool is always the highlight of our stay. The kids must have been in it 7 or 8 different times over the course of the four day weekend!
Sunday evening we were granted clear blue skies and so we jumped at the opportunity to meet up with some of Mike's friends and ride their pontoon around Lake Sawyer. We got a tour of the lake and "window shopped" which huge lake house we would buy if money grew on trees, haha!
Relaxing in front of the fire with a magazine has always been a tradition when here. Joanie always had a stack of magazines and newspaper flyers for me to go through. There aren't any magazine piles now a days, but we still get in tons of relaxation in front of the fire. Only now we watch movies. Jurassic Park was the choice while the boys kept the fire going.
As always, our group photo while we're there. We are so thankful Mike opens up his home to us. I've been going for 13 years now; of course Sam even longer. It's always been our kick back and unwind spot.
On our way home, we stopped and took a nice hike at Federation Forest State Park along the White River. This was a really great hike! A good mix of hiking in the woods as well as along the river bank. Definitely worth us stopping to stretch our legs for an hour!
Hopefully we'll be able to make another visit to Mike this summer. The kids can already hear the pool calling their names, lol.
With love,
Mama Hauck
