Summer Lovin'... Not So Much

Well, as we continue our saga of the "lost summer," things get a bit uglier, with some fun interspersed. We arrived back home to Wisconsin on the last day of June. Without so much as a seemingly good night's rest, we were unpacked, laundered, re-packed, and on our way to Michigan. It was our traditional stint at the National Cherry Festival in Traverse City, MI, where I grew up. Each year, we visit my relatives and have a blast playing "fudgie" (which is what northern Michiganders call tourists as people come up north for the fudge!!), get some much-needed R&R, and let the kids get spoiled just a bit by Nana and Papa and the aunts and uncles.

Here's Abigail... Our yearly tradition is to take the girls' pictures in front of the Cherry Festival signage. It's a great little growth chart of sorts! Oh, and these are the "pose however you wish" shots. Fun stuff...

This year, our trip included borrowing a wheelchair from my parents' church so that I could get around the big festival. Note to all: those wheelchairs with four small wheels are a joke! Don't ever use one unless you KNOW you will only be on paved surfaces!! Whew, Nick had a nasty time pushing me around on any dirt, gravel, or grass! I almost got dumped more than a few times!

After 5 days of this trip, we were back on the road for home for about a week. Then we were off to Indiana for our church's annual conference for 3 days. We had a tremendous time, even though I had to stay in bed for much of the fun/free time. Too much pain and fatigue, too little was the ability to "beam" places. Ahh, where's Scotty when you need him?

Miriam, AKA Vanna...

I am happy to report the rest of July was spent at home. This summer meant a lot more pain for me. I am sure the travels didn't exactly help the situation out... On top of the "normal" muscle fatigue and deep muscle pains, tremors and twitchiing, I also began having pretty severe joint pain. The worst aspect was my knees and elbows. More on that later...

Anyway, I began having headaches again as well. I had lived about 3 lovely months without the migraines, and now they were back. A much-needed respite, I guess.

August came, and with it, the sadness of saying goodbye again to Hannah, our former exchange daughter. She flew back home to Germany and began finalizing things for university in the fall. As for us, it meant one last big trip. Back to Michigan we went; this time to Holland, for a vacation with Nick's family.

And Rebekah, the show stopper, apparently.

I always love these trips we take. Relaxing, fun, and his family is truly a blessing in more ways than I could tell you about in a day. Let's suffice it to say that they are truly my family as well. I am blessed to have an amazing family that I married into! Two great families. It's amazing and wonderful.

This time around, I had to take things so much slower, so much easier. I made the mistake of going to the beach with the family. It is on Lake Michigan, and on a sand dune. Even though we picked a spot that was barely any incline-on-sanddune-walking at all, I still, very much, over-did it. Laying in the sun and walking in the water... whew! LOL And then, the walk back to the car... Up that tiny incline, well, compared to the rest of the beach's dunes, but it was big enough to make most people a bit out of breath, and for me, that meant stopping every 4 or so steps to rest. It was pretty intense. And I paid for it pretty hard the rest of the day and into the next two days.

All three Lymie munchkins. Adorable, no?

Life with Lyme + Co. is certainly a perspective changer.

The rest of August was spent getting all three of our Lymie kids ready for school. We now had a middle schooler, an elementary schooler, and a 4-K-er, ALL AT DIFFERENT SCHOOLS. This was shaping up to be a fun [read: difficult for mama-also-known-as-bus-driver] school year!

And who could forget Hannah? Our kid away from kids... Away from country... But not away from our hearts. Love you Hannah!!

I guess we have made it through August. September will follow in a few days. And so much more!!

Peace, love, and cider mugs!
Lauren