Sunday in Michigan

Sunday was pretty jam packed. Below is a short diary of our first day here with all of the Sceggel family.  Our sunrise yesterday was just beautiful.

The lake water was calm, perfect for wakeboarding, David was first, just taking off from the dock.

 If you would like to see the rest of David's wakeboarding pictures click HERE. Philip was next, most of his turn was against the sun.

To see the rest of Phil's turn click HERE. Anna was last today. 

To see the rest of Anna's turn click Here. After we finished with the boat we enjoyed breakfast with scrambled eggs, piping hot biscuits, bacon, sausage, strawberries, coffee and orange juice. Mark had our church service today on Psalm 23. The Cass county fair started today and was free. Just a 5 of us went to check it out. The animals were all arriving and being checked in. They have lots of horses, ponies, cows both milk and beef, sheep, goats, ducks, chickens, turkeys, and rabbits. Below are just a few pictures of that.

 The draft horse pull started at 12:15 pm and was fun to watch.

 The winning team pulled 9000 pounds.

After we got back to the lake some of us rested (me) the rest enjoyed the afternoon playing outside. Stephanie arrived with Elisabet. They were the last to arrive, we have all made it here safely.

The grandchildren had a ball playing with the paddle boat. They are now old enough to actually be let loose, they know how to steer! 

The usual bag games were played.

 We had our big steak dinner then stayed up pretty late watching The Resurrection of Gavin Stone. It was a cute movie and I recommend it for a family with older children. Most of the grandkids were already in bed but we adults enjoyed it.

Rescue on the Water

This morning was the big race in town. Lee signed up for the 10 K while David, Phil, Anna, Nolan, Rhoda and Taunya signed up for the 5 K. They all did well, after the race we had breakfast then enjoyed the day. Nolan saw a jet ski not too far out obviously disabled.

to see the rest of the pictures taken today click HERE. It is late and we are all tired.

The Trip To the Lake House

Most of us made it down tonight. Stephanie is coming later as Elisabet was running a fever so she will wait to come once she is fever free. Ben and Taunya's family are coming on Sunday afternoon. Our trip down was a little stressful. The GPS announced that there was a traffic back up on 80 and recommended we take 57 north to 94. That should have been ok except we ended up going the wrong way on a one way street in Chicago. A police car pulled us over but did not give us a ticket. Evidently the road wasn't marked and we were just 1 of many that ended up going the wrong way (we were just following the crowd). Right after we got on 94 we had to stop to pay toll, a $5.00 toll! We were both shocked. Mark had forgotten to bring any cash and when I saw we were going to have to pay toll I was looking for quarters. Where oh where has the time gone? Quarters use to work fine. That $5.00 didn't take us very far, within a few miles we had to stop and pay another $2.20 and then Indiana charged us another $3.30. Crazy to think we had to pay $10.50 just to drive on not the best roads.
Once the cars were unpacked we drove to the small town of Dowagiac to pick up the race packets for the ones running the 5K and 10K tomorrow morning then stopped at Zeke's for dinner. They have a decent salad bar but the 4 piece fried chicken dinner was fried just too long and was not very good. The price wasn't bad, $14.00 which came with 1 side and the salad bar. We lost an hour by crossing a time zone so instead of 9:30 pm it is already WAY past our bed time.

Preparing for Vacation

The laundry was all finished today, new bales put in where needed and then came our big shopping trip. Rhoda arrived to help with this. We started at Sam's Club where we spent close to $700.00 then over to Aldi where another $107.00. We will be feeding 21 Sceggel's for 8 days. Below is what almost $800.00 worth of groceries looks like:

We had so much stuff stuffed into the car that Rhoda barely fit. When we got home we worked on packing. Rhoda and Sarah each took a bunch of non perishable items. The coolers were brought down and packed and some of the meat was placed in the freezer. We are leaving for Diamond Lake Michigan for the annual Sceggel vacation tomorrow morning. The weather is predicted to be beautiful both here and there. Karin is staying here taking care of the horses and the dogs and not just a few. Mom is leaving for Colorado for the Baer reunion so Karin will have mom's dog Molly. Sarah and Rhoda dropped off Rizzy,  Ari and Ruby so Karin will have those dogs, of course she will also watch our dog Emma, and her dog Studly, the Reinhards are on their big trip out east so she will also have their dog Kabur.  The Sauders are leaving for Arizona where they will be hiking the grand canyon to the beautiful blue Havasupai Falls so she will have Jessica's two Pugs, hmm how many does that make? I haven't heard yet if she will be watching David Jacob's dog Zero but I wouldn't put it past her. She may as well open a doggy day care.
Mom, Spark, Rhonda, Ruth and Diane played games tonight. I stopped in for one round but couldn't stay we just have too much to do here.

Training Trail Ride

Karin came early this morning with Shaeya and Shaeya's friend to train Coke and Brista before the heat arrived. I ran to Big R to pick up grain and wasp spray while they were training and when I arrived home they were just heading out on the 'death trails'.

 The best picture of the day is posted below.This is Shaeya riding Coke at a canter in the field. This mare just 20 days ago came in as an untrained mare and in 20 days Karin has her crossing creeks, climbing hills, trotting, and cantering without any problems. 

Karin feels Brista is also just about ready for a rider on the trails. WOW when I met these 2 mares I thought Karin had bit off more than she could chew. She really is a great horse trainer. If you would like to see the rest of the trail ride pictures click HERE. After the mares were sprayed down with water and fly spray, they were teased then put back in the paddock next to Evan. The new foals needed to be brought inside as it was really heating up. The barn air conditioner was turned on and the stalls freshly bedded. Shaeya and her friend went in to see the new foals. Below is Shaeya holding Indy's 3 day old filly by Evan. 

 She has Indy's cute tipped in ears. She is going to be a special one!

 Next they crossed the aisle to see Roxanne's 1 day old colt by Valiant. The size difference is dramatic. Not that this colt won't be tall, he will be but he is sure starting out smaller. These two will be best friends as the mares will be sharing a paddock. They stayed outside last night and got along great. 

The girls helped unload the grain then headed over to swim. When I got in the house their was a message that one of the foals were out at the Middle Grove farm. Before heading out there I was able to reach my brother John who was already on his way to put the foal back. He got there, opened the gate and the foal went running to his or her dam. I asked John what color the dam was but he didn't really notice so we have no idea which foal it was that got on the wrong side of the fence. Thankful that our neighbors out there know who to call and really thankful John lives out there. 

This evening Joan took the big van to church and had it full. Diane drove Ruth and mom while Mark and I went separate so we could go to Wendy's after church was over. Tim Funk had the message reading first in Job then in Luke of the Crucifixion. Amazing how they tied together. Do we have a hard heart or is our heart soft? 

We left church during a storm, went to eat our late dinner taco salad at Wendy's then came back, changed clothes and took care of the mare and foals for the night. 

No More Ugly

On the walk today I was trying to get the ladies to walk to the barn to surprise them with the new colt but it just wasn't working, finally mom asks, "did you have a new foal?" I just don't have much of a poker face. Roxanne's colt is strong and healthy. He is nursing well and even though she is a first time mom is standing very well for him. I was the first one to leave, needing to get to the Berean office. We had a small group today but everyone that came was willing to stay until all the work was finished. To read about our morning there click HERE. As soon as I got home the pictures of Indy's filly were downloaded for the website. She is just a bit over a day old in them. She really IS beautiful. For some reason when she was born she was just so huge that I thought she was kind of an ugly duckling but check her out in the pictures below.

 As soon as those were posted I ran up to the barn to check on Roxanne and her colt. He was following her so well that even though he was just a few hours old, they were taken to the outdoor arena for a few pictures.

 The sun had come out so they weren't left out very long. After supper tonight mom, Ruth, Diane and I drove over to Chad and Julie's to see their 5 day old son Boone Herman. Below are his 3 sisters Mercy, Libby and Emma who were very pleased to show him to us.

 Of course mom had to hold her newest great grandson. She still has 4 more coming. These babies are coming fast and furious. I think she will be up to close to 70 great grandchildren when the next 4 are born. 

 Emma, Libby and Mercy had to show us their bedroom. Chad is a builder and made these girls each their own space in the dorm room upstairs. Each built in bunk has a window, a light and drawers. 

 Their house is charming but I forgot to take any pictures of the outside, I was more interested in the barn. Chad is turning the barn into a guest house. 

 We got the grand tour. 

 Of course Julie did NOT do the decorating. Chad was showing us a few of the treasures. 

We had a nice visit. They live a long way from any neighbors and the girls were glad for company. After we got home it was cool enough and both foals are doing so well that both Indy and Roxanne along with their foals were put outside for the night. Tomorrow they will need to be brought inside the air conditioned barn as the temperature is suppose to climb back into the 90s. Rhonda came over to mom's and joined us for games tonight. Ruth won and I came in dead last, so far last that I lost by over a hundred points. We sure have a lot of laughs though.