July 2025

We started July with pool time with cousins.

We floated on the Black River. The kids were able to spend a lot of time swimming.

Cousin fun!

I enjoyed the time with my younger brothers.

We gave Lauren a Six Flags pass for graduation so she and Jack could go together. 

We spent the Fourth of July in northern Wisconsin at Ingrid's family's place.

I love that Maggie is not afraid of picking up a toad. 

Lots of cousin time!

I got to spend more time with brothers! 

We came home in time for a swim meet. 

We had family pictures taken for our church directory.  When we got home, I grabbed a picture of the boys in the yard. They did not wear hats in the directory picture. 

Patrick got this hat in Italy the month prior. 

It is not often we see so much of a rainbow.

We went to a Cardinals game and the giveaway was these gold chains.

What a fun game with the family!

We watched a neighbor's dog while they were out of town and were granted pool privileges. 

Patrick and Charlie earned some merit badges at a Court of Honor.

We went to Six Flags with the Aussies. 

We stopped at Laumeier Sculpture Park on the way home.

We packed the car for a drive to spend a week in the Smokies with family. 

We introduced Genius Star to the cousins. 

There was a huge covered deck that was perfect as a gathering space. 

Cece and Addie made up an Australian trivia game for us.

We played cornhole. 

We went into the National Park a couple days and did some hiking. 

We had a large group of hikers.

We saw this cabin the Cade's Cove area of the park. 

We pulled off the road so these crazies could jump/dive/flip off a cliff.  

You can watch a video of Adam's back flip here:

They all survived! 

Shenanigans at the cabin!

We played several games of Rummikub. I had to take a picture of this terrible game.  I was never even able to play!  

The boys played poker on the deck. 

Jack had to select his classes for the upcoming school year. Ryan and Patrick provided commentary. 

We had fun playing pickleball.

One night we were treated to a talent show.  Meara and Maggie did a skit.

Maggie and Addie performed the dance they choreographed to Love Story.  You can see the video here:

Here is a video of Jim and Maggie performing part of Here Comes the Sun:

Here is a video of Jim and Jack performing You May Be Right:

Jim and I sang a few songs as well. 

Obligatory family National Park sign picture:

Ready to hike!

The view from the top of Kuwohi, formerly known as Clingmans Dome.

We hiked a small section of the Appalachian Trail.  

As we drove out of the park, we stopped to play in the water for a while. 

Jim and Maggie really got in!

These girls had the brilliant idea to braid their hair together and then sleep in the same bed!

The cabin my parents rented had an indoor pool and two hot tubs, so we spent a lot of time in swim suits.

There were chairs available to sit on the porch and watch the rain come in.

We had several porches with lots of great views.

We went into town to ride an Alpine Coaster one day.

Even the big kids had fun!

It was so fun having all the cousins together! 

It's not often all of my siblings and I are together. 

We took some pictures outside of the cabin one evening. 

Thank you Nana and Papa for another awesome vacation! 

I'm pretty sure this is foreshadowing Lukas's future role as Hans in Frozen.

The original six.

We were missing Melanie!

The two could not have been any sweeter!  I love their cousin bond!

We were sad to say good-bye, but look forward to future adventures!

We stopped for lunch in Nashville on the way home.  We ate while listening to music at Robert's Western World.

For Family Fun Day this year, we planned to go to a waterpark in Ste. Genevieve.  Unfortunately, there were some problems with the water and they had to close before we got in.  So, we went out to lunch and then hiked at Pickle Springs.

We stopped to visit Jack at work one day when all of our relatives were working!

Patrick went on a week-long trip to the Boundary Waters with a group from Scouts. While he was gone, Jim and I took Charlie, Maggie, and Maggie's friend Annie to meet Karen and Lenny at Starved Rock State Park.  None of us had been there before. When we arrived, it was dark and pouring rain.  It was not a fun way to start a weekend.  We were happy to use our new tent again,though.

Karen and Lenny arrived before us with their camper and set up a pop-up tent above the picnic area. It was nice to have a dry place to hang out.

We went for a hike the next morning. 

We saw some cool cliffs. 

There was a small waterfall at the end of our hike.

It was a very muddy hike!

It cleared up later in the day and we explored more of the park. 

I know there is probably a really good reason, but I am not sure why you cannot have alcohol 5 months of the year, but you can the other 7 months.

The lodge was very similar to the Pere Marquette Lodge. They were both built by the Civilian Conservation Corps.

We were entertained in the evening with some guitars and a ukulele. 

I bought six tickets to a Cardinals game in late July before Patrick signed up to canoe the boundary waters, so Lauren got to join us!

A visit to Grandma's finished our July.