July

Chris and Clement reading the Wall Street Journal

At the beginning of July our friend Chris was still with us. He amazingly agreed to drive back to Wisconsin with me and the little boys, while Franz stayed in Texas to work. The car ride was surprisingly not too terrible. Especially factoring in that we had two little ones, and the air conditioner only sometimes worked. It helped that we drove through the night. It was a long haul because we started out early evening after eating supper with Franz and drove straight through to Madison where we stopped at my brothers and sister in laws around noon. I went over 24 hours without sleep. I rested and the boys played.

Then in the evening I drove the last couple hours to my parents farm. I literally could not stay awake anymore and asked my Mom to call Franz before I was out like a light. Next day I was much better after sleep. Than began our wonderful time spent on the farm. Cyprian was almost never seen as he was always busy tagging along after his cousin Alynnsia. They spent all day romping around the farm and getting into mischief. I worked in the garden on garlic. Clement kept busy following me or the kids. We made various trips to Cashton and LaCrosse for mass and errands. We took sunset walks. The kids played in the sprinkler and kiddy pool. The beginning of July was awful hot and the crops were suffering in Wisconsin. My parents have a little window unit air conditioner that they put out on their porch. My Dad would sleep on the porch at night so that he was comfortable. My brother his wife and three of there kids made a visit to the farm while were there. The boys and I also had a great excursion with one of my best friends Mary. She took us out into the boonies to see where she lived in a cabin that has no electricity or plumbing. We visited the Slatterys and the Marx families and the boys enjoyed playing with other little ones. Cyprian and I both got to ride Mary's horse. We ate at I believe it was called the Milk Jug Cafe in little Ontario WI.

While we were gone in WI. Franz was still in TX and our puppy Pepper decided to take off. Franz searched for her without success. I waited a couple days then called the shelter and they said they had no dog of her description. I also checked out the website for the shelter because they post pictures of all the animals brought in. So I was very sad at the news of her being gone. Mid July Franz took a greyhound from TX to Tomah WI. He was traveling for 24 hours. He had some crazy adventures which seems the norm for riding buses. The boys and I picked him up at a McDonalds which is where he got off the greyhound. It was great to see him, we really missed him for the two weeks we were all apart. We spent a few more days at the farm and Franz and I helped harvest the rest of the garlic crop. We went to the Shrine of our Lady of Guadalupe, and morning mass at St. Peters. We also had a nice get together with some friends and family our last night at the farm.

We then headed to Stevens Point to spend time with the Franz's family. Cyprian once again was scarcely seen as he tagged along with his aunts and uncles, playing in the woods in the town of Desmet. We were able to visit the grandparents, go swimming, eat ice cream at belts, go for walks, and just hang.

We took Ryann and Anton with us when we made our yearly trek up north to Iron Mountain MI, to visit Sister Miriam Therese, Franz's great aunt who is a carmelite nun. It was a good time, my sisters Beck and Renee and niece Alynnsia joined us and we camped at Lake Antone. We always eat at the convent then we get to visit with Sister Miriam in the grate room, meaning we can see each other but it is through a grate. We then spend the night camping and the kids get to play at the playground. We have a fire, cook our supper, and eventually after all the storytelling we go to bed. Actually I went to bed with the little guys:') Next morning we attended mass and said our goodbyes. Then we all headed back to Point, where my sisters and niece rested before continuing on to my parents farm. We spent some more time with the Kleins.

Then we started out on our next journey. Franz had reserved a crossing of Lake MI on the SSBadger. Our car Tony would be on the boat with us and we would land  in Lubbock MI. The boat ride was quite fun. We ate, played Bingo, explored, watched part of a movie, the kids played in the kid port room, and we hung out on the deck in the breeze. When we docked it was cool watching them unload all the vehicles.

We ended up driving for several hours till we stopped at hotel. We had a planned on camping but the weather wasn't cooperating. We ordered pizza and then all slept well till we woke and went and ate the continental breakfast. After showers and cleaning up we headed out again. We stopped in some random ball park to eat leftover pizza and drink water. We were on our way to visit Clement's godparents who live in Hillsdale MI.

Our friends the Lindleys have four boys, with Theo the youngest only 3months old. Cyprian and Clement enjoyed themselves immensely, playing mostly outdoors. Franz and I had a good time too, visiting and staying up too late to play a game:') The next day our host and I with the little guy went to the farmers market. We had several people mistake us for sisters. It must be the curly hair and fair skin. We then stopped at a rummage sale on our way back to the house. Then we loaded all youngins and went to the Hillsdale College campus, where we had very enjoyable picnic lunch. After the boys had run around a bit, we went back to the house and we packed up again and headed out on the next leg our journey.

We were now headed to Findlay OH, to my sister and brother in laws. They have two little girls and my sister was expecting a third baby. The evening we arrived my sister and I with the kids walked to a park and played. Franz got to go with his sister in law to a cage fight that his brother was in, that conveniently happened to be in Findlay OH. Franz's brother of course won his fight. The next day was Sunday so we walked to Church which isn't far for mass. We spent the day having fun playing. I tell you the boys had the whole month of July to play with so many family and friends. Monday my brother his wife and two younger kids also joined us at the Tehokes. We had pizza ordered for lunch and that afternoon all the kids and adults beside me and Brigid played at the big outdoor pool next door. I gladly agreed to stay back and also take a nap while Brigid did. Late that afternoon we once again took our family on the road.

Now we were headed to Columbus OH. Where Franz's brother and wife live. They made us a nice dinner of lasagna, garlic bread, salad, and even chocolate milk:') After eating we walked to a park to stretch our legs and tire the boys out for bedtime. After praying the rosary all together and the little guys falling asleep, us adults played scrabble till we were too tired. Next morning Nikki had to work so Franz, his brother Jamie, the little guys and I went to the Columbus zoo. It is huge we didn't see everything because we became tired and hungry. When we went back to the Klein's place I laid down while the guys took the kiddos to the park. Franz also took our car to a garage to be checked because it was making some weird noise and feeling funny, and getting hot. The diagnoses on the car was not good. They said we had a cracked headgasket and the price to fix was astronomical. Now our good old faithful car "Tony" had served us well for four years, but he was a 2002 Ford Taurus, with almost 200,000 miles. Taurus are notorious for blowing engines over 180,000 miles. So we were not about to invest money in a car of that unreliable old age. So Franz picked up some sealant that he put in wherever you put it to hopefully seal the crack. The mechanic said he wouldn't drive it to Texas, but if we did to not take it over 60mph.

Amazingly so long as Franz kept the speed below 60mph, and added some oil, Tony did not over heat and actually seem to run better than he had for awhile. We safely made it home on the first of August...   

Daddy and Clement tuckered out

Of course we all took a ride on Grandpa Korish's tractor

Cyprian with his godmother and cousin Alynnsia on the hammock

Cousins playing

Buck the farm dog

Grandma and Grandpa are not too old to play with the grandkids

Clement after one of our evening walks

Aren't we adorable

Oh yeah!

Cousin Olivia swinging with Cyprian on the hammock

Hallie my brothers dog trying to share Clements cookie

Cousin Walker and Hunter

Cousins hanging

Cyprian loves to bug his cousin Hunter

Cupcakes!

Mom (Grandma) with the awesome tasting dark chocolate cake with buttercream frosting

Let's play ball

Cousin Josie

Cousin Julianne

Here let me swing you

Grandpa making a happy grandkid

Cyprian off to work with Grandpa

This doesn't do justice to the sunsets at the farm

Clement was very fond of Aunt Renee's dreamsicle drink

Nice hat!

The kids kept cool playing in the sprinkler

I think the baby doll stroller is a bit tight

Clement putting his baby down for a nap

Friends in the play house

Hey there!

Pile up on the slide!

Grandma and Grandpa

Last night at the farm. Gathered with family and friends

Cyprian and Uncle Anton

Playing at the park by Lake Antone in Iron Mountain MI

Putting on sunscreen

Aunt Beck keeping an eye on the water bug

Lake Antone

Aunt Ryann

Great Grand Godfather Klein, making Clement look so pretty..

Cyprian and Uncle Toby in the backyard woods

Franz's family's chickens

Here aunt Ryann give him a hug

Uncle Toby watching Grandma Klein holding her grandboys

Franz and part of his family

On the SSBadger setting out to cross Lake Michigan

Daddy keeping an eye on Clement

Hanging out on deck where it was nice and breezy

cruising along

Ha Ha Ha

Awe

Cyprian showing off the tattoo of the SSBadger he got

Wondering on the ship

Playing in the kids port

Getting ready to dock

Unloading the vehicles

The SSBadger

At the hotel, finding a good place

Chilling at the hotel waiting for the pizza to arrive

Petting Jerome the Lindleys cat

The boys with the Lindleys on the roll

Go Cyprian!

Even Clement took a spin

Finger puppets courtesy of the Lindleys

The Tehoke cousins

Maire and Clement enjoying watermelon

Brigid wondering why I am taking a picture

Look at the cool attire, diaper, SSBadger tattoos, and watermelon dripping down the front. COOL!

Yeah, it is good!

Uncle Jamie and aunt Nikki's just resting

The zoo in Columbus Ohio

Petting something in the water

Can I touch the turtle?

Cooling off in the mister with uncle Jamie at the zoo