More time when you are retired?? What a myth!

Go ahead…give me a “dressing down”…My blogging is becoming fewer and far between..Our elder family members are in much need of help right now…and family does come first..However, I do see it taking it’s toll on both Dennis and me…We are no “youngins” our selves, after all! At any rate, I will try to fill you in on a few fun things we HAVE been doing…We made it to Hayward, WI for 3 nights to be with some of our family members.  This was our first trip to Hayward without our niece, Leanne, who passed away last September..She made that one last trip with us last year, and it was so great she got to go one last time…

We sure missed you this year, Leo.

 

Our nephew, Tommy, (Leanne’s husband), caught himself a 42” Musky!!!!!

The Boat Bitches

We had a great time in the Northwoods. Our daughter ,Chris and her family, and our son, Kelly and his wife and son were there. The Heisers didn’t come up this year..Ter and Tim flew to Punta Cana for a week for their 20th wedding anniversary..We have been watching their kids (really don’t need much watching at ages 16, 15, and 11.)

The Heiser kids….and their deaf rescue dog, Bogie…

These things use to be called “skate boards”… Now they are a different shape and called “Rip Sticks”…whatever. All I know is that these kids are ACES at it…(our neighbor Jessie was over for the fun too!)

In my last (and too long ago) blog, I mentioned Toby Flaget and his walk to promote suicide awareness..Toby's Walk for Awareness…Well, Toby showed up at our house last week!!!!

Toby has re-injured a leg on his walk, so he is being driven by his side kick,  Roi, for some of the trip. He still walks some, but his leg swells up and he will probably have to go to the VA hospital when he is done and have surgery..Toby cannot drive himself because has epilepsy, so he has a great kid/friend who has been with him, driving ahead with flashers on, or driving him if need be…

Toby and Roi, his driver.

I had the privilege of walking through town with Toby and Roi..We stopped at the Mayor’s office (our Mayor use to be the Police Chief when Toby was an officer here), and we went to a couple businesses in town to promote the cause…

Roi and I just cannot get TOOOOOOO serious!!!

Well, as you can see, we have been busy…and life is full of surprises, that’s for sure!! I will try to be more diligent about posting…key word…TRY!  Thanks for all of you for continuing to read this drivel…

A great parade, and kudos to an Ex-Marine's brave walk.

Weekend before last, we had ourselves a mini Cave-A-Palooza here. The Wolff Cubs, and the Heiser kids were here, plus 2 other little girls from Zionsville, IN. Taylor, our eldest and only granddaughter,stayed here overnight to help her aging Grama (ME) ride herd on the 4 small children .We kept them here so the adults could go into Chicago overnight and see U-2 in concert..Do I know much about U-2?..nope...But, if Rod Stewart would have been in concert I would have gone and left THEM here!!

Saturday afternoon we went to our nephew's pool with the whole crew..The two "bathing beauties" are our 2 daughters..

Saturday evening we adults (now THAT could be in question) went to our local watering hole for some laughs and adult beverages...
Sunday AM, the six couples left for their night in Chicago, and I let Taylor take over the children and their activities..

What we have here is a serious game of Shaving Cream Wars...Give each kid a can of shave cream and get ready for organized chaos...and...good CLEAN fun!!!

 Then, of course, everyone has to be hosed off..Great thing about this is that the shave cream is soap so they get a shower in the process..sans the hot water..AND, we did have to make sure nobody wiped the soap in their eyes..OH YES, it happens!
That was our weekend of another crazy Cave-A-Palooza. We were missing Tim Heiser, since he had to "protect and serve" all weekend...Love ya, Sergeant Heiser!
This last weekend we had a really great 4th of July parade just down the street from our house...It was a fun time and most of the Cave family watched the parade...Bear with me while I post a few parade photos...Oh, Heck...I'll save ya the grief and just make a collage!

We even had a special appearance by Darth Vader and a few of his "death squad" in our parade...and someone decided to get herself a picture with him....

I have NO idea where our granddaughter gets her "hambone" from...wink wink...

Before I close this wackamo blog, I do have something very serious to present to all of you...We have a good friend who is a former Marine, and was a Sandwich Police Officer here in the 90's. He began having Epileptic seizures, so had to end his career as a police officer. He then became depressed from his Epilepsy meds and was near to suicide ..That was a number of years ago..His name is Toby Flaget, and he now lives in Washington State. We keep in touchm, and he has taken on a courages journey..Toby is currently walking across the USA, 3100 miles, to raise money and bring attention to suicide prevention..

"22 Veterans a day kill themselves, world wide there is a suicide every 40 seconds! It's kills more people than cancer or any other disease. So now that we agree it's a problem let's not fix the blame but work on solutions to this problem." ~Toby Flaget

 I got a shirt to support the cause...

Toby's walk began June 1st and so far he has walked 830 miles and just crossed into Wyoming.. and his route will be bringing him right through Sandwich, IL this September..I urge all of you to go to this link Toby's Walk for Awareness. This is not only to help servicemen, but all families who have been somehow touched by suicide...We are so very proud of this guy and what he is doing...Here is a link to his personal Facebook page, you can see his route..and maybe friend him!!  Toby Flaget

I leave you with a joke..Toby would appreciate this, being a cop.