Five Brown Kids

Just a few weeks left of summer vacation.  

We had a great July 4th weekend with the Ricks. We drove up Thursday - stopping halfway at Cafe Rio of course. Friday Tyrone and Matt took the kids to Camel Beach water park. I heard they had an amazing time! It was supposed to rain so the lines were short and they could go down slides as fast as they could get back up.

Last weekend the girls and I flew to visit the Cleverly’s.  Blythe and I just stayed three days but Scotia is staying for a whole week to hang out with her friend Isabelle. Whitefish Bay is a dreamy town right on Lake Michigan. The houses are to die for. The water is cold but didn’t stop kids from paddle boarding fun.  We ate yummy food - including fried cheese curds.  Saw Emmy’s theatre performance- so cute! And Blythe got lots of time with Penny and Ivy - her favorite dogs.  Being friends with Emily for almost 17 years now has made my life so much better. I’m glad we still get to catch up regularly. 

I can’t believe I’m typing these words again.... but Jaxon lost a best friend last week.  He and Messiah were basketball teammates and always, always practicing together, going to nearby training sessions, joining other teams for tournament weekends and thinking about reclassifying together next year...  and sometimes just sitting on the couch playing video games. Thursday night Messiah stayed over and I dropped them off Friday morning for a high school tournament. Grandpa picked them up at the end of the day and dropped Messiah off at his place. Jaxon decided against the party because they had to be at the high school the next morning at 5:30. At 5 am he got a text that Messiah had died. Jaxon was really distraught - stayed in bed the whole day. He is back up and going again... a little slower and a little sadder. It will take some time...

Scotia is done with middle school!!  It was a weird middle school experience - most of seventh grade and almost all of eighth grade online from home. (Maybe she missed some of the worst parts of middle school. That’s not a bad thing.) She is ready for high school - confident and capable.  Congrats Scotia!!  Drive through graduation. 

Baby Taye turned 20 years old this weekend! How is it possible I have been a mom for 20 years? I have many good things in my life but my kids are the best thing for sure. More than I ever even hoped for. They are cool and kind and wise and fun - the best kind of people. Tyrone made plans to take Derick, Jaxon and Taye up to Spearhead Trails in Virginia. They stayed at a small hotel that also rents out Polaris off riding vehicles.   They ate at country restaurants and had an amazing day off-roading and on-roading (you can ride on some of the main roads in town). They drove insanely fast, through super deep mud puddles and even flipped one of the machines. Everyone made it home in one piece.

Jaxon’s girlfriend turned 17 this week. For a birthday date they ate downtown at the Morgan Street Food Hall and then rented scooters to drive around downtown.