Ever since moving away from the lake-size pond behind the old house, Molly has not had any opportunity to swim. But there must be a faint memory of her favorite activity lodged somewhere in her brain, because when we asked if she wanted to go for a swim, her ears perked up and she looked at us eagerly.

She shoved past us in order to jump in the car. She didn’t want to wait for us to change our minds.

When we arrived, we discovered that to get to the dog pond, we had to walk through the dog park. Past dogs. Big dogs. This didn’t go over too well with our elderly pup who is struck with fear of other dogs. But once she saw the open water, her fear faded.

She was the happiest I’ve seen her in a long time, which made me happy. If we hadn’t called her to shore for occasional breaks, I do believe she would have swum until she drowned.

Why was it her last swim, you ask? A couple days after feeling on top of the world, she began itching terribly–to the point where tufts of hair were coming out, leaving bald spots all over. There were some internal issues as well, that made us realize she’s unfortunately getting too old to bounce back from youthful activities such as swimming. But we were glad she had one last happy memory in the water.

This year looks a lot like last year, only everyone is one year older and some are a few inches taller.

Jeremy was on track to start high school in the fall, but after praying to God and talking to teachers and coaches, we (Jeremy included) made the decision to homeschool one more year before starting at WA. He has a June birthday, which would have made him a youngster in his grade. Little did we know back then that Covid would change the entire landscape of school and sports; thus, when you ask Jeremy if he has any regrets about waiting a year, he responds heartily, “NO.” His curriculum is entirely 9th grade stuff, so I’m telling people he’s in 9th grade, version 1.

• Peter: 11th grade
• Jeremy: 9th grade (version 1)
• Ruth: 5th grade
• Molly: grad school–majoring in napping

Derek was scheduled to return to college before our first day of school, but alas, he was found to have had close contact with someone who tested positive for Covid (asymptomatic) and therefore was forced to quarantine at home for two weeks. This just about sent Derek over the edge, knowing that all his friends were moving in at school and starting classes, while he remained here. Quarantined. At last moving day arrived–he was actually given hours notice–and we scrambled to get the Nissan packed up.

Molly–supervisor extraordinaire

He is now urged to remain on campus–in the “Wheaton bubble”–until Thanksgiving.

I’m typically quite the homebody, content to be home with everyone around me. But when the chicks are scattered, I am compelled to go to them! In what ended up being a quick turnaround after returning from the drive to Dayton, I hopped on a plane to visit Tiffany in South Carolina.

It was another fantastic weekend–lots of talking and doing touristy things, like walking around the Soda City farmers market. We enjoyed some delicious Brazilian steak. My mouth is watering just remembering it now.

We walked along the riverwalk, though our walk didn’t last long because the weather was unbearably hot.

We also spent a day at the local botanical garden and zoo.

We saw fascinating animals, but what we kept our eye out for more than anything else were these creatures, which we found everywhere along the way.

We stayed at a hotel for two nights and spent the final night at Ft. Jackson. After seeing where Tiffany has been living for nearly three months, my respect for her skyrocketed. The living conditions are less than ideal to put it mildly. But she endures without complaint.

The weekend came to an abrupt end before dawn Monday morning. I saw the sun rise while waiting to board my plan to return home.

With Tiffany in South Carolina for three months training for her army job, we decided to visit Jake for a long weekend in August and keep him company. Molly didn’t want to be left behind, so we packed her into the car with us. (She may have come to regret accompanying us later…see below)

Jake and Tiffany did a lot in 2 months to make their house a home,

including putting up a hammock in the living room.

Jake has a great setup for doing grad school homework in the office. He had a big lab write-up due the day after we arrived, so he excused himself to work on it that night.

At least he looked like he was having fun!

A couple days later, Jim helped him put up a wall-size white board so he can work out complex equations without having to erase.

The boys played lots of spike ball in the yard.

And we got to meet Poppy, Jake and Tiffany’s friends’ new puppy. Poppy the puppy. We were in love.

It reminded us of Molly at that age. The next day, we thought we would have the elderly Molly meet the whipper snapper Poppy. It went just as we expected.

Notice the stress on Molly’s face. She kept hiding behind me or retreating to a corner in order to get away from the little squirt.

When it was clear she had had enough, we separated the dogs to their own corners.

We spent two days at the National Museum of the Air Force. It was massive and full of more aircraft than we’ve ever seen. And we’ve seen a lot of aircraft over the years.

The masked brothers in front of a replica of the Wright Flyer.

There was so much to see and read. We also took advantage of learning from some of the docents roaming the hangars.

Some of us flew in the flight simulators.

I loved watching Jake share the knowledge he’s gained over the past few years. And I think he loved sharing it with us.

This museum is impressive to say the least. We really needed another full day to see everything, but instead we sped through the last hangar and were more or less the last ones out of the museum at closing time.

Jake and Peter cooked up a fish fry one night,

and it was a hit with everyone.

It was a fantastic trip and so good to spend time with Jake. We did miss having Tiffany with us, however. It helped to know that I would see her the following weekend!

Oops. There was a lapse in blog reporting this month! We finished the month of July (and kicked off the month of August) with some miscellaneous activities. As a means of encouraging the launch of a family band, Jim brought Peter and Jeremy to buy an electric guitar and bass. With Derek at the keyboard, their jam sessions have now advanced to a whole new level.

Here, Jim joins in on the fun.

Our little neighbor friend heard the music in the basement and asked to participate.

As Molly’s aging increasingly slows her down, she is more often than not a cuddly pillow.

We (mainly Ruth) waited ALL summer for my parents’ rooftop pool to open. The building was waiting on the city of Chicago to grant the permit, but because of covid, there was a months-long delay. Finally, at the beginning of August, the pool opened. We registered. We arrived, only to find that the pool was closed for the day due to poor weather. Ugh.

Speaking of covid, we held the annual Cru golf outing, all the while conforming to the state guidelines. Ruth and I welcomed the golfers behind our masks.

Ruth then took the wheel and drove around the golf course.

While she didn’t sideswipe any rocks this year, the cart did run out of charge, and we had to abandon it at the corner.