September and October 2020

 I uploaded all of these photos in the correct order, but then when they came onto the page, they were reversed. Grrrr. Sometimes technology annoys me.

Anyway, it's been a good season. Things opened back up over the summer and into fall. Sadly, now it's November and things are closing back down. But I'll post more about that later.

Halloween was fun! We went into the mega sub. Ava's friend Kaitlyn lives across the street from Allie's friend Jordan. And Kaitlyn's sister Natalie is close in age to Hannah. Ava's friends Avari and Aubrey also came so it was a fun group of girls trick-or-treating together. Lori and I followed the younger girls around and got a good amount of exercise, while the older girls went off on their own!

Hannah the cowgirl!

Allie went as Alvin (from Alvin and the Chipmunks)!

This picture is completely out of order. But this was at an end of summer party for the summer knights volleyball crew. One of the moms, who played volleyball in college, took this group and trained with them twice a week in the summer. What an amazing opportunity it was for Ava. She loved it and really improved!

Mike had knee surgery done for a torn meniscus. It was very painful but he's slowly starting to have more movement. 

Allie and Jordan stayed out the longest on Halloween!

Ava and her group went as the characters from Willy Wonka!

Because of Covid, major group activities were canceled, so Ava wasn't able to go to her first Homecoming dance. But one of the moms had a great idea. She invited all the freshman girls who played volleyball to a special night out. This is a picture of all the parents.

They got all dressed up and took pictures in downtown Milford.

After, the pictures, they ate at a restaurant downtown, then they went to a place one of the girls grandparents own in Milford, where there was a dj and the girls were able to dance! I had fun with the parents at River's Edge Brewery and Still on Main!

The DeJonges had a smaller version of their pumpkin fest! The girls carved pumpkins and hung out with their friends!

We had a surprise 40th extravaganza for Mike! This was actually the second weekend. The first part, we had all his work crew and our family come to the house on the Friday before his birthday for a surprise party. Mike went to pick Ava up from volleyball practice (where I told her to stall) and while he was gone, we set everything up and had everyone show up! He was very surprised. We had all his favorite goods and just hung out and played games with everyone.

The second weekend, the girls and I surprised him by taking him to Tree Runner, which is a high rope's course. Then we took him to lunch at Red Robin. In the afternoon, we told him we wanted to go hit balls at the fields since it was so nice out. But a bunch of people met us there  and surprised him with a game of softball! We ordered pizzas for everyone at the fields, and afterwards, a bunch of people came back to our house for drinks and floor pong. All of that was a big surprise to him as well because he just figured the party the week before was all he was getting!

Ava tried out for the Northern volleyball team! Thankfully they were able to have a season! And we were very honored and surprised to have her make Varsity! She did so incredible. She was their main setter and played in every game, even making the all-conference team at the end of the season! Go Ava!

Pictures out of order again! These were from Mike's first birthday surprise party!

Alex Daher's dad's bakery made this amazing cake for Mike!

Oh how we love Long's cider slushes and donuts, a little too much! We visited quite a few times this Fall!

I love my flower gardens!

This was the girls first day of virtual school. Walled Lake stayed virtual into the fall, which I completely disagreed with. Most districts around us went back in September and are now starting to close again, with covid rising. So this was the start of 9th, 7th, and 5th grades, at home.

We hosted Tom Lewellen's retirement dinner in our back yard. He was supposed to have it at Baker's but with covid, everything needs to be minimized. It was a beautiful evening. Stella's Table catered it and the food was amazing. The weather was beautiful and many people shared about what Tom and Laura have meant to them. So sad to see him retire. He will be greatly missed.

The spring softball season was canceled due to covid but thankfully they were able to have a shortened season in September. This meant Ava was able to play as well! We were at the fields four days a week, which was a little crazy, but also a lot of fun. It was Hannah's first year and she did awesome! She really improved and enjoyed the season. She played many different positions, including pitcher, infield, and outfield.

Ava played shortstop, and Allie pitched a lot and played short.

Walled Lake finally allowed with elementary kids to head back to school, right around the time all the districts around us were going virtual. Hannah was in school for 6 days before they changed back to virtual. Such a bummer. Because of this, she had to change teachers. She had Mrs. Guiliani in the beginning of the year virtually, then when students went back in person, she decided to stay virtual so Hannah had a new teacher from a different school, named Mr.Lark. Now she's back to virtual but still has Mr. Lark. She likes him but we love Mrs. G. We're trying to stay flexible with all the changes and we're praying things can go back to normal soon! This picture was of Hannah's first day back face to face.