Re-entry

6:15-ish Friday morning in Munich, packed up to head to the train that would take us to the airport, that would bring us home to East Tennessee
And re-entry into "real life" has been good! Once we finally made it to East Tennessee (22 hours later), we got varying texts about who was going to pick us up (we felt like we were being passed around by our kiddos) - and were greeted by two of our children, in a vehicle he had just purchased that day, sans our  luggage.  We were tired, happy, relaxed, and grateful to still have the weekend ahead of us :)
In my only June post this year I posted about some books, fathers, cooking, and a few special events.  ON June 19th, I visited Windfall Farm, where my friend Jerry has lived for 40(??) years.

He was the safety director at my husband's company and then we became friends when my cubicle was right next to his when I worked for the same company for a couple of years.  After he retired we began having lunch together once a month or so and then I received an invitation for a day out at the farm I had heard so much about over the years!  This was the end of the day, when I drove a tractor for the first time in my life - the wheels were almost bigger than me!!

Hopefully I'll eventually write a post about the day - I probably have 20-30 pictures!!  I told him blogging has become less of a priority, although I still take the pictures and write the text in my head of what I would say if I took the time to sit down and put it all together :) 
The following day we had an amazing day at the lake with some of our traveling friends, the girls, and Radar. 

And no, I have NO idea why the font changed.  It doesn't look like this on my editing page.
That same weekend we also had a fun girls' night at a friend's house.

 I introduced our new favorite card game to these ladies as well as friends on our recent trip, Flip 7.  

July 1st was our anniversary - we went out with friends for dinner the night before and this is the only picture I got the entire evening :/

 Connor's is always a favorite.  Thirty-one years have flown!!!  Two apartments, four houses, four kiddos, two dogs. . .can't even try to count the vehicles we've owned or companies we've worked for. . .his bachelor's degree, my master's, as well as 3 associate and 4 bachelor degrees for all the kiddos too.  What can possibly be next?!?

Pickleball Playground opened at 7 a.m. on July 4th so our regular Saturday morning crew could play!  

This was followed by celebrating Tommy's birthday 

where the dogs apparently got more attention than he did!!  Glad for the big American plate of food he requested :)

I was feeling very "Americana" the next morning at church in my red skirt, blue shoes, and white toes.

Sunday afternoon we were then OFF to explore Amsterdam together and then two days later joined the rest of our group in Germany for 10 days.  

Will I get around to blogging about this trip??  Who knows?  These people are the BEST - many we have traveled with before. . .these five are our consistent companions:

We had many people ask us this trip how long we've known one another - NO ONE guessed only three years.  The one sitting across from me at the table I knew from soccer and teaching 15+ years ago - the rest we met on our trip to Greece in 2023 and we've "been together" ever since :). Traveling will grow you close, FAST, that's for sure!

And then. . .two weeks from that picture on the plane with Tom, we are doing this:

home with the doggies, all kids out leading their own lives.  Funny enough, we did this activity on our trip too:  

And another night laying in our hotel room.

It was a great tournament, fun to watch when we had the time.  And all the social media surrounding Europeans' experiences in America was GREAT.  There's good and different everywhere you turn.

We re-entered the United States Friday late afternoon and after several delays with our connecting flight, finally got back to Knoxville although our checked bags were on another flight.  They were kindly delivered by Delta Saturday morning, where all the chocolate gifts we had brought back (and a deck of playing cards for each kid/couple)

We went to the grocery and I bought some flowers to put around the house:

As well as a new doormat to honor the upcoming season:

We had those who could, come over for dinner and to share pictures Saturday night:

Always good to eat at home (but YES, we had fantastic meals in Europe too!). This morning we got the doggies out for an early morning walk (6:30 a.m here is 12:30 p.m. there) and me still taking pictures of everything I appreciate and am grateful for:

And that's a little about the last month of our lives!  

I'll link up with Hello Monday since I've missed joining everyone for that :). Thank you, Holly & Sarah, for hosting each week.

The last day I worked was July 3rd. . .I have an early morning (personal) appointment tomorrow so it looks like only a half workday to start my re-entry there - ha!  That was NOT planned.  

Let me know what's going on in your life in the comments - and also weigh in on where we should go next year :). So far the group is considering Spain & Portugal, France & Scotland, or possibly Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand.  We've also been invited to go to Croatia (but not with this group) and are trying to work something out with another set of friends to do Paris & Normandy with an emphasis on WWII.  I love these trips so much. . .stay tuned. . .and definitely let me know if you'd be interested in joining us!  We want to share these experiences with others!!

Love,

Jenni