Happy July!

That last message from Pop was from me (Mom). I don't know how to change the settings. Is there any hope for me in this 21st century?!

Lots going on around here, it seems. Pop's major landscape revisions are well under way. He sent Julie an e-mail with more details, so I will copy that to the rest of you. We latched onto some landscapers who were working in the neighborhood. Pablo and his crew came last Saturday and removed all the designated sod and hauled it away. Today they just returned and are going to rototill the area and spread about 10 yards of dirt. I'm sooo glad that Pop could bypass that part of the project. He'll have enough to do with planting all the new stuff. When that's done, we'll be needing a whole lot of mulch. I understand that Sami's a pro at spreading mulch. Sami, are you for hire?

Melissa, you look terrific in your latest post. I'm glad you are getting along well. I know it gets harder as you get bigger, but I'm sure it will be worth it. Look how lucky I was!

We're looking forward to Sami's 4th of July party. It will be nice to see everyone. Marilyn and Gerry won't be there, however, since they're busy cruising the Danube. That's a trip that Gram was all set to take a few years ago, but cancelled since the uprising in Kosovo was causing some bridges to be blow up along the Danube. I'm sure it's safe now, and I decided not to share that story with them before they went. :-)

A bit of sad news: Dr. Soper died last week. I also heard that Marge is in an Altzheimer's facility, so at least she is being looked after. They had moved to Tennessee where she has a lot of family around. They were good people.

Sue and Tom are taking a short (5 day) vacation to Iowa this coming weekend. And the Chards will be meeting up with Mike, Megan, Anthony and Henry in West Yellowstone in a couple of days. I'm sure we'll see pictures on the GVC blog. He is certainly a busy little boy.

We haven't been anywhere in the PW so far this year. We're going to try to do at least an overnight sometime this month. Next Monday we're going to take the train downtown and spend the day being sightseers in Chicago. We'd like to take one of those river tours, but have yet to look into the specifics. We also hope to go to the band concert on Thursday for the 1812 Overture and other patriotic music. On the 19th we're going to the Rockin' for the Troups concert at Cantigny, with the Ritchey's and the Janus'. We'll be meeting Michele, DJ, Chris and Sami at Great America on the 25th. I'm holding the 26th for a very special baby shower. I've also been invited to a baby shower for Dawn Hach Lawler on Aug. 9th. I'll be doing "Linda relief" from Thursday evening the 10th through Saturday evening the 12th. Wait til the schedule maker at Jewel sees that there are only 2 days that week that I'm available to work! Serves them right, since they keep scheduling me for more than my designated "3".

Gram is doing pretty well, although she's tends to get depressed over her continually declining vision. Linda walks her outside most days. She had a nice letter from Rob the other day. He sent a professional picture of the 4 of them, and would you believe Tristan just had his second haircut last weekend? He's got tons of dark hair, and blue eyes. Kathy e-mailed me a few photos of assorted children , so I'll forward them to you as well.

The truck is dumping 10 yards of soil on our driveway as I write this, so I must go and get ready to go to work.

Love to you all! Mom