life lately! jumpin' through JUNE with the GRANDS!
- 2 hours ago
- 9 min read
Friday, July 10, 2026
Welcome Back to Our Grand Lives!
The month of June always seems to keeps us jumping
and then, before we know it,
it's time to turn another calendar page!
This was certainly true this past month!
As we settle into July, we're taking one last jump back
to revisit some of the moments that filled our June.
From everyday happenings and memorable adventures
to a few special celebrations
and even some time set aside for needed self care,
this month's recap is simply a collection of snapshots from our GRAND lives!
We hope you'll join us, jump in and enjoy this look back at June!
Before we get too far into July, let's take one last look
at the people, places, and moments that made June one to remember!
Here’s our recap from the month of June!
It was a month of jumping into regular summer things for our family!
Evening baseball and softball games of my great nieces and nephews
were a great way to spend summer evenings in June.
Biking and more swimming lessons were regularly on the calendar, too!
if you follow these monthly updates,
you might remember that
swimming lessons were my least favorite thing to do as a mom.
Now, as a Grammy, I go to almost every single lesson!
,
Playing Barbies is the newest obsession of my Littles
They always jump at the chance to play with the Barbies
when they come to our house!
And, while I wouldn’t say I’m obsessed, I’m definitely faithful
and continuing with physical therapy for a bad hip!
No jumping for me these days!
My husband and I took our LIttles to the summer production
at our favorite children’s theater!
It never ceases to amaze me how mesmerized our Littles are with the plays we see!
Yep!
Regular summer activities, but never boring...
especially when you are a Grammy!
A unique experience that was the highlight of our June was the chance to attend the opening ceremonies of the Special Olympics that was held in Minnesota this year.
My family was invited to be guests of good friends whose son I taught in kindergarten about 30 years ago. His mom serves on the board of the Special Olympics so we got great seats and fun shirts.
It was truly an inspiring time seeing athletes from all 50 states enter the stadium
and get ready for a week of competing!
My cool “kindergartener” walked away
with a bronze, silver and gold medal in bocci ball! Yay Erik!
July is off to a great start.
Can’t wait to share next month!!
When May ended, we said our goodbyes after a fun weekend
with our Wisconsin family
and then we quickly jumped into the next thing…
Our grand niece’s dance recital!
The memories came flooding back of watching her mom dance over the years
and, of course. our own daughters’ competition and recitals!
We were so photogenic, weren’t we???
The next few days were spent organizing and packing before Hubby and I took off in our car. We had a family reunion taking place mid-June in Michigan, near Silver Lake Sand Dunes, so we decided to head out early and make a road trip out of it!!
We left our home near Minneapolis on Monday, June 8, and the first several days of our trip we spent exploring the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We saw (and Hubby photographed) countless waterfalls, we explored historic and charming towns and we hiked the changing shorelines of three Great Lakes - Lake Superior to the north, Lake Michigan to the south and Lake Huron to the east. I may write a follow up post about this trip at a later date, but today I’m sharing only a few favorite photos. The photos below are from the first four days of our trip.
Two of the photogenic waterfalls we saw - Copper Falls and .Potato Falls!
Another beautiful spot!
Great Sand Bay in the Keweenaw Peninsula in the northernmost part of Michigan.
One of our favorite discoveries was Presque Isle Park in Marquette, Michigan.
It brought back memories of the North Shore of Lake Superior
when our girls were young and would jump from rock formation to rock formation!
We spent a few hours exploring Pictured Rocks Lakeshore.
Isn’t the color of the water amazing?
Thankfully, NO jumping allowed!
We spent a night in Sault St. Marie followed by a morning of learning about the Soo Locks.
Did you know that, on average, 25-35 boats pass through the locks daily
during the 42-week shipping season?
Then, we traveled even further north to Whitefish Point and Tahquamenon Falls
before heading south to St. Ignaces and Mackinaw City.
A view of the Mackinac Bridge that connects these two cities!
This bridge connects the Upper and Lower peninsulas of Michigan
and it spans the Straits of Mackinac, a body of water
connecting Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, two of the Great Lakes.
This suspension bridge is 4.99 miles long!
We spent Thursday night in St. Ignaces with the hopes of jumping on the ferry to Mackinac Island on Friday morning for a few hours. However, the weather was not cooperating and we woke up to lots of rain and wind. Since we had to be at a family reunion by 4:00 pm that afternoon (4+ hours away), we decided it just wasn’t meant to be - this time! Of course, by 10:00 am the rain stopped and the wind died down. Oh well, we still had fun checking out Mackinaw City. So cute!
We made lots of wonderful memories during Part 1 of our Michigan Road Trip
and we definitely plan to return some day!
My sweet squintee Hubby!
Part 2 of our Road Trip began when we headed south to Mears, Michigan!
My Hubby’s extended family holds a reunion every other year
and this year it took place at a camp near Silver Lake Dunes State Park.
My husband is one of 32 first cousins on his dad’s side
and there were 84 people at the reunion, ages 0 - 75+!
The camp was the perfect gathering spot!
and we had a wonderful time connecting and catching up!
We took lots of photos (Hubby’s dad was one of 7 kids)
including this one of the whole group!
Can you spot Hubby and I? I’m the short one in sunglasses in the second row!
(about 5-6 people from the left, second and then third row - Hubby behind me!)
During the reunion,
Hubby and I spent each night in a hotel on Silver Lake right across from the dunes.
Our views were amazing
and the sunsets were spectacular!
It doesn’t look like it, but these dunes were over 100 feet tall! WOW!
We definitely didn't try to walk on them although we did see lots of ATVs!
The reunion started on Friday afternoon
and we ate all of our meals together over the weekend at camp.
After breakfast on Sunday morning we said our goodbyes and shared lots of hugs!
Plans are already underway for Family Reunion 2028!
Then Part 3 of our Road Trip began!
First we found more sand dunes to check out!
They were not 100 feet tall
but still, it was not easy to move on them - for sure, no jumping!
It was a beautiful sight and I soaked it all in!
Since we were on the western shore of Lake Superior,
we continued south a bit and spent the afternoon
in the charming town of Saugatuck!
This town is known as the “Art Coast of Michigan” and we loved everything about it!
Everywhere I looked, I saw something that made me smile!
In a perfect world, we would have spent a few more days in this part of Michigan, too.
Another incentive for us to return!!!
After our tummies were full, we headed north to Muskegon, Michigan
and spent the night there.
In the morning, we jumped on the Lake Express ferry
for a two and a half hour trip across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee!.
Goodbye Michigan!
Hello Wisconsin!
The ferry was a fun addition to our trip’s itinerary
but, perhaps more importantly, it saved us time
AND
kept us from driving through Chicago during morning rush hour!
Because we’d saved time and since it was only a short detour,
we were able to stop and spent the following night
with Daughter J and her family near Madison.!
We were so excited to see them all… especially our Littles!
Two cuties!
There was lots of jumping going on that evening…
It was time for some “night swimming” with daddy!
(Which in our Littles’ world means after dinner!)
The next morning, we sadly said our goodbyes and headed home!
Our visit had been short but oh so sweet!
While we would have loved to have extended our trip multiple times,
I needed to get home!
On Thursday - two days away - I was scheduled to have eyelid surgery,
an upper bleph on both eyelids!
The last 2-3 times that I’ve seen my eye doctor,
she had noticed (as had I) that my eyelids were drooping quite a bit.
In fact, they now were covering more than 50% of my pupils.
A blepharoplasty was warranted!
(Try saying that 3 times!)
I needed to have the procedure done at the hospital
due to my heart condition and the fact that I have an implanted defibrillator.
Because of that, it took a bit longer to get the procedure scheduled, etc. etc.
Thankfully all went well and I spent the last ten days of June looking like this!
Cold compresses every 20 minutes for the first three days
followed by warm compresses and occasional cold ones!
I’m still a bit swollen and my eyesight is still a bit blurry
(thanks to the antibiotic salve I put on my lids and the dryness I’ve had)
But, all in all, I’m very happy and I’ve already noticed a difference!!
For those interested, here’s a photo from 2 days post surgery.
I was jumping with joy to be able to shower!
You can see the stitches along the crease line on my upper lids
as well as in the outside corners.
Then two weeks post surgery!
I’ve been told full recovery takes 2-3 months
so I’ll be sure to keep you posted!
In the meantime,
no jumping (or eye make up) for me!
(At least for the first month, that is!)
June kept us jumping at Our Grand Lives, too!
We had 7 new posts this past month!
Our first June post was our monthly recap
It was a memorable month!
was our next post!
In this post we outlined what our summer plans were for this blog!
In our following post, we introduced a weekly summer series,
This jar, ready with fun ideas to pull out as needed,
will give you and your Littles lots of inspiration for summer fun!
Check out all of our ideas for using a roll of aluminum foil with Littles!
We’re excited to continue with this series in the coming weeks!
Our focus on summer fun brought
In this post, we offered past faves and new ideas
all centered on the theme of gardening with Littles!
We took a trip down memory lane with our next post,
We highlighted treasured Fourth of July memories
and revisited some of our favorite patriotic crafts, activities, and festive foods.
Our final post of June, focused on Cousin Weekend,
a favorite annual event!
is filled with family memories, activities for the Littles and more!
We’ve got LOTS of content on our social media sites
that you won’t always find on our blog!
Here’s a few photos from June
to give you a taste of what you’d find there!
Even better? We invite you to follow us on either (or both) sites!
Thanks for jumping through June with us!
Whether you've been here from the beginning
or you're just stopping by for the first time,
we're grateful you chose to spend a few minutes in our corner of the world.
We hope you'll come back and visit again soon!
If interested, we invite you to consider subscribing to our blog!
Special THANKS for reading, commenting, and/or emailing!
We always welcome your thoughts!
If you know of anyone you think might enjoy our content,
we’d love it if you shared our site with them!
THANK YOU!
As June reminds us, every month brings its own mix of routines, surprises, celebrations, and the occasional curveball—and that's part of what makes this season of life so GRAND. As we turn the page to July, we'll keep this reminder in mind…
Whether your next "jump" is a giant leap or just a little hop,
we hope it brings moments your way that are simply GRAND!
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