Summertime Update

June and July have been busy months for the Barton’s. We spent many weekends away from home and had several fun adventures. We spent a weekend up at the Ross’s cottage on Lake Michigan playing shuffleboard and burning mattresses and doors in the bonfire. We also set off several fireworks…a cottage tradition! It is necessary to mention the excellent filet mignon’s from Jaime parent’s restaurant….yum! For the 4th of July we travelled to Duluth, MN, to see Marin’s Aunt Janine and Uncle Bob. Marin’s parents also joined us. We took a day and traveled up the Gunflint Trail and onto Seagull Lake where Marin’s mom grew up, her parents met and Marin spent most of her childhood summers. Erik got to meet some of the “regulars” up there and even went out on the lake for a brief tour. It was sad to see all of the damage that the fires caused, but reassuring to see that it is growing back quickly. We hope to spend some more time up there in the years to come. The picture below is us at Palisade Point on Lake Superior.



For Marin’s 30th birthday we took a short trip to Chicago. We had a fabulous Italian dinner at Carmine’s on Rush and visited the Science and Industry Museum. It was really neat to see the innovative things that are being designed, but does it really need to be so expensive…I mean $16 just to park? Erik’s parents also came to visit for a weekend. We had a really good time and enjoyed some great food. We tried some new Greek recipes that went over pretty well. We also visited the Appleton Farmers Market and played a new card game called “Golf.”

The summer seems to be flying by. Marin continues to work as a Project Consultant and is making a lot of progress for the Residential Treatment Program. Surprisingly, the staff is open to and willing to make the recommended changes. Erik is still negotiating for a new position within GE. He recently had interviews for a new role that would be located in Houston, TX. Most likely, we will be moving to Houston within the next few months and hope to have some answers about that soon.

We hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful summer weather, even our friends in Tacoma who are setting record high temps!

Love, Marin and Erik