It's like this...

And I mean our road trip. I should add it was wonderful as well, though it didn't end the way we'd planned. But what does? Life? No, it doesn't. They say it's not the destination, but the journey and they're right. Our journey began Friday the 13th. For some of us it ended on the 22. For me, it ended on the 26th. We had planned to leave early in the morning on Friday the 13th but even our beginning didn't go as planned. We left at midnight and I drove for six hours while the rest mainly slept until dawn and a nearly empty gas tank caused our first stop. It was a beautiful sunrise, by the way. We landed in the podunk of podunks. I'm not even sure I remember the name of this no-stop-light town with a curmudgeonly store owner who growled at us while his wife used an old adding machine atop a battered, ancient desk. We purchased crushed ice from the man and his wife and then went across the street to have a morning picnic in a small town park. We had to kill ti...

This is my beautiful fourteen year old daughter. She's about about 800 miles away from me. This is very far. Very far indeed. She's attending EFY, which is Especially for Youth with a great many other kids her age. She called me and then sent me a picture of her dorm room. She said she loves it! I'm thrilled that she's so happy. Happy is good. Happy is much better than not happy. I love this child, and will be thrilled to take her in my arms and give her a huge ole hug next Saturday when we pick her up. In the meantime, I've got three other children and a job to keep me occupied, and occupied in a big way. I LOVE what I'm doing. Totally love it. I was given high praise from my boss today, which is just a big ole cherry on top of a delicious ice cream sundae--which I'm not eating but you get the picture. What I'm doing is making a difference and helping people. It's fulfilling and exciting and I get paid nicely to do it. What more could I ...

When my handsome man got home from work today, we headed to Mercer Island to have a barbecue at his old childhood stomping ground-- Luther Burbank Park . The weather was glorious and we brought our swimsuits, though we didn't end up using them. We had most of the area to ourselves while we ate burgers and corn on the cob and grapes. I had a Gardenburger, which was pretty yummy. Here's Lance getting things going. Alli really enjoyed her corn! After a nice meal, we cleaned up and went for a walk. Alli and Ash out on one of the docks. They dipped their toes...well, Ash did. Ash and her Daddy Slides were next! We had a wonderful FHE together and the girls topped it off by their big brother taking them to see the new Shrek movie. They just came home, all happy and excited about the movie. And now, it's time for me to close my eyes. I have work in the morning. Yep, me. Life goes on...