THIS has been one of the busiest summers I have had in a long time. We have traveled many miles as a family. Our first trek out I only forgot the "main thing"... my Bible. The next trip out anything we forgot, we could easily retrieve since we were only 20 minutes away for an entire week. This time I forgot our travel bowls and plates which make passing food around in the van much, much easier. Other than that I think we are faring well.

We have been able to do much visiting on this trip. More than we have done in a long time. It is coming to the end now and we are all looking forward to our return home. The garden awaits. Or, at the least is growing without us. There are others caring for it. The drag about summers. With the nature of our careers and the responsibility of having a child in a school, travels must happen as a family in the summer. So, the garden gets neglected (though not really, with the great friends we have)!

On this leg of the trip we were able to put up corn that our friends have been saving just for us. There were 680 ears (that's 52+ dozen for those who need the math) that we shucked, cooked, cut off, and bagged to be frozen. Whew! It took four of us steadily working from 5:30am until 3:30pm. Actually, I didn't jump in until 8. I sacrificed to get the children ready. And my dear eldest babysat the sweet youngest. What a family...all working together! Anyway, we're tired now and ready to get back to the "normal" busy at home...but we still have another four more days before we start back. (sigh)