Home Sweet Home...Once Again

We were out of town and I got lazy with the blogging because I was spending time with Jay, the kids, and some extended family, so I apologize if you have been checking and there haven't been any new entries. Thank you to those of you who have signed the guest book recently....we love knowing that you stopped by!

We went to visit one of my brothers...."Uncle" Patrick...and then loaded up the family van-mobile and headed on to see Grandma and Grandpa (my parents). We had not visited them since the holidays in Dec./Jan so it was good to see them again. This was Esther Marie's first "road trip" since arriving home from China and her first visit with Grandparents. She did really well, especially in the van while we were traveling. She has learned to entertain herself and she sings a lot. It's very sweet.

Patrick has a new house that he is renting which has three bedrooms, so we were able to camp out with him for a few days. (We were gone from last Saturday until this past Thursday night and got home pretty late.) It was a good, relaxing visit. We slept in, played games, visited and tried to stay cool. It was VERY hot and not even August yet when we were there. Patrick lives in a quaint town in a coastal area, so we walked to town a couple of times to window shop. We also visited the thrift store because Patrick has a great one near his house. He's a seasoned shopper there and knows a bargain when he sees one. He had found some toys there for the kids so they had things to play with to keep from getting "bored". It was hard to leave when it was time but we know we'll be back to visit him again soon. We are going to miss eating his Belgian waffles! YUM! Maybe we should call it "Patrick's Bed and Breakfast Inn" ???

Mom and Dad live in a small town that is a couple of hours away and we stayed at a Hampton Inn there. That's a good fit for our growing family because we get "free" breakfast when we stay there. (Is anything really "free"?) We squeezed in one room this trip, but realized those days will soon be over and we'll have to get two. I love the Hilton Honors points system because we earn them when we charge everything on our HH credit card, and so we were able to get two nights "free" with our points. (Again, is it really "free" ?) Ahh well...at least I won't find that charge on the bill next month so I'm good with calling it "free"! Mom and Dad seem to be doing pretty well and the kids loved seeing them. We visited the property where my parents used to live and enjoyed seeing the dogs, cats and the horse. We didn't stay that long this time because of the heat and the mosquitoes. Such a dilemma when you want to go outside when it's cooler but you don't want to be eaten alive by mosquitoes! For some reason, mosquitoes seem to target our Chinese-born children more than the rest of us, and they make a meal of MaryAlyce in particular unless we protect her with sprays. The kids played games and we visited and looked through photos and went down "memory" lane. The kids got a kick out of seeing pictures of their mommy and their four uncles when we were kids. That was fun hearing their comments! Esther Marie got her introduction to dogs and she was wary of them, but interested. She mostly wanted to be held. She got in the back of Paw-Paw's pick-up truck and ran around with the other kids. The sweetest thing was when she sang for G-Maw and when she held on to Paw-Paw's hand to go for a walk.

Now we are back home and gearing up for school. We have shopped for most of the supplies and taken advantage of the "tax free" (again that "free" word) shopping days. I have to finish up tonight or tomorrow. School starts next Thursday, the 7th...and that's hard to believe. That day I will also be having that back molar taken out. I'll be glad when that whole thing is over!

I'll be posting some photos of our visit with family soon...so come back and check them out.