Back to Nature, Ahhhhh...

Bill and the kids survived their day of tourist-mania and Grandpa Bud came to visit on Monday. Yesterday morning, I took two half-asleep grown children off to the dentist for cleanings and checkups. There are wisdom teeth extractions in both their futures, but Juli will wait until she marries Kerne and gets a dental plan, and Alex will find a dentist and oral surgeon when he returns to Seattle.

We played Settlers of Catan (a diabolically vindictive board game) in the morning, where we each won one game. The grudge match will be settled today.

We spent the afternoon on the far ridge, marvelling at the greenery, staying out of the poison ivy (which has sprung up with a vengence this week), taking pictures and hiking up steep slopes.

My city kids managed very well:

We saw no snakes, which pleased me. We also saw many new natural wonders:



And I got a chance to be with my favorite people in the whole world:

Tomorrow, we send Alex to Florida to pick up his ride on the nuclear sub with Jared Fuller, and Juli goes home to Seattle. I plan to take to my bed with a cold cloth on my head.