Special Guest!

After the downer first 3 days of this week, the last 2 days have been much improved! We spent yesterday whirlwind cleaning the house (how did it get so dirty when we were hardly home the previous 3 days?!) and shopping at Sams (almost $400 worth of groceries). This was all so that we could be ready for our special visitor--my Aunt Claire, otherwise known as Pilotmom! She broke her wrist quite badly in a bicycle "accident" (ha, ha, Aunt Claire!) a few weeks ago, while on vacation in Arizona. She had surgery on July 14, and she can't work for 3 weeks. What better way to recuperate than flying out to see her favorite (and only, LOL) niece and the grand-nieces and -nephews, if those are even words. She has also recently reconnected with her first best friend, from way back when they were 3-7 years old, and this friend happens to live out here not too far from us! So Wednesday they will have lunch and spend the day together! How fun!

The other big thing is that this morning Bob drove up to White Sulphur Springs to pick up Nathan and Luke from Camp Caleb! It poured down rain this morning, but Bob did still get some video of Luke on the zipline. The boys had a wonderful time as usual. Nathan said the guys in his group all got along really, really well, so that was good to hear. Also, his big new experience this year was rapelling, which he thought was tremendous fun. I haven't heard as much about Luke's time, although he also raved about how much fun it was, and how he couldn't believe it was already over with. Time really sped by in PA this week, while it crawled here at home, LOL. Both boys came in quite damp and smelly, I must say. Nathan jammed his thumb playing ultimate frisbee, so it's sore and swollen. He also was immediately struck with terrible allergies as soon as he got back in VA, so his eyes are all itchy, red, and watery, poor guy. I'm hoping for a really restful night's sleep for both of them. They are fried!

Aunt Claire was actually a surprise guest for Nathan and Luke. As they were leaving, she was looking at tickets, but she hadn't bought them, so we weren't sure she was coming. I am pretty positive I mentioned the possibility of her coming to them, but they were both so focused on packing for Camp Caleb that neither of them paid a bit of attention or even remember me ever mentioning it, LOL. So when I was talking to Nathan on the phone while he was driving back, I said how I couldn't wait to see him, and I added that Aunt Claire couldn't wait either. There was a long pause on the phone. " . . . Aunt Claire?" was the puzzled response. "She's right here in the kitchen!" I told him. "Our kitchen?" he asked. LOL! So that was quite a shock for them, but it gave them something to look forward to! She leaves next Thursday, so we're looking forward to a fun week! We aren't planning any trips to the zoo, however . . .