Home again

Last night we arrived home from our 6-day trip to Pittsburgh. The drive was... rough... but the days spent there were well worth the many hours spent in the van listening to Aubrey whine.

We packed a lot into our visit: the zoo, an extended family Father's Day lunch, a day at Idlewild, guitar browsing, the first ever stop at Ikea Pittsburgh, two church services, playtime with cousins, Panera Bread, game playing, dinner with friends, and more. It was all really, really wonderful. And the weather, believe it or not, was idyllic.

Today has been spent catching up: laundry, grocery shopping, mowing the lawn, cleaning dusty bathrooms, getting good naps, etc. Tomorrow I hope to get out to the gardens, which exploded while we were gone! The perennial bed is coming alive with the buds and blooms of the bee balm, shasta daisy, delphinium, yarrow, batchelor's button, and astilbe. Our lettuce and spinach plants are suddenly in full production mode, which meant that I didn't have to buy any lettuce at the grocery store this morning and I did get to make a salad with greens that came straight from the garden only minutes before dinner. I picked up some tomato cages while I was out since we've only staked up the cherry tomatoes and desperately need to do something for the Big Boys.

The kids are glad to return to their toys but sad to be over 500 miles away from Grandma and the other friends and family we were able to spend time with. Fortunately, an hour or two spent splashing in the Ockrin kiddie pool this morning (while I shopped) seemed to help alleviate some of the sadness!

We forgot our camera (boo, me), but already a friend sent some that she took during our amazing day at Idlewild: