Retirement Trip Camping

My parents both retired the same week.  To celebrate, the parents and all four kids (along with families and significant others) went camping at Ponca State Park.  

Mom and Dad were in their new RV, Mark and Chrissy and Co. stayed in cabins, and Rachel (+ family) and I stayed in tents, all in the same park.  So a family camping trip doesn't have to been roughing it for everyone.

We all had a great time, despite the mosquitos, two tent failures, the torrential rain followed by flood warnings, and getting lost in the woods (silly trail map!).

Arwen and Maria (Mark's sweetie) had never been camping before.

Here are some photo highlights:

Setting up the tent for what turned out to be the last time.

Weekly Round Up

This week I....

... had cupcakes with the girls and their kids

Please note that Simon (on left, with spoon) is to be included among the exceptionally cute kids of my friends!  :)

... spend more than an hour on the phone with AppleCare but my Mac is now running smoothly again.  Belovedest had downloaded some Adware when attempting to add WhatsApp to my computer.  I learned a few things whilst on the the phone with the AppleCare guy, and I've set up the mail program which is much more keyboard friendly than on-line email programs.  It pulls in emails from my yahoo and gmail accounts, and I haven't given up hope of getting it to talk to my work email either.

... learned that I need braces.  Oh, dear.

... sprinkled crushed egg shells around garden beds to deter slugs.  We have saved eggshells for months, but we didn’t save nearly enough to go around all of the beds.  However, we are now set up to do a little experiment to see whether or not the eggshells make a difference.  TIP: rinse the eggshells as you go and wear gloves when you crush them.

 ... hung up a curtain that I scored for free at the EcoStores Free First Friday.  I used a curtain rod that I had lying around.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

COST: $0

Coming Monday: highlights from the Retirement Camping Trip!

Quotables

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

--Winston Churchill

Father's Day Gfit

You are running out of time to order a Father's Day gift.....

How about beard oil from Charlemagne Beard Oil?

(Support businesses with subtle puns in their names!)

Beard oil makes beards softer, more manageable, and less itchy.  It will be the most talked-about Father's Day gift of the day!

Tea Time

The tea is from a our very own tea tree, given to us by Auntie M and sadly deceased. 

Happily it works really well with the tea-maker-floating-chick-thingy that my in-laws gave me.  (Does anyone know what they are actually called?)

Sunday Thoughts

This is the signature on my spiritual director's email:

“I no longer wish to find happiness in myself or in created and perishable things, but in Jesus my Savior. He is my All, and I desire to belong wholly to Him. It is the most extreme folly and delusion to look elsewhere for any true happiness. Let us, then, vehemently and courageously renounce all other things and seek only Him.”

                                                                                                         St. John Eudes

Weekly Round-Up

A week of ups and downs.....

... this is what birds did to all of our newly planted tomato seedlings.  Yes, after tenderly nourishing tomato seedlings under grow lights for weeks, we're going to have to buy more.

Doug the Expert Gardener thinks it was nest-building birds, anyway.  I am not amused, but what can you do?

.... However, Arwen had fun at her playdate with the little LeBs, so that was fun.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!