We were scheduled to leave for Tennessee today, but James decided we'd stay one more day with his folks. We only get to see them once or twice a year (looks like just once this year) and even with the extra day with them it's only a total of 4 and a half. I do wish we could see them more often. What I REALLY wish is that we could pry them out of Huntington County and get them out to visit us some time! They're some of those people who just don't budge (even to visit) from where they were born and raised. I can't relate AT ALL! Ha! Anyway, James' Dad has actually been making sounds like he might like to come visit, so I told James to jump on it and don't let it die! Time will tell. :-)

Yesterday James and I left the kids with his Mom so we could go to town and have the van serviced. It's strange leaving the kids with Grandma Wanda. I find myself giving instructions to the KIDS rather than the babysitter. There's no, "Be sure the kids finish their lunch before they have a cookie," or anything like that. It's more like, "Kids, you know how your Grandma is. You can all eat the same thing for lunch--don't have Grandma make three different things for you. Be sure to finish your real food before dessert and when she offers you seconds and thirds, say no thank you. Tell Grandma you don't need to watch any TV while we're gone and..." !!! Crazy. They all have a blast though. Gradma included, I think.

James and I walked around Wal-Mart for a while and waited for the van to get done. (That CAN'T be proper English!) We walked ourselves out, then went and sat down in the room next to the shop to finish waiting. They had stacks of magazines to look at, but no Country or Reminisce, so I was at a loss! ;-) I finally picked something up and started thumbing through it. I ALMOST DIED. Maybe I am completely out of touch (I hope so!), but did you know that some people pay HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS on a single outfit?!?!? --OR MORE!!! This magazine had all of the "Fall Fashions" to look for. Ha! Ha! Ha! NOTHING matches and most everything looks like it's been recycled, or should be. There was one particular model who was wearing a shirt, vest, pants, belt and shoes, all priced separately next to the picture. I was stunned by the prices and had to get out a pen and paper to add them all up. That ONE OUTFIT cost over $2,000!!!!! Can you imagine?!?!? And the poor girl looked like she'd just walked out of Goodwill!!! People are NUTS. I am sooooooo glad I'm not cool. I can't imagine how binding it must be for truly rich people to feel like they have to pay extravagant prices to look like they don't have any money at all. I always just go back to the Advice to Members: neat and clean, but not for show. Doesn't that just sound so good?! So FREEING! ~sigh~ I love it.

After being thoroughly exasperated by the vanity of this world, we got in our van and meandered around town until we found a second hand shop. :-) Found a cute little denim jacket for Katie for $1.70. (If I put it in that crazy magazine I'm pretty sure I could've got at least $215 out of it! Ha!)

We ate at Hoss's, even though they still don't know how to spell their own name. It was good.

The kids have spent a lot of time in the pool here and, of course, riding bikes. And Joe has pretty well learned to ride this week, too! WA-HOO! Two kids in one week! Soooooo exciting! All Joe lacks is confidence. He does really well, but if he gets going to fast he forsakes the pedals, spreads his legs out and lets his feet hover just above the ground in This-Way-I-Can-Catch-Myself-If-I-Start-To-Fall form. In any case, I'm really excited for both of them. Too bad they don't have bikes at home! Maybe we can find one for .25 cents like James' Mom did! Ha!

Aunt Grace & Uncle Pete came to visit for a little while yesterday. That was nice. I really like them. After that we loaded up and went to see Larry and Mary Ann, some cousins of James'. They are some more of my favorites. Just really, really nice people. I think if we work on them throughout the year we would be able to get them to come to the General Assembly next year and maybe they could even drag James' folks with them. That would be soooooooo cool! It would be so great to have them there and they would all LOVE it.

Today James and I loaded the kids up and headed to Orbisonia to take the kids on the East Broad Top train. They were doing some special something-or-another and had people dressed up in Civil War garb there. They even had a camp set up with all of their tents and the stuff that would've been in them. It was really neat! I got some good pictures, I think. If I ever make it back to High Speed Internet I'll post some! ;-) We stopped for lunch at the Mini-Freez on our way home and I had a really fantastic raspberry milkshake.

The kids played outside most of the afternoon. It wouldn't be a proper visit without the traditional Hershey Hunt, so I made sure he got away this afternoon so we wouldn't miss out on that joy. Or something like that. I still don't know when or how he got out, I just know I suddenly realized he was gone. I got in the truck with James' Dad and we drove hither and yon, hollering and stopping and asking aunts and cousins to keep their eyes peeled for the little rat. We went back to the house, then drove up behind it to the top of the hill. That's where we spotted him, running home. I'm pretty sure he had heard me calling and decided it was time to head home. I have no idea how far he'd been, but he was huffing and puffing and his tongue was hanging out the side of his mouth, and he was just barely ashamed of himself. Mostly he just looked like he'd been having a great time. ~sigh~

Some more cousins came visiting tonight. I missed most of their visit due to bathing children, packing up, and calling home to one of our church members to check in and see how things are going back there. (Pretty good, except for being sued!) It's been a good visit and this week has gone by way too fast. Our visit with Mom and Dad will be even shorter, but at least we were able to see them a few minutes here and there when we stayed with them during the Assembly last week. And I'm already looking forward to our family visit in December--that will be SO MUCH FUN! :-)

I was looking at my blog earlier and was shocked by how far I had to scroll down to get to a picture. It's been way, way too long since I've posted any! Soon. Very soon. I hope. :-) Tomorrow we'll drive to Mom and Dad's house. Probably won't blog from there--maybe from a motel on the way home. We'll see!

~Bec~