Pictures from our trip to Stockton are now in my slide show!  The kids really look forward to spending the week with grandparents and cousins.  BW really enjoyed the fact that this was the first time in a long time that he got to visit his family without having a paper due, a sermon to preach or for a funeral.  Playing two days of golf didn't hurt either:)  The week was jam packed with activities to entertain the 7 grandchildren who invade Grandma & Papa's empty nest for a week.  I enjoyed the chance to watch the Olympics since we are on "no cable" at home.  Unfortunately, staying up until 1:30 am several nights straight while keeping to the jam packed kids itinerary left me feeling like I needed a vacation from my vacation!  But it was worth it to watch all the gymnastics - my alltime favorite event - and see Michael Phelps win by the smallest margin a human being can imagine. 

New on the itinerary was a lunch and shopping trip for my mother in law, sister in law and myself while the men watched the kids!!!!!   I was so excited to shop at some of the stores we don't have in our small town!  When we returned at the end of the day, we asked ourselves, "Why didn't we think to do this before?"  Another new addition was watching movies in the backyard  courtesy of a sheet and Papa's powerpoint projector.  Unfortunately, it is quite hard to find a movie that will interest all 7 cousins aged 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 8, 8 AND their parents AND grandparents.  So the parents chose to watch the Olympics instead:)--and left Grandma & Papa outside(but isn't that what they are for)  It makes me so excited that my kids will have these summer memories to treasure, though maybe we'll choose a month next year when there is smaller chance of temperatures in the 100's. 

Blessings!

-J