Catching Up

First off, I want to extend my sincerest thanks to each of you for your thoughts and prayers.  Death is not something that ever gets any easier to deal with.  We all know our time here is only temporary but when someone we love passes on, it's still very difficult to come to terms with the fact that we can no longer just call that person on the phone, stop by for a friendly chat, or see their smiling faces.  Thankfully, we're left with their memories and I will continue to cherish each and every moment I spent with my granny.

Life does go on and perhaps the one shining star in this unfortunate event was the fact that we were scheduled to leave for vacation the week following her death.  Of course there were thoughts of canceling but ultimately we decided to keep our plans, as we knew that's what she would have wanted and expected. My mom agreed and I think we all benefited from the time away.

Before I get to all the details of our trip (including lots of restaurant recommendations!), I have a lot of catching up to do.  I feel like I've been gone for weeks!

One of our favorite features of summer is the bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables.  There's just something about a big plate of veggies that you know came straight from the garden and didn't come from a box or even worse, a can.  Colin loves to walk around at our local Farmer's Market and over the years, it has expanded quite a bit.  One of the leftover benefits of the World Equestrian Games was a permanent Pavilion that now houses our Farmer's Market on Saturdays.

Colin has followed in both his mother's and grandmother's footsteps and loves to people watch.  He loves to look around and point out all the dogs.  He's not so brave one he gets up to them but he talks a big game leading up to them.  People love to bring their dogs, so he has plenty to look at.

There's also lots of music, which he also enjoys.  Sometimes he stares, sometimes he sings along, sometimes he dances, but he always manages to scout them out.  On this particular outing, these were some of his favorites because he's into banging anything that resembles a drum, or even things that don't.

I like it because there's usually something for him to do.  I'm always looking for something to kill time and this usually takes up a good hour or so.  This week he made a chicken with the Living Arts and Science Center.  It was just him and a odd 16-year old boy making a paper chicken.  They were both pretty intense into their project.

The chicken didn't even last through the day.  By that afternoon it was wadded up in the grass outside.  That's where a chicken belongs, right?

There's the veggies too but I figure everyone already knows what they look like.