I had so much fun this morning at the Woodstock Public Library!  I was part of their educational summer children's program and showed folks how I melt glass.  About forty people showed up and sat on the steps around the patio outside the children's area of the library.  I had to talk pretty loud because all of the air conditioners were lined up along that back part of the building and almost shout once I fired up the torch.  My voice was tired afterwards, but it was sooooo much FUN!

(Photo courtesy of Chuck Anderson/Public Relations Manager - Sequoyah Regional Library System)

You can see my two helpers standing close to the table.  I borrowed my neighbor's girls Kaitlyn and Riley to help out and also fill that little kid void I'm feeling while our kids are still up in Minnesota getting spoiled and loved.  They did an awesome job making sure that everything I passed out to be touched and inspected came back to me.

After the demo was over, there were a lot of questions.  A lot!  The kids were interested and asked good questions about different aspects of lampworking and also how glass is made by the manufacturers.  The moms also asked questions.  There was not one question asked about something I had already answered...these guys were paying attention!  If only meetings with Q&A sessions at work went so well! ;)

Once we were packed up, I took the girls out to lunch at Steak and Shake.  They loved it.  We shared a mint cookie shake after lunch and that was goooooood.  I had promised their mom a month (or more) ago that I would photograph her girls for her and this was the perfect day.  We took a walk on the nature trail in our neighborhood.  We didn't come across any wild animals, just a biker (he rode down over 20 wooden steps to get to the trail!), a mud dauber and walking sticks.

There wasn't any bickering or whining.  All day.  These girls are not just sisters, but really good friends.  I'm not sure who had the most fun today, the girls or me.

They spent close to an hour in my studio this afternoon, looking at and touching everything.  I let them each pick out a bead from my bead box to keep and that was a long, thoughtful process before they each made their final decision.  

Did I tell you I had fun today?  

I did.  I really did.

Tennis!

One of the things I love the most while the kids are gone is that I can go watch Todd play tennis.  It doesn't matter how late we stay out and we don't need to arrange for a babysitter.

I love getting to tag along to watch Todd play tennis and hang out with the men on his team.  They are a fun group of guys and I enjoy getting to know them better.  I can understand why Todd enjoys spending so much time with these guys!  

Todd's partner in this match is Bob.  Todd calls him Dr. Bob because he is a master of the sport.  Bob can get to any ball and places it back exactly where he wants it to land.  Not bad for a sixty year old.  He impresses everyone with his skills.

A nasty storm blew through, but dropped very little rain.  Just dark skies and 40+ mph winds.

Before we left, we were rewarded with this rainbow.  It was gorgeous!

Heading Home

It was hard leaving Tuesday morning and saying our goodbyes.  This boy did not want to wake up, so I snuggled with him and cherished that quiet time together listening to him breathe softly.  There were tears when we left, but not just from the kids.  I'm glad the kids have this time to get spoiled by the grandparents and filled up on love so that they are full of nothing but smiles and happiness when they come home.

We were probably close to 15 miles away from our starting point when Todd took a deep breath and said "Holy moly.  I just saw a bear."  If it had registered faster, I would have hit the brakes (because I was driving) and thrown our minivan into reverse (because that's what minivans are made for...quick braking and stunt driving/shifting into reverse) and then proceeded to take pictures.  But I was just as shocked at hearing it as he was at seeing the big, black bear.  So I have no bear pics.  He said it was bigger than the cows in the previous pasture and it was close enough to the highway that he could see the pads on its feet as it slowly lumbered through the field.  Wow!  What a gift to see a wild bear.  Before this, neither of us has ever seen a bear other than in zoos or on videos.  There were no more bears after that, although we saw a handful of deer out during those early morning hours.

We stopped outside of Minneapolis to visit with Sean, an old high school friend of Todd's.  They taught tennis camps together in the summers.  We hung out for a coupla hours and had lunch together before we got back on the road.  I love this picture of these two friends! 

It seemed to take forever for us to drive through Wisconsin, even though we had these lovely skies keeping watch over us.

And it took us another forever to make it half way through Illinois.  But we had these lovely skies watching over us until the evening.

We drove through a patch of rain and the clouds darkened the sky so much that it was difficult to see all of the windmill farms.  They don't look very big until we were close and then they were absolutely massive in size.  These windmills are taller than our water towers and the blades may stretch the width of our house.  Easily.

When we stopped around 9pm to fill up the empty tank and switch driving/passenger seats, we were blown away by this sunset.  How gorgeous is this sky??

After driving a little over 1300 miles in two days, we made it home before 8pm Wednesday night.  It felt so good to sleep in our own bed again.  But the house feels so empty and quiet without the kids.  It felt so strange yesterday afternoon as I was finishing up work to know I didn't have to leave the house to go pick them up from summer camp.

Chloe's Fun Afternoon on 8th Crow Wing Lake

After we returned from fishing (boo hiss to the expiration of our fishing licenses!) and Chloe woke up from her nap, we spent a little time on the shoreline.  Chloe found a fresh water clam!

She went canoeing.

But got out a little too far and made Grandma pull her back to shore.

Then she went paddle boating with Jen and Lisa.

She has so much fun with these two girls!

Chloe sat in Jen's lap before dinner to have her hair braided.  She sat so still and never once complained about her hair being tugged.

She thought she looked so cute with her new braids on each side.  I think she was right.

More Fishing

But first, the day started off with snuggles and all I could see were little feet poking out.

Once everyone was awake, I was out on the boat with my guys.  Owen sat on Todd's lap as we rushed to the fishing spot.  It was our last day to fish before our licenses expired, so there was no dilly-dallying!

It couldn't have been a more perfect day for being outside.

These two were enamored with my fishing rod and then my shoe.  I tried to get their pics when they landed on my left hand a few times, but they were faster than my picture-taker-finger.

I caught a little sunny that was a keeper.  If I have ever caught one before that was a keeper, it's been many years.

After 45 minutes of fishing, Owen was bored and wanted to go back (read as: fishing was slow and it's no fun if you're not reeling them in every two and a half minutes).  But he was stuck because with only an hour to go on our fishing licenses, we weren't making any runs back to the dock.  So the boy took stock of his tacklebox inventory.

I don't think I caught any croppies this afternoon, but I did pull in three baby perch.  Or perhaps it was the same baby perch and just not very smart, so he got caught multiple times.  Either way, I like the vertical stripes.

We also saw the heron again poking around the shore and walking slowly with legs bending backwards.

I love how the lily pads grow so close and pile on top of each other.  I love their roundness and how the edges curl up a little.

It wasn't until thirty minutes before our fishing time was to end that we drove up to 9th Crow Wing Lake.  I alway love crawling through the little channel that connects these two lakes.  Either side is lined in lily pads and cat tails.

When we got back to the dock, Owen was quick to jump out of the boat and begin turning the wheel to raise the lift and the boat.  He's getting so grown up!

Fireworks from Northern Minnesota!

Before the fireworks started, the kids had fun running around with sparklers.

Chloe wore her headphones to block out the noise from the fireworks like in years past, but this year she wasn't scared.  Owen screamed and laughed with every boom.  The fireworks started close to 10pm and lasted for about thirty minutes.  The fireworks were wonderful and we heard Owen saying several times "This is the best 4th of July and fireworks ever!"

We made smores after the fireworks were over.  It was a late night for the kids.  Owen was able to handle staying up so late, but Chloe had problems with listening and being overly grumpy.  It's hard being up three hours past bedtime for the Bean!