Spring Break 08!

It's finally Spring Break, that wonderful time of year when thousands of people head off to beaches or other exotic locations to party and enjoy the time off from school/work. And although I have no plans travel away to any or exotic destination, I am still extremely excited that Spring Break has finally arrived.

I’m so looking forward to sleeping late in the morning. I can hardly wait to work on my scrapbook. I’ve already begun to set up a list in my head of ways to pamper myself and do extra little things with my husband.

In fact, I've already begun some spring break activities. Just yesterday, I returned home from a trip to see Beth Moore. One of my good friends invited me to go to this conference and I accepted. We had so much fun! The drive to Jacksonville, FL wasn't all that long and I truly enjoyed the female bonding and quality time that we got to spend together. And of course, Beth Moore was a good speaker and had some theological thoughts. Her jokes and stories weren’t half bad either. But, I have to admit my favorite part was the quality time that we had as friends to just visit. And I’m eternally grateful to my husband for encouraging me to go on this trip. I needed it.

Speaking of other things I need though. I think I need this spring break for another reason too. Unfortunately, I've re-herniated my L4-L5 disc in my lower back. So having a break right now means I'll get more time to relax and rest as well as take care of any necessary medical appointments. And I have to admit, I can hardly wait to get all of the problems with my back solved (hopefully for good). Honestly, it's phenomenally frustrating to be dealing with lower back pain yet again! Going through back surgery and having to deal with a ruptured disc once was more than enough for me. However, my back apparently disagrees.

Thankfully, I do have pain medicines and muscle relaxants to help me manage the pain and I have discovered some excellent resources to deal with this situation. I have such a phenomenal support system and I thank God for them every day.

But even with all of the support that I have one of the most frustrating parts about this recurrent rupture is that it puts all of my plans on hold. I can't or rather "shouldn't" get pregnant with a ruptured disc. I can't do much exercise and get myself in shape for the summer. And ladies we all know this is the time of the year that we are all thinking about swimsuits and such. I can't even manage a long car trip without paying the consequences (more back pain) later in the day.

But regardless of these problems, I am determined to have a good Spring Break. And so I’ve been coming up with a list of some of the other things I’d like to do over this break. I know I want to get my hair cut, and get a pedicure. I definitely want to plan a couple romantic evenings with my wonderful husband. Perhaps, I'll to create a "themed" night for one of these romantic evenings where we eat certain types of food and then watch movies or do activities that fit into this theme. Even better, I may plan a progressive dinner for us at various restaurants. Honestly, I've not decided, but I am looking forward to having the time to plan our romantic escapades for us.

Then in my alone time during this break, I may go to the movies, or work on some other project around here…planting flowers or starting our garden...Who knows...

Then assuming that my husband is free enough and my Momma and niece are up for it, Josh and I may head up to Calhoun next week and try to celebrate this break together…

But regardless of what else happens over the break, I know I'll find some time to hang out with Rachel and read good books. And I know that all sounds like a lot to pile into a short week, but the dreams are nice nonetheless.

Finally, let me say once again, thank goodness it’s spring break! And I also want to wish all of you that are fortunate enough to have a break during this time of year a fabulous and safe, adventure! Enjoy it! I certainly know I will.

Shayne

This is how our dear son looked when he first came to us. For those of you who do not know, Shayne passed on to Heaven this morning. He'd been very sick for the past few weeks and had spent a lot of time in the hospital over the last couple of weeks. They were so good to him and he to them. In fact, I believe just about every person working there felt bonded to Shayne by the time he passed away.


(Shayne's first photo as part of our familyin June of '07)

After many x-rays, blood tests, upper GI procedures and even an ultrasound were performed we began to think that we knew what was wrong with our dear son. Dr. Marty called me and told me that he had a inner "sock" so to speak in his intestines and needed surgery. He said from the Barium readings that it was either this inner sock in his intestines or his intestines were twisted and either way Shayne needed surgery. He said they'd have to cut about six to eight feet out of his intestines to help him get better. I approved the surgery and Dr. Marty told me that he would have someone call me as they started surgery and he would call me when they finished. But in truth, Dr. Marty called me both times and had called me many times over the last couple of weeks to talk about his thoughts and worries and efforts to help Shayne.

Shayne playing in the water in Blue Ridge


Before you begin to think that our dear little guy spent his last few weeks in a kennel, think that no more. He was spoiled rotten here at home and at the vet's office. When he was there they often allowed him to wander around in the lounge between the visiting rooms and kennels behind the desk. When they did place him in a room it was often Dr. April's office or a Lounge where he had a rug to lie upon and a window to look out of.

( The image on the right is of Shayne at St. Margaret's in the church after being blessed at the pet blessing. He's participating in the refreshment and fellowship. Josh is holding onto his leash. This is October '07)


Since he was refusing to eat they tried so many things to encourage him to do so. They even mixed various forms of canned dog food with water and other things to make it softer for him. Of course none of this was to any avail and it became painfully obvious why it hadn't worked once surgery began....





When Dr. Marty opened up Shayne he discovered that he a large vascular mass just below his stomach and beside his gall bladder. It was this mass that Dr. Becky (the vet that did the ultrasound) saw when she informed us that his gall bladder was much too large and in danger of rupturing.



(The picture above: One of my all time favorite pictures of Shayne this one was taken the night before Halloween)


Unfortunately the mass was inoperable. Dr. Marty explained that it was either cancer or a fungus. From what I've since been told this is the most northern case of this type of fungus attacking an animal. Shayne's fungal mass most likely began to grow because he had a cut internally or a sore spot that the fungus attached to when he drank contaminated water. This fungal mass not only was making it impossible for him to eat, but was making it difficult to Shayne to keep down any fluids either.

(Left: This is a picture on the night before Halloween. Rachel and Shayne are playing as we carve pumpkins).

(Above Shayne and Rachel have just checked out the beginnings of our Jack-o-lantern and are coming to see what else we are working on).


So his Daddy (Josh) and I were faced with a difficult decision. We had to decide what to do. Dr. Marty offered us the opportunity to spend one last evening with him before euthanizing Shayne or he could go ahead and put him down on the table. We opted to have the evening with him. I'm glad that we did.

Yes, Dr. Marty did tell us about specialists that could have tried to have helped Shayne, but the bottom line was this. Even with their help in two weeks we could have been facing the same decision when the fungus came back.


(Shayne and Rachel with me examining their stockings and toys on Christmas morning 2007. As you can see Shayne already has one of his toys in his mouth).





Dr. Marty is such a phenomenal vet. He allowed us to come pick up Shayne as he was coming out of surgery. We sat with him while he was awaking up and while we were doing so he offtered to call my Aunt Sara that we regularly and lovingly call our "vet by phone." He said he knew we'd want to talk to her before making any decisions. So Dr. Marty explained to my Aunt what he'd found and the details of his prognosis for the situation. When he finished he asked me if I'd like to speak to her. Of course I said I wanted to....and I did.


My Aunt's recommendation was to euthanize. She actually pushed me to go ahead and do so before Shayne ever woke up from surgery, but thankfully by the time we finsihed our conversation that wasn't even an option anymore and Josh said absolutely not. He wanted time with Shayne last night to say good-bye.

So Dr. Marty and Josh carried Shayne to the car and we brought him home. Shayne spent a lot of the evening just lying in the floor, and shifting from his side to his stomach as far as lying positions go. But he had *lots* of attention and love directed toward him and many visitors last night too. Josh and I pulled his toys out of his toy box and Shayne played with many of his favorites...Josh took pictures which I'll try to put up at some later date.

Galen, our priest, came by and prayed for and with Shayne last night. She'd asked if she could after I told her what was going on. Shayne had been on our prayer list at church and so I knew I needed to let her know he'd no longer need to be, but also to let her know we needed that support right now.

Josh's Mom, Beth, came by and sat with Shayne for a *long* time. And Rachel (our four legged daughter) sat with Beth. That's a first for Rachel. Never before had she allowed Beth to touch her.

Rach and Shayne had a good visit last night as we all did...and everyone seemed to understand what came next. So when I headed to bed a little after midnight, I couldn't help but hope for a different outcome, a miracle...but when as I awakened and have had time to reflect upon the events from the last year, I have no doubt. Shayne, himself, was our miracle! We didn't need any more.

So Rachel and Shayne went outside early this morning and hung out in the yard as the regularly do in early morning hours. Then when I got up, we all began to make plans to go to "the park."

In the afternoons when I'd get home from school Rachel and Shayne and I would visit the park. On the weekends, Josh would join us too. But I do believe Shayne was the one who was always the most excited about the park. So he had a drink of water this morning and kept it down (miracle of miracles). I offered him food thinking maybe he'd miraculously healed over night, but of course he turned it down. However, he did sit with Josh and me while we got ready to go to the park.

Then he slowly climbed into the car, I took one of his new balls, I'd picked up for him last week and off we went. Josh, of course, asking us not to over do it. And we didn't. Shayne played ball "some" when we got to the park. No one threw it hard or far...but he enjoyed it nonetheless. He laid down in a mud puddle. He peed on his favorite trees and he just walked with us throughout the park.

After the outing was finished we brought Rachel home, let them say their good-byes and took Shayne back to Dr. Marty's.

Both Josh and I stayed with him while he was euthanized. It was quick. He'd laid down on his side on the floor before they started the procedure and they just let him stay there.


We'd told Shayne (even though we all know he already knew) that he was going to be going to heaven. Josh told him about the huge bones (almost dinosaur size) that he'd get to chew on. I'd asked him to look over our miscarried children and my godchildren that are in heaven. Josh told him he'd never get tired anymore or have problems breathing. He'll get to play as long as he wants and there will of course be many balls and mud puddles in the park to lie down in.




(Shayne playing in a creek in North Georgia)

So when Dr. Marty gave Shayne the shot and he drifted away within the next minute or two...we knew. Shayne had gone home. He was in the heavenly park we'd promised and he no longer has to worry about any aches and pains.

Of course it's still hard for us down here. That was probably one of the hardest decisions we've had to make together, if not the hardest. And I suspect it will continue to be a hard time and sad time for a while. Josh sat up all night with Shayne, snoozing only occasionally. Shayne was his boy.

But his boy taught him some powerful lessons and that's one of the reasons I'm convinced something Dr. Marty said was true. As I thanked Dr. Marty today for calling Aunt Sara last night and conveyed Momma's comment that she'd heard of doctors for people doing things like that, but had never heard of a vet doing so, so she knew we had one of the best, he said "There are some dogs that are more than just dogs."

And I think that said it all. Shayne wasn't just a dog. He was our four legged son, and he'd touched the hearts of so many. Everyone in the clinic was upset that he had gotten this sick, but the one lesson that only Shayne could teach his Daddy, that he did teach was this: Even dogs and cats and all little animals go to heaven. And when we die, they'll be there ahead of us waiting.

I truly believe Shayne was more than a dog and more than our four-legged son. He truly was an angel in disguise. We are blessed to have met him and allowed our lives to overlap with his.

I know we'll never be the same, but I for one, am glad. And I look forward to the say that I go to heaven and see a four legged angel bouncing towards us. I suspect he'll be....our Shayne...and we'll be his....

Future House Plans

This week it was my wonderful husband's job to choose our date night and to come up with the activity for the evening. I have to admit I truly enjoy the time that we spend together doing things other than simply crashing on the couch in front of the television or watching a movie.

As usual the activities for the evening were a complete secret. This definitely seems to be a trend developing in our date night planning. Whoever is charge of the activities is deeming it necessary that the details of the activity be mum until later in the day.

So this week's date night occurred yesterday. As it turned out it was "create a future house plan" night! We had a blast. Both Josh and I have long since agreed that we love our little house, but that within a few years we'd like to build a much nicer, and larger home out in the country.

We've agreed that we definitely want to have 3 to 4 acres of land for Rachel, Shayne and Abby to enjoy as well as for hoped for children.

But last night I think we found two home plans that we both agree outline exactly what we'd like in a home. The house plans we decided were the best averaged about 3500 square feet. We anticipate for what we'd like in a home it will honestly take between 3500 and 4000 square feet.

Some of the dreams that we have for the home we will build one day are that it will have a large porch out front. Josh would like the family entrance to have mudroom and a garage. We both want to have separate Den and Living room areas. We'd also like to have a library with built in floor to ceiling bookshelves.

I'm determined that our house needs to be at least two stories tall and would prefer that all of the bedrooms be on the upper level. As a result Josh is adamant that the laundry room will also be upstairs. Storage is an absolute must!

All in all, we'd really like to have no less than a 4 bedroom 3 bathroom house, but anticipate we may desire and need one that has 5 bedrooms and 4 1/2 bathrooms.

Also as we looked at plans last night we realized that it would be smart to build in an in-law suite into our home. Neither set of our parents are getting any younger and we both have younger sisters that depend upon us a lot. So building in an in-law suite enables us to have room for whoever needs it, when they need it. It also gives us the freedom to have my whole family visit without really any limits in our home.

Amazingly we found a plan that meets almost all of our needs and desires. Our favorite plan does have five bedrooms and four and half baths. It has a library, den, living room, formal dining room, upstairs laundry room, eat-in kitchen and potential in-law suite. There's a deck out back, but no front porch or mudroom. We'd have a gathering area/play area upstairs between all the bedrooms that (are all upstairs). Every bedroom has a walk in closet. Two of the smaller bedrooms share a bathroom and one of the smaller bedrooms has a bath of its own. The master bedroom suite is impressive. Not only does it have a extremely large bedroom, but it has a sitting area that is a separate room, which would double as a nursery while the children are young. The walk in closets is impressive and master bath with whirlpool is more than adequate.

All in all, the plans are a dream come true. The plans do fall within our expect size ratio and so this dream seems all the more real, now. Don't get me wrong, we aren't breaking ground or even purchasing the land for our dream home anytime within the next few months, but it was fun to find our dream home nonetheless. And it was even more exciting to realize that we agree upon what we're looking for. Who knows...five years from now, I wouldn't be surprised at all to be blogging from the den of the home I just described.

Wow! Needless to say it was another WONDERFUL date night! I can hardly believe how quickly these few nights have inspired even our normal evenings together. I'm so happy that we both began creating interesting activities for each other, every week.

Speaking of interesting activities, I'm looking forward to tomorrow's. Not only are we planning on attending the Maundy Thursday service at church together tomorrow, complete with foot washing, but we are even going to dye Easter eggs together as husband and wife for the first time tomorrow. We even have glitter and tie dyed egg dye.

So assuming that the refrigerator doesn't the stove to become an incubator so the eggs can hatch into chickens wanting their feet washed for Maundy Thursday, I'll tell you all about our Easter egg dying festivities and foot washing fiascos, tomorrow.

Date Night #2 and other weekend outings!

This last Friday night was our second date night. I was in charge, this time, and decided to do a little something different. (We are alternating weeks being in charge of date night) Josh had offered to pull out the games so that we could play Scrabble, Yahtzee, Trivial Pursuit and such again, and I have to admit that was tempting, but I wanted to do something different...so I declined and began planning a Treasure hunt.

This idea had been floating around in my mind since Wednesday, but was Friday afternoon before I really began to come up with some good clues. Thankfully I came across a website that helps out with treasure hunt clue making and used it. Armed with this help, I came up with more than twenty clues to place inside the house, inside the yard and around the neighborhood.

However, I was later getting home than I'd planned on being, because I'd visited with the chiropractor. (My back has been giving me fits again). And as I was driving home I discovered that my dear husband was also on his way home. Thankfully, his drive if further than mine so I still had some time to print out the clues and frantically hide them in the proper locations!

Amazingly, I had hidden all but two of the clues when Josh arrived home. One of remaining clues had to be hidden down the road so I hid that after we got back from our daily park ritual. The other belonged on the tire of a car so it had to wait until after our park trip too.

So after going on our daily park adventure, I finished hiding the clues while Josh was inside and then we began the evening’s festivities. The first clue: "Spring into action! Just go with the flow, you'll need me to reap what you sow" led Josh to the garden hose and as he followed one clue to the next my joy grew. Some the clues were really hard such as "Tiny Perm" which led us to the Microwave. Other clues were easier: "You spin me right round baby, right round" led us to the washing machine.

But we had a blast...finally, when Josh discovered the last clue and had found his way to the treasure he found out that we were going out for dinner and dessert, and it was my treat. We had SO much fun doing that too.

We went to Old Mexico. Not only did we order dessert, but we had drinks and just sat and visited. It was great! We ended up seeing lots of people we knew. Some came by to chat, others waved as they passed on their seats and still others didn't notice us. But it was so nice to be out on the town on a Friday night. We so rarely do that.

Saturday morning was just as nice. Josh didn't have to get up and rush off to work anywhere. But we both had to get up to go work at St. Margaret's. The church was having a work day to get things cleaned up and extra polished for Easter. It was fun. Josh worked on the outside. I helped out on the inside and supervised everywhere and before we knew it two hours had passed. It's amazing how that can happen isn't it? Not all the work was done though and so Josh and I went back later and finished a few small things up there later that afternoon, but it was SO nice having my husband there with me at church working to make it even nicer.

Of course, Josh did have some work to do on Saturday and luckily he decided to take me with him. He was installing a new sound board at the First Presbyterian Church. I had so much fun watching him work and listening to him interact with people. Plus, I got to meet some new people in our community.

But that's not all....we had standing plans for Saturday night. We had agreed to go out to the Kern's for supper. It was wonderful. I honestly feel so at home in their house. Robin cooked and the meal was fabulous as always. Then we all just sat around and chatted. Eventually the boys and men got drawn into playing video game, but Robin and I had fun just talking. I can hardly wait for the trip that I'll be taking with her later in this month to see Beth Moore.

Oh but our weekend was far from over still. Sunday, Josh went to church with me. YES! It's so nice worshipping with him by my side. We both participated in presenting the Passion story by Matthew for Palm Sunday. Josh was Peter and I was the one of the high priests. It was fun...but I did wonder if Josh was going to try to be the rooster too. And you know, if he had that would have been okay too.

We followed all of this excitement from a wonderful weekend by having a relaxing, nap filled, Sunday afternoon. And got our minds and bodies ready for another busy evening. Sunday night we took Josh's Daddy out to celebrate his birthday a day early. He wanted to go to Longhorn, so we did. It was so much fun! We are blessed to have his parents living so close by. Josh commented on the way home how happy he was that we are doing more with them lately, and I have to say I agree. After all, family is important!!!

I don't know what all this week holds...except that I do know it will have another exciting date night in it. I can hardly wait. I don't know what Josh will plan, but I know he's already working on it because he asked me last night if doing the River dance was out. He was teasing me about my bad back and of course, any jumpy motions are out for now...

One last night before I close. Please say prayers for our yellow lab, Shayne. He's been sick all weekend and is currently spending another night at the vet's office. They trying to help us figure out why he's no longer eating and can't hold down water. So he definitely needs prayers and to fully recover before we head to Calhoun for our last ever, amazing Easter Brunch.

And assuming the Easter Bunny doesn't loose his way, I'll tell you all about new adventures and third date night, in my next post.

Game Night!

Tuesday night began a new chapter in our lives. It was our first Date Night!!

I have to admit I was very excited about the new adventure that we were embarking upon. Probably a lot of my excitement stemmed from the fact, as much as I hate to admit it, we'd more than settled into a boring routine, before we began this new adventure of date nights! Let's say it together now... Date nights! WOO HOO!!

Honestly, I probably threw my dear husband for a loop when I suggested that we try out, picking a night a week and dating. However, I have to admit his first attempt at coming up with activities for this first date night was wonderful!! Not only did we have an absolute blast, but the plans he made fit perfectly well into our situation for Tuesday night.

What situation? Well....our poor yellow lab, Shayne, was sick!! Sick is a major understatement. So let me explain. When Josh got home, that evening, he was the first one to realize Shayne wasn't feeling up to par.

Talk about feeling like a horrible mother! I cannot believe I didn't notice he was feeling so sickly, but I didn't. After all, he'd played at the park and so I'd paid him very little attention since we'd returned to our house. Instead, I was rushing around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to create a new recipe for supper. We were going to have wilted cabbage and bratwurst. (Well, I was having veggie bratwurst, but I'd gotten my husband real meat).

Supper was almost prepared when Josh arrived home. Shayne was sitting on the far side of the living room. The fact that he didn't get up to greet Josh clued him in immediately that something was really, really wrong with Shayne.

And boy was he right! Not only did Shayne refuse to greet his Daddy, he didn't want supper either. And then he had problems lying down. Poor guy!

Shortly there after, it began to become even more obvious just how sick he was! Then six long hours and a vet's visit later, we had a temporary diagnosis of pneumonia and a stomach virus.

As it turns out the temporary diagnosis was absolutely correct. Shayne does have pneumonia! So Shayne ended up spending two nights with our friendly veterinarian, and going through many medical tests, but is now doing MUCH better. His fever is down...he's able to eat and drink, and he's got more energy. So all in all, Shayne is on the mend!

And best of all, we didn't have to leave his side, until he went into the hospital, even though we were having “date night.”

Josh had been quite secretive about his plans for Tuesday night, so I was really worried that we were going to have to cancel them before we even got started. Don't get me wrong, we both would have cancelled date night in a heartbeat, so that we could stay with Shayne. And no, neither of us would have regretted doing so at all. After all, our four legged son needed us.

Thankfully, though, Josh's convert plans didn't involve leaving the house. Instead, he gathered togther many of our games for two people, and we spent an enjoyable evening playing Yahtzee, Scrabble and the 80's version of Trivial Pursuit.

Josh won both the Scrabble and the Trivial Pursuit games. As far as the Trivial Pursuit game goes, I have to admit, I know *very little* about the eighties. I was just too young to remember much, but I did get the "My Little Pony" question right! And I easily won the Yahtzee game!

It was SO much fun, and we definitely talked more than we would have if we'd been vegging out in front of computer or television! As I heard my dear husband say last night, with the game night the conversations just came naturally.

The most exciting part is that we have another date night coming up this next week. We've decided to pick one night a week, for just the two of us. No work calls, no interruptions and we want to try to do things like those that we need when we were dating each other. If we enjoy this next week's date night half as much as this weeks...I have no doubt date night's are going to be our favorite night of each week.

I'm hopeful that I get to pick our activities for date night this coming week. We've talked about alternating who plans it, and I've got a long list of ideas, but regardless of where the plans come from my favorite part of date night is simply spending quality time with my husband. After all, he's the love of my life and I couldn't ask for a better one.

So check back soon! Or as they say in Uncle Wiggly's Adventures: "And if the canary bird doesn't take my lead pencil and stick it in his seed dish I'll tell you in the following” post.

Picnic time!

This morning, after my husband headed out to work, (yes, he regularly does that on Saturdays) I decided that it was high time that we have a romantic outing. And I settled upon the idea that a picnic for two was just the right way to go about it.

So after reaching this conclusion, I began to look for the best picnic location our vincinity. But since, time was running short, I kicked myself for not planning ahead. Although, I did remind myself that this wouldn't have had to of been a plan ahead adventure if we lived in other parts of Georgia. After all, I know some wonderful picnic spots in other parts of Georgia.

For instance, if we lived in Calhoun, we could have gone to the fountain down town, or have driven to Berry College to have a picnic out in the country side. Heck, we even could have driven up to the mill on Berry's campus for a nice picnic.

If we lived in Macon, we'd have gone to High Falls. If we lived in coastal Florida, obviously we'd have had our picnic on the beach. But,alas, since we live in none of these locations, I found myself at a loss. I simply didn't know where to go for our picnic and was having a hard time coming up with ideas... Well, that is until I stumbled upon the website for the MaClay Gardens and State Park: http://www.floridastateparks.org/maclaygardens/

It was perfect! So with barely over an hour's time left until my dear husband was due to return home I frantically began working on making the perfect picnic.

I pulled the basket and picnic supplies out of my decorations closet. :) Then I began to decide what foods we'd take with us for our picnic. I seriously considered pimento cheese sandwiches or egg salad, until I thought about the fact that we have no pimento cheese at home right now. So I decided we'd have deviled eggs, tabouli , pasta salad, broccoli salad (with crasins rather than raisins since we didn't have raisins in the pantry either) and PB&J sandwiches. We also had root beer floats in bottles, as well as sweet tea to take on our picnic.

I was about half of the way finished with my preparations when my dear husband decided to return home. SO...I just told him I was working on a surprise for him and that he should take the puppies to the park. Thankfully, he eagerly agreed.

When he returned from the park, we were all set to go, so we loaded up the picnic basket and took off. Granted we did have to pay to get into the park, but it was only eight dollars for the entrance fee AND for the charge to see the State Gardens. Not a bad deal...we could have paid only $4 if we'd not wanted to see the Gardens.

Our picnic took place by the lake and it was wonderful! There were quite a few other families there. Not only was it a picturesque picnic spot, but there was also a really nice swimming/boating area complete with dressing rooms that were totally separate from the bathrooms.

I've already decided this will be a really nice place for us to visit again. Who knows...we may even take Annie, Gabe, and Danny if they come to visit this summer.

In the meantime, I do hope that we’ll return to our picturesque picnic spot, by the lake.