Blogger Gathering...

Jim Wilson came to town for a visit, it's been a long time since we've seen him.. It was a good refresher for the soul... We enjoyed some good food, good company, good conversation, loud kids and had a great time... Along with Jim, CS Perry, and Rob Cole were also along for the ride... So it was actually a bit of a blogger gathering.... Lets hope its not that long before we all are together again...

Jim moved away to work with NASA many years ago and he has been sorely missed... It was great seeing you again Jim!!! (yes... he's in charge of NASA... the whole thing...)

Jim... good to see him after that many years...

Rob, Me, CS, Jim

Rob and the food...

CS and Silas

James

Guitar playing

blurry guitar playing

James and Silas joining in the music....

Blogger visit

Dexter's mom, Lauren, came down for a visit.... Dexter came with her as well as Steve, yes.. that would be Dexter's dad...

They were in town for a week, and what a week it's been... The visit was very quick, and very good, James had a wonderful time with Lauren and Dexter. He had a week full of playing with the baby, adventure sleeping (which is sleeping wherever you drop), Julie had a good time visiting, Patrick rounded out the visit with an impromptu mohawking from Lauren...

We had a few late nights talking and visiting, it was nice, we haven't seen Lauren and Steve since Dexter arrived and this was the first time we got to see him... He is a great little kid, although terrified of me... but I have that effect on kids..

I didn't get to visit as much as I would've liked because we had a mishap with the well that had to be tended to.. That little episode took a couple of nights out of the visit for me and provided long stretches of time when we had no water, but in the end it all worked out.. (knock on wood)

It's good to see family and friends that have been away for a long time and this was just such a visit... they ran around with Julie and celebrated Patrick's birthday with them as I worked on the well and everyone had a good time... Now Patrick just has to get ready for the certain hard time he will endure while sporting his new hairstyle....

We talked about everything, had some good food, played with the kids and hung out in a frenetic mellowness that is the type of thing that the heart needs from time to time to recharge.. Thanks guys for coming down and remember that you have an open invitation and a place to sleep anytime you're in the mood for a change of pace from the frenzied lifestyle of Chicago..



They left just a little while ago in the usual flurry of tears and hugs and goodbyes that hurt for a while and are laced with tears that hang around a bit longer than you want them to, but they are the good kind of tears...