Take a deep breath...and relax...

Thank goodness August is over. It always seems to be the busiest month of our summer, the gardens are ripe and in need of constant care, we usually travel a lot, both my birthday and anniversary are in the middle of the month, and it's too darn hot to do anything except sit in the freezer and eat a gallon of ice cream.

Needless to say, I haven't posted for a little while, and you all need a little catching up I guess!

Joey and I traveled to New York with my parents in the beginning of the month. I was more than a little nervous about the whole thing because we left Shane at home. It was hard on both of us, I really missed him, and he really missed Joey. Well, he might have missed me a little bit too. Anyways, we went out there to our family cottage for the week, visited with my grandparents, and moved my sister back home now that she is done with her masters degree in Library Science. Joey had a fabulous time, he spent most of the week following my 9-year old brother around like a shadow. I think Bryan really liked it at first, but by the time we left he was ready to have some time to himself to do bigger boy stuff. Joey also really enjoyed the lake, a little too much I think. His new game was to hold on to my hand and run like a goof straight into that cold water, and not stop running even when he couldn't touch anymore. He just has no fear! Well, he wasn't to sure about the waves I suppose. But still, he was putting his face in the water no problem, pretending to swim and kick his legs, and was never concerned when the water was up to his neck. I think I have to get him into some swimming lessons.

The trip back was a little more of a headache. We came back with my sister, Amy, and her cat, Hermes. The car was packed as tight as it could go, and I was low on patience, it had been a long week! Day one wasn't too terrible, and we stopped near Chicago for the night to get a fresh start in the morning. Day two, however, was a little more trying. Both Hermes and Joey were a bit whiny, and neither Amy or I had slept very well the night before in the hotel. I was so happy that Amy had more patience than I did, and she entertained Joey most of the way home. Such a saint!!

We were only home for 2 weeks, and in that time I aged another year, and Shane and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary. Our house also was completely resided, the new gutters were installed, and the deck was cleaned and stained. The work is finally complete after that hail storm back on Memorial Day weekend, and the house looks fantastic. We also spent a lot of time preserving our gardens. We made plum jelly, pickles, wine jelly, froze our pumpkins for pumpkin pie, made more pickles, jalepeno relish, and yet more pickles. I think we will plant fewer cucumbers next year, because that is a LOT of pickles.

Just last Sunday we left and headed west to visit Shane's grandparents in North Dakota. Again, Joey traveled pretty well, and we had a wonderful time. Bran came with us, and what a lucky dog he is! We can let him roam free while we are out there, and he is so attached to us we don't worry about him staying nearby. Another guy in town (it's a town of 12 people) had a younger dog, and he and Bran became best buds all week. They played, chased jack rabbits, flushed pheasants, and generally wore each other out. Joey had a lot of fun too, spent most of his time picking up pine cones or playing with rocks. And he really liked to help Great-Grandma Donna water her gardens.

Now we are home, and I am happy to say our traveling is done for now. I didn't take many photos of our trips, but here are a couple good ones from the past month.


Joey and his first corn on the cob


Joey and our three, rather small, pumpkins


Joey riding Great-Grandpa Allen's tractor in North Dakota