Family Time

My daughter and future son-in-law left yesterday to head home to London. They were here on "holiday" for 10 days and what a wild ride we had! We see them twice a year when they come to visit and Homestead Life stops, except for the absolute necessities, so we can spend time playing together.

  In the past days we've:

Had family dinners out more than we ever have.  Once a year we have a special evening dinner at Carrabbas. My son works two jobs and my daughter works full time and goes to school. My youngest is in school as well, so arranging schedules so that we could all be together was tricky, but on this night we managed to!

  Been boating - both to the beach and across the lake and up the creek. The Pontoon boat engine tried to be difficult, but Bob was able to fix it. Had he not, we'd still be there! We dodged rain storms all around us but stayed dry for the most part - except when we wanted to...

Gone riding.  This was the first time any of my children have been riding with me. Now that the ice has been broken I hope that they'll come ride often!

Spent time on the range

Gone to the rodeo - another yearly family tradition

The kids spent additional time together shopping, visiting with friends and enjoying eateries and night life closer to the beach, but finally, after saying goodbye to her siblings in town, my daughter and fiance met us for breakfast

 and we said our goodbyes. It's always so hard - we won't see them again until July of next year.

So now, it's time to get back to Homestead Life. There's fall transplants to put in the ground, a pineapple greenhouse to build, wood to cut and stack, orchards to mow, the bees need sugar water....

And I think we'd better hive this swarm before they split!