Everything and the Kitchen Sink

Well, summer is essentially over.  The girls and I were able to take one last outing together - we went out for tea and thrifting.

We took J out to Bowling Green State University just over 1 week ago.  Her room is TINY, but we shoved all her stuff in there.  She declined assistance in unpacking, which means that she ended up keeping some stuff that we should have brought back home with us.  I have asked her for pictures of her room and her first day of school, and I'm still waiting.   Apparently, I'm not the only one (this is from the BGSU parents facebook page):

From Bowling Green we went on to Chicago (it took 2 hours to get through the city.)

The Sears Tower

Our destination was a storage unit about an hour west of Chicago.  There we picked up this desk that JP has wanted since 1995.  It has Norman Rockwell's "Four Freedoms" on the front.  He found it on eBay in the Spring and the sellers agreed to keep it in storage for us until now.

We were able to order a Chicago deep dish pizza that night.  It took us 12 hours to drive home the following day - exhausting!

Since we've been home, J has gotten through her first week of classes.  I have been kept busy in the garden.  I've frozen 6 pints of corn and 7 pints of pasta sauce.  While picking tomatoes the other day, I found this nest in my tomato plant!

Finally, this weekend JP and I replaced our kitchen sink.  The builder installed one that we picked out that was made of some sort of composite. We have never been able to keep the drains from leaking for longer than 9 or 10 months.  I have replaced the drains twice without success, so we decided it was time to try a whole new sink.  So far, no leaks (fingers crossed.)

A Little Vacation

 We are back from our yearly trek to Erie for vacation.

The Airbnb we stayed in this time had a beautiful courtyard with trailing grape vines.

We spent several evenings out there playing games and relaxing.

We weren't able to ride bikes this year, but did spend several days on the beaches.  One of the days the sand was so hot that I actually got blisters on my toes!

Soon after we returned home, there was a huge thunderstorm.  The rainwater washed out our driveway, and lightning struck a tree very close to the house.  The electrical surge knocked out several of our electronics, including the phone, the modem, and a tv.

We had plenty of outside work to do after being gone for a week.  I was expecting to have a lot of green beans to pick in the garden, but apparently the rabbits were enjoying them while we were away.  I spent about a long time trying to rabbit-proof the deer fence again.

I picked the first corn for dinner yesterday, and it was delicious!  I found this bonus ear.

I also found this strange egg in the nest boxes this week:

It is almost time to take J back to school.  L has a couple more weeks until she starts back to school.  In the meantime, she has landed a regular job at the library, working Saturdays - today was her first day.

Somehow, summer is almost over.  Sigh.  It happens so fast every year!