Seven Quickies: Hobbity Edition

Thanks, as always, to Jen for hosting! She's away at a retreat this week, but even THAT didn't stop her! What a gal!

Here we go...

~one~

We have been anything BUT Hobbits this summer. I've been running all over, and I have only a week to be ready - no, six days - for our trip to South Dakota. We'll be on the road for HOURS by this time next Friday. Here's a run-down of what we've been doing in June:

1. We went on vacation to Massanutten from June 4-11, except we left early to...
   
   
2. Stay with our friends in Northern Virginia for the IHM Conference on June 11-12. We left on the 12th after Saturday's Vigil Mass so we could...
   
   
3. Drive Little Girl to a vacation with her younger cousins in Tennessee, during which time we played hosts to our God-Daughter, who is only 18 months older than Big Girl. Alas! Travel Man put on his super suit again and I...
   
   
4. Was up early and had him at the airport by 6:20 on Tuesday morning. So, really, it was *me* hosting God-Daughter, as well as the pool party/sleepover on Wednesday (during which the gaggle of 11-13 year olds stayed up until 5 AM!). Then...
   
   
5. I picked up Travel Man at the airport on Friday afternoon, and we left straight from there to Tennessee again where we would switch children and come home on Saturday.

Whew! And we're leaving July 2 for South Dakota and then stopping for Travel Man's business trip in Indy on our way home from that. Two more weeks away.

What was I thinking when I planned all this??

I don't think I want to go anywhere until our trip to DC in October. So let's hope that we can avoid unnecessary travel so I can decompress from my travel-induced stress. I need to be in my Hobbit Hole for certain amounts of time, you know!

~two~

Oh, and to make my two weeks at home more enjoyable, I've been sick - with what I think was that intestinal thing from Christmas 2007 - all week. Yesterday, I was so excited when my stomach growled and I was hungry. It hadn't growled for three days, despite the fact that I had barely eaten all week. Without going into icky details that I know you don't want to hear, let's just say that I seem to be on the mend. Just in time to pack for our next trip. Yay.

~three~

We're going to South Dakota for a really neat thing, though. Travel Man's grandparents - who both turn 92 this year - celebrated their *70th* wedding anniversary in January! Now, we naturally wish to celebrate with them, however, we also did not really want to brave the snow South Dakota tends to have. And, let me tell you, we got SOCKED here in Virginia, and they got it worse by them! So we arranged to go visit them in July, when it's much less likely to snow. It also makes packing easier, since we're pretty sure we don't need anything much heavier than our windbreakers for the trip.

But, think about it ... 70 years. It's so amazing! I hope I live long enough to see 70 years with Travel Man.

~four~

My girls are both getting so grown-up. My family and friends are now saying, "Wow, look at Big Girl - she's a young lady now!" and "She's like a small grown-up!" Part of Big Girl's sudden transformation was her decision to get her hair cut. She went for a heavily-layered shag, sort of like this:

Shocking, I know. I haven't got a single decent picture of her new hairstyle. She's been pretty much in the pool all month. I'll try to remedy that.

Now, the other part is that her clothes, while very modest, are more revealing (being Summer clothes and all). And then there's the moment when she put on her swimsuit this Summer and poor Travel Man had a bit of a shock over what THAT looked like. Yup, young lady.

But she's still my baby. So there. Nyah.

~five~

Little Girl was quite compliant about taking only one dance class last year. Turns out that she was the ONLY girl in her level to have only one class. (One mother said, "Wow. I've never heard of someone in this level getting away with one class. How'd you manage that?" I looked right at her and answered, "I said no." Why don't other people think of that?)

Anyway, at her recital, she was so stunning, and did such a wonderful job, that after the recital was over, Travel Man pulled me aside and said, "She *needs* to be in more dance classes. Let's try to make it happen."

She is currently in a Tap Workshop for Summer to prepare for going back into a tap class this Fall in addition to her ballet. She is beside herself with happiness, and even is thinking about asking if she could do a number in the recital with one or two friends from the studio. She's got her new tap shoes, and she's already happily bopping through the house showing us the new things she picked up in her first workshop.

~six~

Big News for Travel Man! He is going to a workshop tomorrow to learn how to perform his duties as Grand Knight! As of July 1, he will be Grand Knight for his council, and I am so proud of him. The current Grand Knight is going with him to the training, not because he needs to be there, but because he's a nice guy and remembers how lost he felt when he went the first time. I really like our Grand Knight. He's a good guy and has a real servant's heart. Travel Man says he learned a lot from him.

~seven~

Time for some video fun.