H.A. Larson's Blog, page 33

Camping with the Kids

Campsite all set up.
Recently, my husband was away for a week on business, so I took the opportunity to spend some quality time with the kids. Since the weather in July was amazingly comfortable - and since it had been a few years since the last time I had taken one - I thought a camping trip was in order. Now, I've talked about camping plenty of times here in the past as a fun, inexpensive way to spend quality time with the family, and it's true. Getting out in nature, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, is always a welcome respite.
For this simple, overnight camping trip, we decided to stay close to home by heading out to one of our favorite spots: Hitchcock Nature Center. It's only a 20-30 minute drive from our house, depending on the city traffic, but it feels like a whole other world. It's also a cheap place to pitch up a tent, costing $10.00/night. 
Since our trip was only a brief one, we ate supper before we left and merely brought a few snacks and supplies for s'mores. Setting up camp was easy then, simply pitching the tent, making up our sleeping spots, and putting the camp chairs around the fire ring.


Hiking a new trail at Hitchcock during our camping trip.
We arrived around 5 p.m. and it only took about 30 minutes to set up camp, so after we were done, we took a hike through the woods. We've hiked here many times over the past decade but managed to take a trail we had never been on before. While not a long hike by any means, it was a hard trail. It went straight down into the valley and straight up back out. 


The kids play together.
While we took an unfamiliar trail, we ended up at a familiar place: the playground. The kids spent a good hour playing...just like old times. The Teen is too old to really "play" anymore so it was refreshing to see them enjoy this activity together. This is especially true as I get ready to take him off to college soon.



We got back to camp with about an hour to spare before dark, so we got a fire going. Not only are campfires pretty awesome to sit around, they're also how you soften up marshmallows for s'mores. (Note: I am a vegan, but my kids are not, just in case you're wondering.)


The Teen likes his marshmallows burnt.



The perfect campfire.

Ahh. There's nothing like a perfect campfire on a nice night to feel peaceful, relaxed, and a million miles away from the city. We brought a few games and small camp lanterns, so we played games at the picnic table before turning in for the night. Our tent has a mesh top and a protective tent cover that you can use or not, and we elected to leave it open as the weather was nice and we could then see the stars as we laid in our beds. Nothing compares to sleeping under the glow of the stars and listening to the crickets sing you to sleep. 
This was a nice way to spend some quality time with my kids before school starts. Now that The Teen is going out into the world on his own and Nature Girl is almost a teen herself, these days are going to be fewer and farther between. Enjoy your moments while you can. I know I sure am.
We're seasoned campers so we know exactly what we need to bring and what we don't. If you're interested in camping but have never done it before, check out this article on camping for beginners. If you have kids, this article in Parenting magazine has good, basic information for camping first-time with kiddos.
Happy Camping!

In Search of a Camera

For years I wanted a nice camera. Not a "pocket" camera but a real camera that I could take good photographs with. Every year for my birthday and for Christmas, my folks give me Amazon gift cards, so during the 2016 holiday season, I made up my mind to use my yearly gift cards to buy a camera. I did some research and bought myself a nice Nikon Coolpix camera. I was very excited when it arrived at my doorstep and I've spent the last few years taking good pictures with it. 
Then, something happened. No, I didn't drop my camera in a river or off a precipice - which wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility in my world - but rather a mundane event changed my view of my camera. What was this mundane event? I dropped my old phone (a Samsung Galaxy S4 haha) and cracked the screen which caused my screen to go black. This prompted me to purchase a new phone: the Samsung Galaxy S7. 
One of the things I wasn't expecting with my new smartphone was how great the camera would be. After owning the phone for a handful of months now, I've come to the realization that my S7 takes superior photos to my Nikon. While it doesn't have the ability to zoom in for several miles, the quality of the photographs is so much better with my S7, that I've simply quit using my Nikon. This means I only take photos now on my phone.
For the most part, this suits me well as I tend to carry my phone with me everywhere, even while hiking, but there are times when a good quality, regular camera is preferred. I have done some research, however, and I think part of my camera issue is my budget. If I had more than $1000 to spend (HA!) on a camera, I could buy one that takes great quality photos. Unfortunately, my budget is more like $200-300. My task, then, is to find a quality camera for my price range - or at least close enough for me to start saving for the extra.
I will take all the suggestions I can get! Let me know in the comments.

Vacation Snapshot: The Ghosts of Gitchie Manitou Wildlife Area

Walking the three-quarter of a mile trail from the parking area to the old lodge.
When we were on vacation, my Dad took us on a day trip to South Dakota. We spent time at Falls Park and Palisades State Park before heading back home. Since it was on the way, we stopped at Gitchie Manitou Wildlife Area.
Gitchie Manitou sits right in the uppermost, northwest corner of Iowa and butts up against the border of South Dakota. It derives its name comes from the Algonquian, meaning "Great Spirit" or "Great Force of Nature". The area used to be a state preserve but the state recently relinquished responsibility for the park and it is now a wildlife preserve run by (I believe) Lyon County. It's known for its Native American burial grounds and its 1.6 billion-year-old quartzite outcroppings.


A view towards the old lodge from the main trail.
After walking three-quarters of a mile of trail, you come to a foot-worn trail to the right that leads to an old stone structure of some kind. 



A closer look reveals years of graffiti.



A glance to the left of the structure reveals the ancient quartzite outcroppings that are known throughout the area. Graffiti is evident here as well.



Nothing here has been spared from graffiti.



A view into the old, stone structure from what would have been the entryway. Years of graffiti have covered nearly every square inch of it, but I could still tell that it used to be a lodge of some kind as there's a fireplace inside. I could also tell that it was constructed of the quartzite that is so abundant around it. Beyond that, I can only guess what it might have once been. There is no information, that I could find, that tells me anything about what this lodge was used for, nor who might have built it. It's truly a mystery. 



The graffiti is such a stark contrast to the area that surrounds it. While it's vandalism - and my Dad was disgusted by the blatant disregard for its preservation - I kind of liked it. While not high art, it's art nonetheless and looks cheerful and bright - something this place needs.


A view of the lodge from my vantage point atop the quartzite outcroppings.


Death is Near
Violence is the first refuge of the violent. - Aaron Allston

It's obvious this place is a hangout for local kids to come party and has been for decades from information I have been able to find on the internet. While small and unassuming, Gitchie Manitou has a dark past: one that rocked the area for years, ruined one woman's life, and gave the park a haunted reputation. 






On November 17, 1973, nearly forty-five years ago, Sandra Chesky (then 13 years old) went to Gitchie Manitou with her boyfriend, Roger Essem, his friend, Stewart Baade, Stewart's brother Dana, and another friend, Mike Hadrath. They intended to build a bonfire, smoke a couple of joints, play the guitar, and just have a fun evening hanging out. Instead of the idyllic evening they imagined, their night was quickly, and violently, cut short when brothers Allen, James, and David Fryer confronted the teenagers. Only Sandra would make it out alive - after being held hostage and violated for a few days at a farmhouse in the area.


By Ray.lowry - Digital Camera, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...

For a good re-telling of the story, as well as an interview with Sandra, here's an article about the tragedy, written five years ago, in the Sioux City Journal. Even now, forty-five years later, it is a harrowing tale to read. Nature Girl is 12, a year younger than Sandra was at that time, and it's gut-wrenching to imagine her going through something as horrific as this. 
It's no wonder, then, that Gitchie Manitou has a reputation for being haunted. Between those buried in the Native American burial mounds and those murdered here, blood courses its way through the park's veins. Indeed, there's an eerie, almost ominous feel to the park. This is most evident as you stand around the graffiti-marked lodge that is woefully out of place there. While a sunny day, a grayness cut through the light, casting an odd shadow over everything. As I stood on the quartzite outcroppings, looking out over a tree-canopied valley, I could hear water flowing from somewhere below. The sound of it was muffled by the expansive tree cover, giving it an unusual sound that only added to the creepy ambiance. Somewhere off in the distance, a woman playfully screamed. It was muted enough to give me pause and listen before determining it was nothing nefarious, but left me a bit rattled all the same.
I did a quick EVP session in the lodge but didn't hear anything upon playback. As we walked back towards the main trail, I took one last glance back at the old lodge and silently paid my respects to those whose lives came full circle here. 
Rest in Peace, Ghosts of Gitchie Manitou.

Coffee Talk: New Shoes, Finding Balance, and The Write Life

Good morning, friends. It's been a while since we've sat here with a cup of coffee and had a chat. I'm a cream-in-my-coffee kind of person, and this morning my coffee tastes deliciously of coconut. I find that coconut milk from the can - with a bit of sugar, of course - is the perfect complement to a cup of coffee.


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I've been suffering from some lower back pain lately, and it's been affecting my ability to walk and hike. I mean, I still do it but the pain was really bothering me. This pain caused me to take a look at my trusty New Balance walking shoes that I had purchased over the Christmas holiday. While they're comfortable to wear, were they providing enough support? As I've gotten older, I've become fairly flat-footed and I also have pronation of the heels, so wearing shoes with good support for both ailments is something I should be paying attention to...but haven't. 
I looked up my NBs online and discovered that they, indeed, provided no support. I set about, then, looking for a good pair of quality shoes. If I'm going to walk/hike 100 miles a month, then I better have good shoes. I found these cute Ryka shoes on Amazon. I've never heard of them before, but they're made for women and have, not only good support for both my ailments, but great reviews as well. The reviews said to order a half size up, which I did, but I really didn't need to. Fortunately, they fit really well regardless. After just a few days, I noticed my back pain has nearly vanished. Lesson learned! 
Incidentally, I did purchase some good inserts for my NBs so I can still wear them.

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You've read about my struggles recently, trying to make important decisions about my life and trying to wrestle all my obligations into something manageable. Well, I've finally sorted it all out. While I was stressing myself out and stretching myself thin, all I really needed to do was find some balance. I sat down one day, literally, and said to myself, "Okay, what is your role in each of these things, and what should you be doing in these roles?" Once I figured out my roles and what my responsibilities were, it was easy for me to then relinquish a lot of unnecessary baggage and control. I've now been happily able to accomplish all of my tasks because I know exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm not going to talk excessively about it today as I'll write up a proper blog post dedicated to the topic in the near future.

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One of the best things about finding balance in my life is that my writing has taken center-stage again. I've been working with gusto on Vanished  - researching & writing - and I'm excited about its progress. The Write Life has been strong in general lately, and I couldn't be more pleased. For once, I have a nice selection of blog posts waiting in the wings, making it easy for me to put out my twice-weekly posts. All this activity is a boost for my psyche as I'm being super-productive, but it also indicates that my creative drive is far from dead. I had a few moments during the first half of the year, where I wondered if I had lost my desire to write. Thankfully, my fears were unfounded as I'm back in the saddle, right where I belong.



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Thanks for sharing a cup of coffee and a chat with me this morning. I always enjoy your presence a lot! Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more vacation posts, a recipe of the week, and even a teaser from my upcoming book Vanished ! You won't want to miss it. Also, if you haven't signed up for my newsletter yet, you should. Click on the menu bars in the upper left-hand corner for the sign-up link.

Vacation Snapshot: Palisades State Park

One of the places I was fortunate enough to visit during my vacation last month was Palisades State Park. About a thirty-minute drive northeast of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, this state park is small but mighty. I had read about and seen pictures of Palisades SP earlier this Spring, and it prompted me to want to visit there. It was on my radar, then, for vacation.
When we were on the second leg of vacation, we were in Iowa visiting family and friends, and my Dad took us all to Sioux Falls for the day where we spent a fun few hours at Falls Park. Afterward, we still had plenty of time to kill so we took the short drive to Palisades. Knowing that it wasn't a big park, I wasn't expecting much more than a bit of pretty scenery. It was more than that though and we all ended up being pleasantly surprised.



There are four hiking trails in Palisades S.P. The first one is Balancing Rock Trail. So named for this large balancing rock, the trail is the second-longest one there at 0.6 miles. It starts at the top of a ridge and makes its way down to Split Rock Creek, which is nearly as large as a river and runs directly through the middle of the park.






South Wall Trail starts over by the playground area and runs along the bottom of the same side as Balancing Rock Trail. In other words, BRT runs on the top of the ridge while SWT runs on the bottom of the ridge, closer to Split Rock Creek. At only 0.4 miles, it's a short trail as well. 






The shortest trail at Palisades is one of the prettiest. Less than a quarter of a mile in length, King and Queen Rock Trail runs along the North wall of the Park and gives one a close-up, impressive view of the two largest quartzite formations at the park: the King and Queen Rocks. This sign along that trail affords a glimpse into the history of the area. Just like Falls Park, the citizens of the area harnessed the power of the creek to power their grain mill.



A majestic view of King and Queen rocks. See their "crowns"? It's how they got their names.



See that set of stairs in the foreground, to the right? Where I stood to take the picture were the steps on the other side. A trail sits between the two set of stairs, but you'd never know it by the amount of water that completely covers it. For the two weeks prior, and during the week of vacation, it rained like it was monsoon season in the Midwest. We needed the rain, don't get me wrong, but flooding was apparent everywhere, and it was evident in Split Rock Creek as well. Every trail at Palisades cut off where the water had risen over the trail, making it nearly impossible to walk along the entire length of any of the trails. We still enjoyed the beautiful scenery all the same.









The last trail in the park, Split Rock Creek Trail, is the longest at 1.5 miles. We walked along it until, yet again, it was impassible due to flooding. We were treated to gorgeous sights all the same, and this is an amazing view of the creek as it flows down, past King and Queen rocks, towards the trail.

This park is a fantastic way to spend a quiet morning or a peaceful afternoon. Provided that the trails aren't flooded over, the park is small and it's easy to move from trail to trail. Overall, you can trek just under 3 miles by taking all four trails. The trails are fairly easy to hike so you wouldn't need any special gear, but I highly suggest taking a book and a small picnic spread to enjoy at some point during your trip. It's just that kind of place.
For more information about the Park, including any costs, trail map, hours of operation, and location, go to their website. 

Healthy Life: 30-Day Challenge

Back in June, I read an article about a guy who gave up alcohol for thirty days. This isn't the first such article I've come across, but it was the first time I found the article interesting enough to consider it. No, there wasn't anything special about this article that made it stand out from any of the others, but I decided that maybe this time I would give it a try.

Several years back, when I first started my journey to a healthy life, I was an almost daily beer drinker. When you're young, this isn't that big of a deal as far as the body is concerned, but as you get older, it starts to take a toll. I was having health issues because of it so I decided that I had better cut back to drinking just a few days a week. I've been pretty good with that for the most part as my life is so busy that I stay sober and "on" during the week, but lately I've begun to notice a shift.

I imagine it's because of all the stress of being involved in too many things in such a short span of time, but I've begun to drink three (and sometimes four) days a week. I definitely don't want to diverge down this path again because I know where it leads: weight gain, painful joints, laziness, and bloating, to name a few.

So, I'm doing a 30-Day Challenge. I'm giving up alcohol for the next 30 days - I'm already nine days into it - and see how I feel afterward.

I'm hoping to see a few positive effects, and to that end, I'm going to keep a log of my progress each week. I'll then share that with you after my month is up.


Wish me luck.

Vacation Snapshot: Falls Park

View of the entire Falls from the top of the Visitor's Center Tower. You can see downtown, the Mill, and the Falls from here.
Recently, I went on vacation and, is my usual custom post-vacation, it's time to start sharing the places I went & the things I did. My husband went back to school full-time last Spring, so the last two family vacations we took, we kept costs in mind. Last year we were fortunate enough to go visit my mom, who lived in Arkansas for a few years, where we were able to stay with her, cook our own meals, and spend abundant time in breathtaking nature.
This year was no different, but not wanting to rack up any credit card debt and be able to have fun with very limited funds (post forthcoming), we headed up north a few hours. We chose Northern Iowa because my Dad and my Mother-in-law (as well as a close friend from high school) live up there. We were in our own town for the weekend then drove North where we stayed with my Dad for a few days and my mother-in-law for a few days, before heading back home in order to fly out to New Orleans for a long weekend (another forthcoming post). 
My Dad and I are both avid hikers and outdoor people, so we did a generous amount of hiking. One day, however, we packed up the whole family to head up to South Dakota where we spent the day going to a few amazing places. One of those places was Falls Park in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Now, I've been to Sioux Falls a few times, but have never had the opportunity to visit the Falls. It was gorgeous! 


Even though you can't see the Falls moving, you can really tell how powerful it was during our visit.
It rained heavily the week before and during the week of our vacation. So much so that flooding was a common sight all over the countryside. Even though I've never been to the Falls before, I could tell by the amount of water and the sheer force it exerted as it pushed its way down the quartzite, that they were swollen to higher limits. It didn't affect our ability to get up close and check them out, but it did make for a more magnificent sight.



As you meander up the paths next to and around the Falls, you can see all the nooks and crannies contained within.



Like any other such type of water area, it was put to good use back in the old days. Falls of any kind were usually great places to put mills. Mills could harness the water, via gravity, to power the large wheels that made mills work. This mill, the Queen Bee Mill, ground wheat into flour.


A close-up view of the Queen Bee Mill.



This informative sign at the Falls talks about the Mill being an integral part of the Queen City. This refers to Sioux Falls, as it was the Queen City of South Dakota. Queen City is a designation for any town or city that is the largest in its county, state, province, or territory.


This shot shows the remains of an old pipeline that routed the water from the Big Sioux River to the Queen Bee Mill. The remains amount to the concrete stands the pipe rested upon.


This sign explains how the pipeline worked to bring water to the Mill. 


The Falls are a pretty amazing natural structure. Composed of quartzite - a sandstone that is converted to quartzite from the heat and pressure of the movement of tectonic plates - over 7,400 gallons of water rush over the rock every second, although I think it might have been a bit more when we were there, just because of the sheer volumes of rain that had dropped for the entire week prior. It was a pretty place to spend an hour or two, and one can get lunch in the restaurant that is contained within the old mill.
For more information about Falls Park, click here and here.
It was a nice place to visit and I recommend it for anyone traveling through South Dakota. South Dakota is a beautiful state, and I wished we had been able to spend more time there as we had originally planned. Such is life. We still had a great time and got to visit a few places while in the state. Stay tuned for other vacation posts from our visit to South Dakota!
Have a great weekend.

100-Mile Goal

As you've read in a previous post, I'm a walking fool. I've always liked to walk and hike but had never invested myself as much in them until Spring finally arrived towards the end of April. As I reported in June, I walked/hiked a total of 119.01 miles in May. I can now report my June mileage and I clocked in a whopping 97.45 miles! While not as much as June - it was significantly hotter in June - I still made it close to 100 miles. So far in July, I have walked close to 30 miles.

All this walking has been really good for me. I feel nimbler, stronger, and healthier. Combined with watching how much I eat, I've lost weight. It's also been a great mood lifter as well and it gives me some personal time to work out things in my mind. I've decided, then, that walking and/or hiking 100 miles every month is completely doable. I'm not sure how that will look going into Winter, but I figure that I can always get a cheaper gym membership to get me through.

Walking, in general, is one of the easiest things anyone can do to get in better physical health. All one needs is a pair of comfortable shoes. People who walk can lose weight, but even if they don't lose weight, there are still plenty of benefits. Regular exercise lowers the risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, depression, and even some cancers. For more information about the healthful impacts of walking, read this article at Harvard Health.

Do you walk? If not, is there another form of regular exercise that you do? Would you like to join me on my walking quest? Let me know if you do in the comments! You can also comment if you have goals of your own you'd like to share, or just need some words of encouragement.

Happy walking!

Mount Pleasant Cemetery

One of the things I did while on vacation was spend a few days visiting my folks. My Dad and I got out a few times by ourselves to go hiking and I really enjoyed spending some quality time with him. We decided to take a trail hike at his former place of employment (he's now retired), so I asked if we could make a pitstop at the old family cemetery: Mount Pleasant. Mount Pleasant is where my paternal grandparents, my great-grandparents, a great-aunt, a great-uncle, and my twin brother & sister are buried. 


The family plots.
Mount Pleasant is not a large cemetery by any means and it's not very well-maintained anymore either. Back in the day, it had a homestead just north of it and a church/one-room schoolhouse across the road. The homestead is long gone and the old church was moved to some fairgrounds, leaving the cemetery to its fate.



This is a baby's grave. This must have been a standard, popular model of child headstone at one time in history because there is a handful of this same headstone scattered about the cemetery.



Top of the headstone: Baby Goldie.


Martin and Helena Schultz's grave marker.

Small as it is, Mount Pleasant Cemetery is home to a dark piece of history and its subsequent reputed haunting. This particular headstone marks the final resting place of Martin & Helena (Lena) Schultz. As you can see from the headstone itself, husband and wife passed away on the same day: August 16, 1893.
An older, physically-limited, childless couple, they rented farmland from Lena's brothers and squirreled away every cent they earned. They had a distrust of banks and chose to save their money in hiding spots around their farm, money that they hoped to purchase the rented farm with and live comfortably in their later years. Alas, it was not meant to be. 
On the morning of August 17, 1893, a neighbor arrived to help Martin with some farm chores. When Martin never arrived, he made his way to the house where his knocks on the front door went unanswered. As he made his way to the back door, he made a gruesome discovery. There he found Lena Schultz, battered and beaten about the head with a hard, blunt object - most likely a hammer. She had been beaten so badly that six of her teeth had been knocked out and were scattered around her in a two-foot radius. Inside, Martin Schultz was found dead in a small bedroom, his arm covered in defensive wounds. His head was also beaten in with several gashes and holes, some as deep as two inches.
The entire house had been ransacked, with papers and drawers scattered and tossed about the house. The motive, then, was decided on as robbery. Everyone knew that the Schultz's kept a large quantity of money hidden in their home. Unfortunately, it was impossible to know just how much money had been found/stolen, but the police estimated it to be around $300.00. In today's money, that equals to just shy of $8000.00, a lot of money for that time.




While many suspects were jailed, questioned, and even brought to trial over the years, there was never any concrete evidence to firmly tie any of the suspects to the crime. Even with a $2000.00 reward offered - money put together by friends, relatives, and the police force of the time - the case, to this day, remains unsolved.
John Williams was the sexton of the cemetery around that time (a sexton is someone who looks after a church, its cemetery, and digs graves), and he became fixated on the granite marker over the Schultz's final resting place. He came to believe that the granite was transforming to reveal a face, or faces, on its side. John was convinced the faces were of the deceased couple and started to spread the word around Cherokee, the closest large town to the area.


The side of the Schultz's grave marker with the "face".
Can you see the face - or faces as the sexton believed? The sexton thought the face(s) depicted the victim(s) as they were when they were found: gashes, missing teeth, and all. I can only see one face.




This closer view of the marker shows the face better. It looks like a woman to me, with curly hair, closed eyes, and a deformed mouth. Lena Schultz, if the legend is to be believed.
After John Wilson told the town of his discovery, the cemetery - and the Schultz's grave - became a morbid tourist attraction. The community, still reeling from the heinous crime and it's aftermath, believed that when the face (or faces) fully formed, that the perpetrator would be revealed. 500 people would visit the cemetery each weekend to see the grave, some traveling as far as 25 miles - which back in those days was a long distance to travel.
Eventually, word spread as far away as the east coast, and the New York World sent a reporter and photographer to cover the case. Not duly impressed with the face(s) on the tombstone, they created an oil painting on cloth over wood to take pictures of instead. The vision was a representation of what they thought the killer looked like.
As time moved forward, and no further changes to the granite were observed, interest in the story waned, and with it, the cemetery and the grave. As a child growing up, I knew about the legend from my grandparents and older relatives, who were not as far removed from the tragedy. That homestead that used to be next to the cemetery that I mentioned earlier? It was the Schultz's. 
After my generation is gone, the legend of the Schultz's untimely death will be relegated to the annals of written history while it's oral history will die. Does the headstone of the Schultz's depict a face or two? Probably not, but I won't rule it out entirely. I'd like to think Lena Schultz got her one revenge: an image of her mangled, brutalized face to show the world for all eternity. 
Or until her gravestone crumbles to dust.
Requiesce in pace.

Back from Travels

I'm back. My plane flew back into town yesterday, and I walked off the plane and into the waiting arms of my kids. There's nothing quite like those hugs to bring me back to life after a fast-paced, multi-town/city tour.

Vacation was a mixture of business and pleasure this year, and it was, for the most part, very enjoyable.

We spent the first weekend here in Omaha, visiting with friends and relaxing. From there, we drove a few hours north to visit family and friends in Northwest Iowa, where my husband and I are both from. I did plenty of hiking with my Dad (much to the chagrin of my kids) and, in the process, had lots of good talks. I really needed that time with my Dad. It was relaxing, enlightening, and recharging.

We celebrated Nature Girl's birthday and then left her there for an extended visit with her grandparents while The Teen, my husband, and myself came back home on Thursday afternoon. Friday morning, I and my husband flew to New Orleans for business and then flew back home yesterday. While I didn't get to do as much sight-seeing as I had hoped I might, I did get to do a bit. I was there for the organization I represent though, so it wasn't unexpected.

I'm back to work today but I'm off again tomorrow for the 4th of July holiday. It will be a short week at work for sure. I'm going to spend the holiday getting my vacation blog posts ready so I can share with you all the fun things I did.

Until then, have a great day, and a great 4th!