Into July...

11 days into JULY! And the heat has finally reached simmering. We had rain (even out here) from March until now, with cooler than normal temps. We are hoping the extended cool helped our trees to take better root than last year, although about 10 of them are not going to make it. That leaves 17 little Guys pining for life...

I had a splendid visit to Missouri last month. We did plenty of laying around reading our Twilight Saga, sharing notes, and talking into the night. Had a sleepover with Jennie, during which she prepared a near FEAST for us! We reminisced on her back deck with the CDs I made her, dancing, singing, laughing and petting animals! Good times! Plus a great shopping day-the day of "Lumpy Junk" and Jennie making infamous the phrase "Me Liiiikey!"
Spent some time lounging at Mom's, and just sort of being...The trip to St. Louis to see my Dad was so memorable. We had a nice lunch and a relaxing visit to a nearby beautiful park where we fed fish and took pictures. It was so nice to just sit on the bench with him there and be our goofy selves. Later, we helped him organize his apartment and unpack some of his things. This was fun to see, as he "felt like he was in a new place" when we were done. We stayed that night (Tam and I) in a nice Marriott hotel that Dad's boss got us into. It was very clean (as you know how picky I am), had a little kitchen and two bedrooms (which of course we snickered at). The next day, we met Dad for breakfast at good ol' Denny's and headed to the Science Center. It was cool, mostly interactive stuff for kids, and very busy. So after a short trek around, we settled into an Omnimax film "Fly Me To The Moon". Very cute, and somewhat informative!
Such a wonderful visit with Dad...and then back to Fayette to do some more lounging and reading for a few days longer before heading back home on the 20th.

My Megan treated me to a GREAT time at the Colorado Renaissance Festival on the 28th! It was Celtic-Gaelic Day, so there were men in kilts and bag pipes...right up my alley! The weather was perfect, overcast, easy temp and just a 10-15 minute medium rain at one point. Right away we had some fun playing dress up in one of the shops. Megan even got a darling crochet halter that she changed into for the day! We watched a comedy show and an acrobatic act while sipping beers, and got in some much needed chatting. (We're soooo deep). I think my favorite parts might have been the car rides to and from, and the lite supper at the "biker hang out" on the way home. It was awesome to get out with My Girl and just laugh and relax. Thanks Meg!

On the homefront:
Jack is a kid in a ..... billiard store the last few days! He was able to hook up with a guy to trade a small home repair for a POOL TABLE! Yes, the Beagles are officially owners of a nice (almost free) Brunswick table. Should promise many hours of organized fun. EVERYONE is excited. Jack just picked up the felt today, and is actually going to try to re-cover it himself. I think it will be a late night tonight. And yes, we also obtained the token "Lite Beer" table light, which will serve the purpose and will surely be the brunt of endless jokes. (Come on over!)

Megan's Mom and Step-Dad will be in town the week of the 19th, and have a day planned riding the Pike's Peak Railway Tour. I was lucky enough to be invited, and am SO looking forward to it. It is a 3 hour tour (yes "a threeee hour tourrr") of beautiful Pike's Peak and surrounding loveliness. I only hope I can talk Jack into taking the day off to join us. Will post pictures after...
That will bring us to Gena's birthday party the 24th, which will surely be good times, and then we'll be closing out July and heading toward the end of summer. Time flies, but I am blessed and happy to have actually gotten out a bit! And I still have August to go!