Beth and I took the kids to the trail after dinner this evening, and all was well until we got to the little overlook. The kids like to get under the landing and look under the platform, but there must be a nest under there because just as they went under, a hornet dropped down and landed on Alex’s back, and stung him immediately. Then another. And another got Missy on the shoulder before I could get them away. I just about panicked, afraid they were going to have a reaction like I did when I was 6 or 7 and got stung, and nearly died. Run, Alex and Missy! Run! Run! We got them out of there, both crying and crying, oweee, it hurts, it hurts...we took them home and gave them a cool bath and some benadryl, but no major allergic reactions. By the time they went to bed the stings were swollen but the welts had gone down. If I remember right, last time I got stung it didn’t hurt after a day but it did itch for several days. I hope they’re ok tomorrow.

Mom and Dad were staying with us all last week. Last Monday they went up to Michigan with Beth and the kids, Tuesday they came to the softball game ( I had 2 good hits, but the team stunk and I misjudged a fly ball to me...the sun was harsh). Wednesday Dad and I took the kids to the trail while Mom and Beth shopped. Thursday we hired Jenny to watch the kids while we all went out to see "Ocean’s 13" which was better than the second, but not as good as the first. I took Friday off work, and Beth an I took advantage of a generous offer from both Laura and Thomas and Mom and Dad. My parents were going up to Michigan anyway so they took the kids with them to drop them off at Laura’s for the weekend. Beth and I left for Michigan shortly after Mom and Dad left, and stayed in a motel Friday and Saturday night. We had no plans other than to take it easy for the whole weekend. Saturday we discovered Gallup Park in Ann Arbor by geocaching (the way we discover everything), finding a nice park with a nice walk to a nice cache in the morning, and thought if that was any indication the caching would be good all day. It wasn’t, really, as we tromped through some truly nasty muck at another park looking for another cache that we finally gave up on at about 300 feet away. Then we went for lunch, and hit the U of M campus for a few others. We found one, then were thwarted by a couple of guys hanging out by themselves in the middle of the forest right near where we were looking for another. I didn’t hang around to see what they were doing. We then wound up in a huge cemetery looking all over for another, and not finding it, until the bugs came out. We were able to grab a meatball in the same cemetery on the way out. We spent most of the evening cross stitching at the motel. Sunday we checked out, then hit the cemetery again to find the one we couldn’t find. Found it, wondered how we missed it the day before. We were going to meet Laura and Thomas at Gallup Park shortly after that. They had rented paddleboats and were taking the kids for a voyage. We got there while they were out to sea, so we got our own and tried to catch up to them. We couldn’t, they got back to shore before we could catch up, and we just turned ours in a little early. Then we let the kids play for a while, went out to lunch at Joe’s Crab Shack, and went for a swim at their development’s pool, which I thought freezing but the kids liked a lot. They both slept most of the way home, and still slept all night.

Friday was Missy’s 3rd birthday, and the last day of VBS. I’ve been driving the van this week with either Don, Terry, or Virgil, and the loads have been surprisingly light. We picked up 7 on Wednesday but the rest or the week we had a lot of no-shows, and 1 or 2 kids in the van. And 1 autistic kid, who was a screamer. The kids have had a great time, with lots of stuff to show us afterwards each day. Mom and dad and Laura and Thomas got here tonight while we were at VBS, and went straight to meet us at Ritter’s after we picked them up. Saturday was Missy’s party. Aside from my family, the Sagers and Churchills came. Missy was disappointed that none of he friends could come; she’d been talking about her birthday for a long time and finally her party day arrives..."It’s my birthday! And Sammy’s coming?" Well, no... "and Carson’s coming?" No, not him either..."is Jake coming?" No..."is Nathan?" No. That is a hazard of a summer birthday, people are busy. Anyway, she seemed to have a good time. She has a tendency to zone in on one present, the one she just opened, and doesn’t want to open any more, just play with that one. Meanwhile we’re trying to hold Alex back from opening all her presents and she’s not helping by refusing to do so. Eventually we just let him open them for her. The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse figures and binocuscope were the big hits. The family ate at Golden Corral afterwards. Today was the wrap-up of VBS at church, and Mom and Dad came for that after the regular service to see Alex and Missy sing their songs. Alex improvised a bongo solo on the rack of basketballs during a song (the VBS theme was Game Day Central), entertaining everyone. We all went out to Mad Anthony’s to eat before Laura and Thomas had to leave. Mom and Dad are staying all week.

I was 1-for-3 in softball tonight, but the hit was a little cheesy one. We lost again as collectively the team did nothing. I had to run from the van route for VBS to the game, and back for the return trips, and a good thing I did because we wouldn’t have had enough players. And Beth finally got to enjoy watching a game without the kids, who were at VBS.

Beth and I hosted a couple of young ladies from Michigan last night. They and today’s guest preacher at church came down late Saturday night and spent the night in our guest room to save them the expense of a motel.

We all went out caching again, this time heading northerly. We found a tiny secluded cemetery near Milford with a cache, and another at a park/camp/rec-area kind of place. The cache was hidden a short bushwack in the woods, but the terrain was too rough for the wife and kids so I went it alone, which was fine since they spotted the playground and wanted to go there anyway. After the GPS finally decided where to point, I found the ammo box, but while it was making up its mind I walked right past it at least once, and also almost tripped over a young sleeping deer. It didn’t even wake up.

Beth and I went out to get Alex’s big boy booster car seat today. He's needed to get out of the car seat for some time. He's ready for it. It'll be nice when he can do his own seat belt...

I picked up my new glasses today. This time they were the right ones. Things do look a little sharper now. Maybe it helps, because I was 3-for-3 again in softball (actually, only one was a solid hit). We finally won the game, too. Our friend Scott also dropped off the electric jackhammer he’s been going to lend me for some time now. I am going to rip out the concrete slab that’s behind the garage so water won’t seep into the walls like it does now.

We all headed out this morning to do some furniture shopping. Beth and I have recognized for a while that Alex needs a new bed so we went looking for one. And we got more than we were looking for. First we went to Maple Lane Furniture just to check things out, and while we didn’t find a bed, we did find a quilt hanger like Beth has wanted to get for her seascape quilt she made. Next we went to JB’s Furniture (not Amish!) where we got a good mattress set and a headboard that Alex picked out himself. Finally to Warsaw Furniture Outlet, where we found a dresser for Missy (which she also needs) that had a matching headboard and mirror, all in the clearance lot. We got a pretty good deal on all 3 pieces. Later in the day Beth and I hired Katie and went to see the new Pirates of the Carribean movie, which we both liked. Better than the second, not as good as the first.

Sometime this week is/was Jenny’s birthday. To celebrate, her folks rented out the hall down at Pike Lake and hired a caller to do some square dancing. Yup, a regular hoedown. Alex and Missy were all excited to go square dancing (and round dancing, and triangle dancing) for most of the day, but when we finally went there just after I got out of work we quickyl realized that it was going to be way too complicated for them, and all participants had to do it right or everyone would get all screwed up. So, Beth and I took them aside and we made up some dances while everyone else did the real ones. It was too loud for them anyway, and they both wanted to go home after a short while. Which was ok, since it was really hot in there anyway.