Mo' LoLo!

Some pretty awesome things went down today, y'all. 

1) It's my niece's 8th birthday. (Happy birthday, Ernie!) (Uh...yeah. Ernie is my niece. It's a nickname.)

2) Ming Wai and Siu Jeun started Kids Camp today. (More about that in a second.)

3) I went to a really rockin' Zumba class. Man, I love Zumba. 

4) After class, I saw a number on the scale that I haven't seen since the beginning of Baby Ying Ying's pregnancy. Progress, people. PROGRESS. 

5) My husband came home from his most recent trip, and brought his parents with him! (More on THAT in a second, too.) 

(Lavender in the front yard)

Ok, so Kids Camp. Kids Camp is put on by a family in our congregation. It is staffed, planned and run entirely by teenagers. It used to be the five siblings, but as they have grown up and moved on (and out), the ones left at home have begun to bring their friends in to help. In the morning, the big kids go to Drama Camp. The script is written by one of the "staff", and is always really simple, short and FUN. It usually involves someone impersonating Elvis, too. Gotta stick with the classics, man! Lunch time is at 11:30. At noon, Kids Camp starts. Every day has a theme. Judging by the "take homes", today was all about gardening. (My kids both came home with raspberry canes in hand-decorated pots.) Tomorrow is Sports Day - all the kids will walk to a nearby park and play Sports. These teens have managed to find a formula that successfully keeps 20-25 kids entertained, between the ages of 3 and 12. The family has a good sized backyard, and a completely empty "rec room" in the basement of the house. The kids are confined to those two areas, so the rest of the house isn't trashed. It's really brilliant, actually! My kids have been looking forward to Drama Camp and Kids Camp since the last day of Kids Camp LAST year. 

(Some jaunty little mushrooms that came up last night in the flower garden)

Now, let me tell you about Lo Gung's schedule recently. First, he left for Dublin. He was there a week, and was home long enough to celebrate Father's Day, and then he left again, this time to Reno, Nevada. After a few days there, he caught another flight to Salt Lake City, Utah. There, he spent the weekend helping his parents put the finishing touches on packing up all their belongings into a Pod (moving company container). They emptied out the house, locked the Pod, spent a night in a hotel, and then started the long drive to Seattle with their two cars. They broke the trip into two parts. On Sunday, they drove from Salt Lake to Boise, where they stayed with a friend (one of Lo Gung's past co-workers). Today, Monday, they made the drive from Boise to Seattle. They arrived at our house around 4pm. Only Baby Ying Ying and I were here to greet them (the two older kids were at Ernie's birthday party), but that made for a nice calm reunion. 

It is so odd. I'm used to my in-laws being here - they have always visited us 4-6 times a year, and always for 2-4 weeks at a time. The odd thing is that they aren't leaving. The kids are still trying to wrap their brains around it. We don't have to budget out every moment, making sure we fit in everything we need to do while they are here. We can just go forward...with more LoLo's! I think this is the start of something beautiful. 

(Also? My kids are SUPER spoiled. They have now, within a ten minute drive: Grandma & Grandpa, MaMa & YehYeh (Lo Gung's parents), Aunt Myrnie & Uncle J (plus their kids), and Uncle Bear. Sunday dinners are pretty awesome around here, with 15 people being NORMAL. Holiday dinners are 24, but that only adds a few extra bodies, so it's not even a huge deal. (My mother's sister and father live about 45 minutes north of us.)) 

PS- My yard? Is CRAWLING WITH BEES. Lots and lots of bees. They are in the hedges, the lavender, the roses and the ground cover. It's kind of awesome. I took out the lawn and put in flowers specifically to attract bees, and help boost their numbers. And the fact that it doesn't "brown out" in August isn't a bad perk, either.