Hot Springs Trip, M&R Division

Meme hosting us all at her apartment: Harry mad that I dare give him a cookie:


Benjamin's reward for doing - um, uh, well, you know, um - #2 in the potty for the first time was to watch the movie Cars. Here are all 3 boys (well, minus William) enjoying the spoils:

One evening at U. John and A. Karen's, Benjamin collected rocks while Jackson dug for worms. Here are just a few of the dozens he collected:

Part 2: Lake DeGray
Benjamin initially hesitant about the murky water:

Look! I made it into a photo!
Josh and Benjamin, Father and Son kisses:
On the way home we stopped for the infamous "#1 Taco Salad in Bismark". Emily as Vannah. Benjamin: "Really, Mom?" Let's just say D.J.'s Drive-In should replace "#1 Taco Salad" with "We have a good barbeque sandwich".
I finally nabbed a Harry-sucking-his-thumb photo on the way home:

Everyone enjoying the lake. Each boy on his Dad's back, and The Newlyweds on the left:

Harry eating a rock:
Jackson has a thing about collecting, I'm learning. Here he's collecting, um, lakeweed:
And Emily and William on the shore:

Since everyone's left, we've gotten back to "regular life". Sarah's been giving me a few hours every morning to prepare my lesson plans for Jackson's preschool co-op that starts this fall. I'm teaching Drawing using Mona Brookes Drawing With Children. I find this hilarious, as I'm totally inept in this area, but I'm finding comfort in the fact that it's 4 and 5 year olds that I'm teaching, not the jr. high and high schoolers I'm used to.

Matthew is plugging away at his writing; yesterday he submitted a paper proposal for a conference this fall. . .

A few evenings ago we took a walk after putting the boys down and discovered that the peaches that we thought were hard and useless (good only for deer, which have been spotted frequently munching on felled peaches; there are peach pits everywhere), were in fact quite good. So we ran up the hill, loaded up a ladder and buckets in the cart, and collected barrels full of what Matthew dubbed "The Famous Wright Half-Peach". Half has some sort of black mold, but the other half is fabulous! So far they've gone in hot cereal, muffins, chicken salad, and soon to be in Peach Vinegar (thanks, Emily!). In the following picture I'm trying to capture the peach-laden tree with the sunset in the background:

Matthew is picking up Meme from the hospital right now; she'll stay here "at the farm" for a few days to recover, but she's doing quite well. We're making her famous waffles for dinner tonight. We miss you all!

Love,

Ruthie