Wednesday, July 22, 2026

22 July 2026

Today we became a minivan-less family... the Pan has been having issues and it was time to bid it farewell.  My parents generously offered to sell us their Toyota Camry, so we are now a two-sedan family.  We bought the Pan because Rosebud was on the way and we needed accommodations for four kids.  Right now we have one kid away at college and the second on his way out the door as well, so we don't need a minivan any more.  The Pan entered our life when we needed it, and it faithfully served until it wasn't needed any more.
------------------------------

We have 113 books checked out from the library right now.  This is what 113 library books around the house looks like:



Yep, they are everywhere.

 

Wednesday, July 15, 2026

15 July 2026

 My parents invited my family and all of my siblings' family to a vacation in Tennessee this summer, and it was finally time to head down there!  Rosebud has been counting down the days for about two weeks.  She's super excited to see her girl cousins that are her same age.

There was a little alarming health issue for me on Thurs/Fri/Sat of last week, but when I finally went to the ER with it, the chest pain turned out to be strained cartilage on my ribs and the ear/jaw/throat pain was a cyst in a salivary gland.  It was all manageable with some medication, so we didn't have to cancel our trip!

We packed on Monday and got on the road early Tuesday morning.  We drove down to Pigeon Forge in a very uneventful manner in a red minivan we rented, which Mr. Brown calls 'Cherry'.

Kids had a good time, alternating playing video games on the Switch with reading books and looking out the window and other activities.

There are two Buc-ee's on the route, and we stopped at both of them!  Once for lunch and once for dinner!  That was definitely a highlight because we love Buc-ee's and miss it from when we lived in Texas.

We arrived safely at the house my parents rented.  My parents and my brother's family were already there, and cousin connections were revived.  Rosebud is sleeping in the same room with her girl cousins, and D played foosball and shuffleboard and video games with the ones his age.  Happy to see that they will probably be having fun together this week.

This morning Mr. Brown took Nut Brown and Rosebud to the water park with most of my brother's family.  D and I stayed home because he took a fall yesterday and had some big scrapes and a twisted ankle.  Grandpa took us go-carting (fun) and to lunch at a car-themed restaurant (fun) and then we did some grocery shopping for dinner and also ice cream :) . D has also been playing video games and reading his book and having quiet time, which I think is probably the best choice for him today.


Sunday, July 12, 2026

12 July 2026

 This morning Rosebud decided to occupy herself by using some of her craft supplies.  She got out a soap bar sized chunk of wax and began work on a bird sculpture.  We looked at some bird pictures, and she sketched it out and then made a mockup of it in putty eraser, and then dove in with the carving.  When Nut Brown saw what she was doing, he asked if he could join in.  She gave him one of her other bars, and he started work on a human figure.  They spent a long time working steadily on their projects.



Thursday, July 2, 2026

2 July 2026

 

My raspberry bushes have been wonderful this year.  And we're having another summer with a local CSA order so we get fresh corn and other vegetables... the best tomatoes ever, and more zucchini than my kids want to eat.  We are eating good this summer!