It's Official!!

Yesterday at 3:28 pm, Josh emailed our itinerary for Brazil in December! We are really going!!!! We are so excited to be able to return, and especially to be celebrating Thomas' and Giulia's first birthdays, plus Christmas! We fly out of Appleton on December 17th and return on December 29th.
We don't have the words to thank Josh and Debora, who not only found the tickets for us, but used their frequent flyer miles to purchase them. There WILL be payback - rest assured! I think maybe Debora ought to consider a career as a Travel Agent - she is very good at ferreting out the deals.

Also, on Wednesday (don't think I mentioned this earlier), we purchased our tickets for Montana in September, for Steve and Erin's wedding on the 13th. We will fly out on Friday evening and home again on Sunday afternoon, being gone the 12th-14th. It will be a quick, but fun trip. When Mike and Lorrie's older two kids got married, I hadn't flown yet so didn't really consider it. It seems that most of the nieces and nephews plan their weddings right in the middle of our busy time, but by flying we will be able to go.

Today was again spent in the tractor. I finished the field south of hwy 10 (known as the Pipe/Peterson land) and brought the tractor home. I hope to be able to mow my lawn tomorrow (yeah, I am capitulating....). It was either that, or drag Jerzey down here to 'mow' it for me. Unfortunately, along with her comes her poops. While Dusti would probably appreciate that (don't ask), I think I will pass. Dan figures that we would need a whole herd of goats to keep up with it. That's an idea.....

John had a bit of trouble with his rig today. He discovered that he had a flat tire on his digger, but even more upsetting, that he had a leak in one of his tractor tires. And of course, being Saturday, we can't get anyone out to fix it until Monday. So - enjoy your day off tomorrow John!

When I came home to fix dinner this noon, the Stokes' family dropped in for a visit. How nice! We had been wanting to see Jackson - boy, has he grown and is he a busy little fellow! His face is all healed up from his tangle with the plant stand (see Stokes' blog, via M&M's blog), so when he grabbed a piece of fire wood out of our rack by the wood burner, I told him to be careful. Well, I discovered just how sensitive the little guy is - he burst into tears! I felt awful, but would have felt worse if he had poked himself in the eye. He didn't really want too much to do with me after that, until I offered him an animal cracker. Those he liked! Of course, we had a good chat with his folks, Michelle and Chris, too. Thanks for stopping guys!! Try it again sometime!

Oh, last night after chores, Dan and I went down and burned up a brush pile that he had made when he was knocking down some dead trees and brush between our field road and the Pipe farm. It was kind of fun, but could have used a bottle of wine. Next time. Wine and bonfires seem to go together around here. We didn't turn into until after 11:00 pm (had this am in, thank goodness!) and Dan said that we were practicing for being in Brazil - 7 months from now!! That was a bit of an adjustment for us, the late nights and thus, late mornings. I would still wake up early! Of course, an early swim in a deserted pool wasn't all bad....