VeganMom...stumbling through life

This week has just been a flurry. I think life will get back to normal once we return from this vacation. I have felt like I was in a marathon all week. Today has continued in the same vein, with the garden walk, which is a working day. The seven locations on the walk were very nice, with my favorite being Cedar Crest. I love what they have done out there. CC is a nursing home, and they have nice garden plots for any residents who enjoy gardening. It was beautiful, but more importantly, I was touched by the resident gardeners. I am so happy that they are able to maintain their connection to the earth and continue to garden there. I liked seeing each individual's style very clearly reflected in each individual rectanglar plot. Luciana and I had some nice talks with the gardeners, who were proudly standing by their gardens and obviously enjoying all the visitors. L. also caught a toad, which was the high point of her day. She spent the rest of the day looking for toads at the six remaining gardens, but wasn't able to find any more.

Being at Cedar Crest made me really sad though. I suddenly miss my grandparents so much. It really sucks to not have grandparents anymore. My grandparents were gardeners, too, and certain plants always make me think of them. I saw some of those plants today, and it made me very weepy for a while.

While Mark will still have to go back to the wrap-up party tonight, L. and I will stay home and pack. It will take the remainder of the night to get all our stuff packed, the food packed, and our animal-care lists done. Tomorrow morning we will get up early and pack the van and will be on the road by 10 am. This is our first family camping trip that Dej won't be joining us. She doesn't want to go this year, and as sad as it will be to have her missing, it's better than dragging along a teen who doesn't want to go.

I'm missing my sweet furbabies already, though!

Thursday we took Luciana to Six Flags Great America. The weather wasn't very cooperative, but we did have some fun. L. wanted to start the day with a ride on the Demon. She loves that one. We got to ride Willard's Wizzer and Batman, and then it started to rain. Since we were already wet, we decided it was a good time to go on the water rides, so we jumped onto the Roaring Rapids and the Logger's Run. We were much wetter, and the rain was still coming down. We tried to stay under shelter until the rain stopped, and then watched a show, hoping to dry off. It took a couple of hours of walking around before we finally got dry enough to go back on the rides without freezing. L. wanted to climb the rock wall there, and she made it almost to the top before her little legs got tired and she came back down. She won a Batgirl cape, that helped keep her warm later. I was begging her to go on Superman or one of the other big rides with me, but the first ride she wanted to go on was the Wizzer. Again. So after waiting in line, getting in and getting all buckled up, it started lightening badly and raining again. They decided to shut down the rides at that point. It then started to pour buckets and became extremely windy, so we ran to the car in a blind, cold and painful run. We were beyond soaked, so L. and I changed in to dry clothes in the car and decided it was time to go home, even though it was only 7:15. We watched the stunningly beautiful storm all the way home.

We will return from vacation on Thursday, which is the day our friend Anthony Marr arrives. He will be talking Thurs. night at 6:30 at Leeson park, on Global Warming and how we can help protect the earth. Please feel free to join us! He will be with us until Monday. He's such an amazing person, we have all been anticipating this visit for months!