More from the end of the visit.

If you've been reading here the last few days, you know that Sticky Bean and his parents were here for a visit. He got more attention in four days than any one-year-old should get in a month, and by the end he was getting crabby and ready for home and familiarity. But he had fun making faces with Aunt Abbie while he was here.

Tuesday we drove 2 hours to see the great-grandparents, one of whom had her second knee replacement 2 weeks ago. There was more gushing of love and affection, Bean got his very own handmade rocking horse from Great-Grandpa (I was too busy gushing to get a photo), and we all sat around the living room watching him be cute.

While we were there I wandered into my parents' study, where they have both of their computers, some bookcases, and the filing cabinet. Here's what they have on the wall:

Yes, Dad was a high school chemistry and physics teacher and Mom was a 6th and 7th grade teacher (English and science). They are very proud of their decor, which hung in my mother's classroom for years. Elijah started quizzing me on names of elements, atomic numbers, and other assorted information that any genius can glean from the Periodic Table, and while I was saying uhhhhmmmmmm, my mother was shouting out answers. She's 74. Who says the mind gets dull?

Then this morning, here's the picture I got from Bean's mom:

with the caption: "Check out my man van, ladies. Wanna go out for a banana? You know you want to."

(Please don't panic. They were not driving when this photo was taken.)

Then 7 hours later, I got this one:

(obviously taken with a camera phone while moving) captioned, "We're really sick of being in the car." They were still 5 hours from home.

Goodness, I love my family.

Be thankful ~

Karen