Hotel Amelia

Hotel Amelia. The best hotel on the planet. Come and give our hospitality a try! Little kids love to play and the adults love to eat and talk. The only drawback is driving through Wyoming and Nebraska. Charity and Melissa are on their way to Virginia with their kids (5 total) to visit Grandma and Grandpa Call. They stopped here for the night. Amelia was sooooooo excited she could barely contain herself all day. The cousins finally arrived around 4 pm, we were waiting on the corner and jumping for joy. The kids raced around expending pent up energy. We made a round of the basement toys, walked to the school park, and laid on the carpet. Justin came home early from work to smoke up some pork chops. I added cole slaw (made with a cabbage from my garden) and fresh chard. We chased down the meal with a treat from Dairy Queen. Yum! Phillip was running a fever, teething?? so was not his normal happy self. He still showed off his cute smiles and made a best friend with Mason. He sure LOVES Mason. Amelia snuggled with Grant and played her little heart out. After a week or so I finally got some photos of Phillip playing peek-a-boo. He starts laughing before his hands make it to his eyes. I love how his eyes are still visible but squished together. Hopefully, the girls will make it to Virginia with their sanity intact.

For FHE on Monday we repacked our 72 hour kits (last repacked three years ago) and made kits for Amelia and Phillip. We went to Walmart for a couple extra items, then to Cabela's yesterday for the last few items. At least level one of emergency preparedness is completed. Justin thinks we need to have several levels, such as going to the basement/tornado shelter; short trip out of town, complete evacuation, and evacuation with intent to return. Smart man! I also want to have a winter insert bag we can grab with coats, sweaters, and other warm clothing.

Tuesday evening I finally got out in the yard to prune the bushes of dead wood. Our large lilac had an entire ant colony inside a dead branch. It was fascinating and creepy at the same time. I called the extension lady about the ants, she said they should not harm the living branches. I am trying to decide what tree or bush to plant in the north west corner, I want a choke cherry, but Justin says it is too messy. Buzz kill! Justin was on kiddo watch (or so I thought) when Phillip started screaming. Poor kid was stuck underneath Justin's still warm car, hair singed and blackened. I was a little bit mad (ok, really mad) trying to hack the bush with Phillip in one arm and the hack saw in the other. Justin was applying some lawn chemical. Little stinker. He apologized, accepted!