September is here, and that means this is probably the last post I will make before I return home.  HOME!  Yay!  I think being here in the states is absolutely GREAT when we're traveling and visiting, but just sitting here in our half-home is often disconcerting to me.  I don't do well if I don't have a plan for the day - something to DO besides just sitting at my computer all day.  I. Get. Bored.  Bleah.

So today, my goal is to write in my blog.  NOT my favorite thing to do, but it IS fun to get responses from you...my loving friends.  (Notice I didn't say friends and family?  Because #1. FAMILY often doesn't even read this stuff and #2. They most likely would not respond if they did!  I'm just a little OTT with everything.  Sigh.)

I could complain a bit about this Blogger.  I just changed my settings to make my blog wider.  BUT...this part where I'm doing the composing DIDN'T get any wider, so it's going to look different when it's published - which means I probably won't format it correctly.  It's quite discouraging and frustrating.  But I will blog on...

OK, let's see...I left you in Los Alamos where I had neglected to take photos of Jonathan and family - problem solved! Can you believe how tall Cael is getting?

Jonathan, Cael and I went to the same funny little mini-golf course I was on with Connie and her grandies.  We played once through in the normal way but since it's a VERY straight up and rather boring course (which I'm not complaining about since it's a FREE place to play) on the next round we had to give it something different for oomph.  So we played "horse".  Whoever won the hole got to choose how to play the next hole.  We played backwards through our legs, on one foot with one hand, making the ball bounce off the wall, and here's a photo of Jon using the club as a pool cue for his turn!  That way to play was MUCH more fun.

We had some great moments with friends.  Here are a few gals at the local coffee spot.  Del Rauber, Connie Witt, Melissa Alexander, Judy Crocker and Cookie Halsted - all Chamisa friends!

Then we spent some time in Albuquerque with Thomas and Sara and their boys, 

Sky and Forest.  Below is the scene that reoccurred almost every night as Thomas and Chris solved all problems - if only one of THEM were king of the world!

But now here's Sky being king of the world - though upside down!  Pretty cool trick, huh?

We then hurried back to Colorado because Chris had bought a boat - sight unseen!  He's REALLY happy about it, and so am I.  The guy who owned it before put ALL KINDS of lovely little touches on it, and he was engineering inclined, so he took REALLY good care of it! 
It's a 26 foot MacGregor, and we will be using it to "sail" the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes.  Looks like fun, yeah? In this photo, the mast is down to facilitate trailoring (and going under low bridges!)

This is looking towards the bow - with the V-berth at the top of the photo.

This is looking aft - see Chris in the cock pit?  Behind the ladder is a huge king-sized berth with EXTRA cushioning, which is where we will sleep.

Of COURSE we got to spend a bit of quality time with the grandies.  Both Jude and Lily had birthdays while we were here.  I made Jude a cloth "paper doll" with velcro clothes to dress.  He was MUCH more interested in the streamers I used to wrap his gift!  haha.

For Lily's birthday, I made here a tiny little pocket (from a drawing that she had made of herself) for her to put her teeth in for the tooth fairy.  It was an interesting process - and she had never HEARD of the tooth fairy, so I had to do some explaining as well.  I don't think she's much interested right now, so hopefully she'll have some experience at school to make this more valuable for her.

Now I just have to throw in a BUNCH of photos of the kidlets - because they are so CUTE!

We had fun at the fountains in Old Town Fort Collins one hot day.  Everyone rode their bikes over and the kidlets splashed in the water.
     Love this face!

Chocolate Face!

SUPER LILY!

This is one of my favorites.  Jude was playing "monster" - see his monster face?  And GrandPat was pretending to be surprised (and scared?) when monster pulled the blanket off him!

I have found a fun MWF water exercise class (on Fridays we play water polo) that ALSO has a craft group! AND...every Monday they meet for coffee and donuts.  Hah!  (That sort of defeats the purpose of the exercise, but it's fun.)

OK - that's enough now!  I'm pretty sure you won't hear from me again unless you check in to Facebook.  We're scheduled to be home on September 28th - so I'll see all you Aussies in October - yay!