Three, Four, Five, Six!

It's a countdown in reverse--a countup? That doesn't seem like a word :) In the midst of a holiday week, my new job offered some tricky bookends . . . like, I don't Monday or Tuesday and no one else would Thursday through Sunday. Guess what that meant? Forty phone calls on Wednesday. Check! I steeled up my courage and made it happen. 

By the time the boys arrived home from their work day, I felt plenty ready to wrap up mine. I ran to the grocery store to gather Caelan's shopping list for 4th of July food, and stumbled across Pup Cups in the freezer aisle. I think Daisy and Olive approve!

With my first smidge of free time in weeks, I borrowed Brennen's Rwanda market shirt and started on the project I'd been wanting to do since we arrived home. Something to flex the creative side of my brain a little. A challenge--I've never made clothing (other than hats and scarves) before! Much less with a self-traced paper bag pattern, Laura Ingalls style. I will say, those Rwandan seamstresses surprised me more than once with their ingenuity. What took them 45 minutes, took me three days, and I'm still not done (Caelan suggested I wait and purchase matching buttons rather than sew on the five similar-ish ones I found in my button jar--another Laura Ingalls concept that didn't serve me very well despite twenty years of button collecting, lol). But!! Other than the wonky collar--because collars are impossible--and the fact that it still doesn't close in the front, I'm pretty excited about how well the shirt construction went for my first try! :) Finished product hopefully coming, soon!

Meanwhile, Noah and Caelan arrived from their visit with Noah's family, along with their luggage and a few more items to add to the moving piles downstairs. Caelan spent most of day making cute things to take to Chase's family's house for their annual Independence Day/his mom's birthday celebration. Our social director decided she needed a few more things at the store, so Noah made a Jell-o run, earning himself festive feast supply prep props! And actually, I think Caelan and Buck went to the store again when she decided she wanted to add spray whip cream to the top of the Jell-o cups + cherries. Or maybe it was just for fireworks, lol :) They definitely stopped at the fireworks tent in the grocery store parking lot. Caelan claims to be a pro at choosing "the good ones," and I'll say, she did a great job! I just didn't realize that there were so many good ones to choose until I saw the bill later . . . ha!

So, Caelan made stripey Jell-o cups, patriotic puppy chow, and red, white, & blue chocolate drizzle popcorn. Gabby made a beautiful apple pie from scratch and fluffy cornbread, too. We all enjoyed eating outdoors on the beautiful July evening, visiting with the family, sharing stories about Rwanda, congratulating our former piano teacher on her expected December arrival, and of course thanking God for our freedom in prayer before joining in a round of God Bless America.

Then came the fireworks! Some people put their explosives out with hoses, Chase's family throws the leftovers into the bonfire :) Courage. 

They also exploded a watermelon. Chase has really good footage of that. The chickens seemed quite delighted . . . after the fact. That fruit really flew!

For the next few days, we had a very full house, but I didn't mind :) Daisy was delighted! Noah and Caelan were at lickable height on the pull-out couch when she was released from her kennel each morning. We tried to time it well so she wasn't their morning alarm clock, but didn't always succeed. Usually, everyone had to be up and out the door anyway. Caelan's last day of work was Friday, and the ladies had a sweet little going away celebration for her--emotional, as she loved working there and loved working with her sister.

Wow, this was not even two weeks ago and SOOOO much has happened, it's hard to get the details straight. I think that day I was assigned my first blog for work. The hardest part, other than I know virtually nothing about the subject matter--and I'm expanding the notes someone else took on a webinar I didn't watch into a 1,500-word informational piece--is that I need to write at an 8th grade reading level. That is harder than it seems, especially when the subject matter is all big technical words and fancy equipment terminology that no 8th grader would ever be reading about in the first place! :) I was happy when the most recent edit analysis got down from post-graduate work to 11th grade. That seems like a win to me! We'll see what the boss thinks.

After everyone finished up work or their day's activities, Gabby was our social director for the evening! At her suggestion, we met at the sushi/hibachi restaurant that I guess mostly everyone had been to except maybe Caelan, Noah?, and me. The rest of the Crew coached us along, as our entertaining chef tried hard to get us to try the "happy sake." But it's not happy when half of the people at the happy table aren't old enough for the "happy sake," sir! :) Most of the guys ordered double rice--look at that happy pile of happy rice, though! Wowza!

After our entertaining meal, of which not many leftovers remained--shockingly, because it was a lot of food!--dessert sounded like a super good idea. There is no shortage of ice cream shoppes in our town, so we picked the closest, which most hadn't been to in the new location. It was hopping! I think most of us got the last scoop of something or other that they were about to sell out of :) The raspberry was so good! Doesn't Graysen have a pretty smile? Ha! Noah came straight from work, if you're wondering why our clothing standards are so much lower than his--although I guess that is pretty typical :)

I'm trying to remember if this is the night they all stayed up really late to play video games? Or if that was just every night--I think it might have just been every night!

So, the next day was Noah's last day at work. Caelan and I realized there were another million errands to run before the weekend move and some "must do's" on her wish list. First up, a Hawaiian-inspired cuisine that was a solid drive in a car with no air-conditioning, but we got an early start so it wasn't too terrible. Right as the food arrived, the rental truck called and Mr. Chatty Pants talked and talked and talked while Caelan looked at the food she'd been wanting to try for months. I took a BeReal of the meals, then set down my phone to eat, and then BeReal went off for the day, and I missed it by like two minutes. Same place, doing the same thing, Caelan still on the phone. Lol! Food was good, teriyaki chicken reminded me of the Cali days, and the ice cream swirly thing was nice and light!

Next we stopped by Costco to get the red car's newly installed tires torque checked. We decided to grab some groceries, which kind of threw off our return plan, but just meant we had to stop at home first to drop off the dinner items and freezer and fridge stuff we bought. Caelan tried to get me to buy more plants, but I might as well just leave some money on the shelf and leave the plant at the store, too, because that's about as effective as bringing plants home for me. At least then they'd have a chance to survive at someone else's house, ha! These cute little Tabasco chickens made me think of Buck, though :)

Okay, so after we dropped off the food . . . we went to Kohl's and returned a disappointing phone case purchase from Amazon, dropped into a new store that was even WORSE than I remember growing up (Blech, ew, gross, barf!), I think the shoe shopping at Kohl's and Target was the last time we went like the week before--so, umm, we were thirsty, so we got some summery drinks at Target, because we were definitely there again. They had the popping boba in the lemonade. Heehee, that's fun! I left the truck keys in the shopping cart (shhh, don't tell Buck), but for sure found them before someone stole them and the truck (which has air-conditioning). They weren't the ones with the beepy key fob anyway, and we parked at the faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar end of the lot, plus there's no "Dodge" marking clues on the keys anywhere, so that *stealing person* would need a lot of determination to find the right vehicle by sticking the key in every lock in the parking lot before our barista filled two drink orders (not with light ice as we asked, btw). It was fine!!

Next, we went to the farm store, oh for the recharge kit for the red car air-conditioner, which didn't work, but we didn't exactly need, because we decided to send the silver car with the kids instead of the red car--and I think Graysen ended up taking the recharge for his silver car because his air-conditioner isn't the most bestest either. We may have also purchased chicken food and candy on that visit---solid chance, or that may have been the shoe shopping trip from before. Caelan and I ran a lot errands to the same stores on repeat in the past couple of weeks, lol!

So . . . the boys were at a campout at our neighbors' family's pond (because one of their friends works for our neighbors' dad/grandpa and asks to use the pond once each summer). Buck discovered our other neighbors planned to set off the "big" display of fireworks in our cul-de-sac with a bunch of their friends we'd never seen before and, of course, the drunk uncles that night. I'm not sure the whole story behind these fireworks, but some of them were so large that two people had to carry them into the street. Sometimes four people would be out in strategic locations lighting fireworks at the same time and running in four directions as they began firing off in various directions--mostly upwards. Debris rained down on us as we squinted into the sky. It was pretty stinking impressive.

I will say though, God put on an even better show as He stretched a stunning double rainbow across the backyard. It had to have been a mile wide and the most vivid I've seen. The colors lasted for nearly 30 minutes? We took pictures, videos, called Buck around, called Noah out of the house. It was incredible! Lots of pictures of the rainbows popped up locally, that kind of beauty is impossible to truly capture with a camera, though. Our eyes can see so much more than even the best camera can!

During the fireworks, our little neighbor girl came over with her pet tortoise and sat next to me on our little dilapidated bench that I forgot to throw away (good thing) with the last dumpster haul. I am not sure what it is like to be her, but she's definitely having a different childhood experience than our girls did. She seemed to appreciate the quiet conversation in the midst of all the noise and chaos. She also liked the sparkle and shine and getting to stay up way past her bedtime :) It was a pretty fancy evening, and the dogs did really well! They just sat by the front door together and watched us watch the fireworks. Super chill. (We picked up sooo much debris in our backyard--both the day after, and then again a week after when Buck mowed! It was crazy!!)

Okay! I have to say it every year, as coached by my dad, "Ooooh!! Aaaaahhhh!!" Now, watch the video again, and you say it, too. It's proper fireworks etiquette, you know 💖

Here We Go!

If you like chronological order--you are not going to like this blog much for as long as it takes me to catch it up ;) But, applaud the effort! Lots of good stuff happened! I'll do my best to make a record :)

Hmmm. I don’t even know where to start. The weeks are rolling into months and life keeps happening. We’re somewhere in the Midwest. The rain (from Beryl) seems to have moved on, but the heat is moving closer. With all the things to think about, it seems simplest to consider the animals. First, how do we keep the chickens from overheating? Probably buckets of ice water? How do we keep up with Daisy shedding her baby fur? We left bagsful in the now distant apartment, much to one new resident’s dismay (Daisy’s little “remember me”). We got special permission to take her in the first place. Initially we were going to see if she could stay with Olive, who is in the midst of her diaper days. The pup house was full and we were out of options, so along came Daisy. Thankfully, the hotels we booked were pet friendly, just not the VRBO. Being on an extended road-trip without her mama was a disorienting experience for the one-year-old, but she loved riding in the moving truck with Buck, her BFF. Caelan is her favorite boss and Noah is her second favorite boss, so she certainly had a good emotional support team. She makes a pretty cute college dog, even if she wasn’t *supposed* to be there :)

So, Olive. When Caelan and I drove her out to the pup house, I knew the timing was so good for her to get tested to have puppies. But the hiccup is that there’s another dog they proceeded with a couple weeks ago, since their top two had stalled out. Their top two had puppies (including Daisy) at the same time last summer--and it was too much in one house to have that many puppies in two stages of development at the same time. Out of curiosity, and because I would like Olive to fulfill her parenting commitment, I wondered aloud if we could have puppies at our house. To my surprise, the answer was, immediately, without hesitation, “Yes, of course!” I don’t know if Caelan was more surprised that I asked or I was surprised that I got that answer, lol!

If Caelan was around, the whole process would be easier. I told M I would think about it and talk to Buck and the boys. We had some solid ponders, and eventually thought, “Well, it’s worth a shot.” So, we’ll see what happens. We could 1. Not have puppies. 2. Have puppies, but the first dog could not, so Olive’s puppies could go to M’s house like usual or 3. Have puppies at our house . . . stay tuned, I guess?

Our family voted via text message and phone calls while we were driving to college, just so you know I didn’t decide alone. There were some mixed reviews, but they felt that if I felt I was up for it, we should go for it. M thinks there won’t be more than six puppies max. *If*. . . we're still in *if* mode . . .

Well, I certainly don’t have pictures of any of that. I guess I will rewind a week to preparing for the trip . . . I may write backwards, well, ton sdrawkcab.

It’s hard to know how far back to rewind, actually! On Sunday morning, Buck and I joined Noah and Caelan in watching their church’s service from home. We made this choice mainly because of the overly talkative rental truck guy who insisted that, even though the store was open ‘til noon, he was the only one who worked the Sunday shift, and he intended to leave at 11, so they’d better plan to be there at 10:45. You factor in a 20 to 25 minute drive, because the roof caved in at the one location, but they don’t always tell the customers that, so then they have to drive to the other location, well, you just might want to make sure . . . whoa. So, church at home, ensuring a timely departure could take place 😊

Meanwhile, our neighborhood continued clean-up from the previous evening’s impressive fireworks extravaganza—take a look at that rubbish pile!

 

They loaded it into the back of Uncle Kyle’s (Graysen tells me “very expensive”) truck, while we awaited the arrival of the Budget truck. Well, we didn’t just await. We unloaded the previously packed household goods from my brother’s trailer into the garage. My nearly-nine-year-old neighbor offered her services for the duration of our day, and Gabby and Chase arrived following their morning at church. G$ headed out to return the now-empty trailer to C & K’s house.

When Buck and Noah arrived with the truck, moving happened quickly—so quickly, in fact, that in one hour EVERYTHING was cleared out of the garage, classroom, living room, and from throughout the house. It was astonishing! Noah remarked again, “Are you SURE you’ve never thought about starting a moving company?”

With the afternoon suddenly free, Noah and the boys went kicking. Gabby and Chase headed back to their apartment or maybe the farm? Buck pondered a nap on the couch. We sent our little neighbor home, and Caelan and I hoped to attend a lavender farm tour, so set about getting ready for that. But as it turned out, we misinterpreted the drive time and would miss the first 10 minutes of the event. This turned out for the best though, because we suddenly realized 1. Olive needed to get to her week’s accommodations (which, as you’ve already read will likely be more like her month’s accommodations) 2. The pottery the kids painted while we were in Africa needed to be picked up before moving departure and 3. If we were doing 1. then we’d be pretty close to Noah’s parents’ house and his mom (it was her birthday) made the newlyweds a book of their wedding photos that she really wanted Caelan to see and to take along on the journey.

Soooo, we loaded Olive and an actual diaper bag filled with actual doggie diapers into Buck’s silver car and started the drive. We successfully secured the pottery and continued towards the rural ranch. About this time, I was feeling just the slightest bit of discomfort driving the low-riding vehicle. If you’ve seen Wonka, there’s a point where the characters say, “Hmmm.” And the other character says, “What?” and the first says, “Oh, it’s nothing.” But then says, “Hmmm.” Again. The second exclaims, “AHA!! That’s a double hmmm!!” And then the idea must be expressed! Here’s how ours went . . . conversation, conversation, slight discomfort, Me: “Hmmmm.” C: “?” Me: “Nothing. <Pause> Hmmm.” Her: "Aha!" Me again: “What if . . .”

So, the red car we signed over to Caelan lost its air-conditioning at random about a week before the move. Our usual mechanic couldn’t get the car in until after the move (not helpful), so we went to our previous mechanic who fixed it same day, $100. Yay! Two days later, which was three days before the move, no air-conditioning. Well, three days before the move happened to be a holiday weekend. We’re now looking at driving 12 hours in an approaching July heatwave with no air. Also (back to the silver car), because of the rebuilt title on this particular vehicle, our insane insurance charges us $650/month (well, as a grand total for all our vehicles). We’ve been trying to sell it, but to no avail. It’s a good car, newer with fewer miles and way more features, better gas mileage, but Buck doesn’t enjoy driving it—because it is built for someone Caelan-sized. Lightbulb moment! “What if . . .”

Caelan admits, she’s thought of this, but hasn’t said anything. We get Buck in on the conversation via text message. He too has thought of this, but hasn’t said anything. Noah checks with his insurance company—while it drops our premium nearly $200/month, it raises theirs like $40 (it may have been $25, I can’t even remember). Also, it turned out to cost only a fraction of what it cost us to register and plate. Astonishing! So, in the end, Buck now has the red car back that he loves to drive, his favorite car ever, albeit without any heat or air-conditioning at the appropriate times of year—but it does have two brand new tires, installed just last week. Thanks newlyweds! And the newlyweds have a car that should last them for a fairly long time with no major repairs . . . other than it needs new tires (sorry, newlyweds!) P.S. we would like to shop for new insurance now, lol! 

Back to our drive: Olive joyously reunited with her dog friends and true owners, but seemed a bit dismayed that she wasn’t leaving with us. M said she didn’t need the diaper bag and Olive was free to run free. You know the next bit of the story . . . so moving on, let’s see, Caelan and I stopped by Noah’s house, saw his parents and sister, picked up the very nice photo book, stopped by Scooters and got cookies and drinks, and then scooted on home, stopping by the hardware store to buy a lock for the Budget truck, and then proceeded with family dinner plans--we made sure to make lots of those before the big move :)

Buck fired up the grill and cooked everyone delicious steaks along with sausages, sweet corn, mac & cheese, buttered bread, watermelon & berries. Thankfully he finished the prep when he did, because seemingly out of nowhere—on a day when there was “no severe weather” in the forecast—golf ball sized hail started plummeting from the sky! Chase said he’d never seen it fall like that before. All the cars, especially Noah’s, got mushed. His had a big circular crack in the windshield like someone hit a baseball line drive into it. Ughhhhhh!! Chase’s car was under a tree, so he picked up some hail and threw some extra at his own car in solidarity :) But really, only my van was spared, as it was in the garage. The house has several chunks missing from the siding, and I’m sure we’re going to need a new roof. There was not much we could do about it, though. We were heading out the next morning, and the insurance offices were already closed.

Like frozen eggs falling from the sky--I'm not sure if the chickens were worried or impressed! :)

Settling In

In the morning, the bug-bombed moving truck needed to be aired out, the vehicle titles needed to be found, the seven vehicles (not counting Mr. Budget) needed to be rearranged in the driveway and throughout the neighborhood while being packed with last minute items like massive boxes of plants, electronics, clothing, luggage, a dog kennel, snacks, etc. etc. etc.—and it was trash and recycling day, which means we were dodging those big rigs, too. Whew!! And my van was out of gas. And there was a barefoot lady wandering aimlessly into traffic at the top of a hill t-intersection where we didn’t have a stop sign. Gah!

But we got successfully on our way and made it to the hotel pretty uneventfully. Just out the window (we could read the drive thru menu if we squinted just right) was a Steak n’ Shake. Buck and I decided to walk across the parking lot to eat there, while the kids decided to drive to a Chipotle. It was like a date night—something we haven’t had in who knows how long. Kind of a desperate attempt, but certainly solitary. There weren’t even people to take our order, it was all done on a kiosk. Eventually a voice called quietly from some remote part of the kitchen, “Buck.” And there was our food. Huh.

Up in the morning at the hotel, we sort of realized that we needed to get moving earlier than the earlier we’d figured out earlier. Because I was the only one driving solo with an open seat, I was going to slingshot around Buck near the airport and meet Gabby when we got close enough. But we got off to a bumpy start when a rainy morning and a large landscaping rock put a thump in our moving truck’s progress. Farm and Fleet took a sledgehammer to the problem, and--with a subsequent full tank of gas--we were back on the road (thankfully this all happened basically at and next to the hotel), but behind the Crew. They got far enough ahead of us that we decided they would go together to get Gabby, while I continued to stick with Buck and the truck, and Daisy baby, too. Teamwork makes the moving dream work!

So that was like 8 a.m. to 3 or 4 p.m. with the time change mixed in; the kids got to the apartment a bit ahead of us even with the key pick up. Caelan was understandably disappointed with the apartment’s size and cleanliness, but after a few legitimate tears she chose to see the potential and jumped into making it beautiful. Gabby and I ran to Dollar General along with ONE MILLION high school students who were doing a Young Life summer camp—oh my golly!! Amidst their happy chaos we bought bright, daylight bulbs to lift the yellow gloom of the apartment and bug bombs to mediate the various crawly/fly-y things. I don’t know if our AA batteries or Noah’s YouTube tutorial got the air-conditioner working, but we were knocking out the discomforts one by one!

Also, we were all hungry—hotel breakfast doesn’t go far, especially when you choose not to eat it, lol We shuttled the carloads of plants to the very near (wow!) VRBO, dropped off our bags, and decided to fellowship over a meal. The newlyweds treated us to a delicious pizza place in town (their cheesy breadsticks—chef’s kiss, as Gabby might mime :)—we sat outside, so Daisy could join us. Cute setting, overly-familiar/friendly staff (?? we’re trying to categorize the culture :), happy Daisy, eyes bigger than our stomachs, so hooray for leftovers! It was nice to sit down and regroup. It was nice to take in the green trees, the colorful flowers, the little creek mostly hidden nearby, and the rustic charm of the building behind us. It was nice to be together refreshing our bodies with food and our tired moods with cheerful conversation. There is so much to be thankful for!

Back at the apartment, some sidewalk weed removal and dancing took place while we waited for the apartment to air out from the bug bomb. Inside, the kitchen fridge was tippy, but it kept the pizza cold (once we remembered to bring it in from the car, ha!) Moving all the boxes in to get to the beds at the back of the truck became a priority as sleep time approached--a time both wanted and needed! The boys worked on reassembling the main bedroom furniture, while Gabby built the desk/murphy bed (that Caelan ordered months ago) from scratch—that was the first of her big projects!

The good news is all that hard work meant . . . everyone had a comfortable place to rest that night. Even G$, who opted to crash on the brown couch next to the giant kennel, Daisy, and a wall of boxes, rather than an air mattress in the VRBO kitchen. Brennen came back to the VRBO with us and snoozed on the couch bed. It’s a cute place, with lots of Jesus things on the walls and nice smells and soft textures. Good books, too! Not that we had time to read any :) Next time we visit perhaps. It could maybe use some more snacks, and a washing machine . . .

Our first full day in town was very full indeed! We met at the apartment and drove up to a cool breakfast/coffee shop inside one of the renovated 1800s buildings on the town’s main street. Fueled up, Buck, the girls, and I decided to visit the local grocery store which was part of the gas station—they have Dolly Parton cake mix, frosting, pancake mix, etc. there. I find that odd. No one else seems to. Lol. Anyway, we looked at prices, grabbed some drinks and snacks to go with leftover pizza lunch, then headed back to the apartment.

We did some more organizing and unpacking while the newlyweds went to turn in their move-in fix-it checklist (it’s kinda long) and to learn how to submit maintenance requests (for their air conditioner which drips in the bedroom and percolates in the closet and hums in the office and their water heater which pops when the shower runs . . .) Job security for maintenance or homecare learning opportunities for the newlyweds, I guess! They also got their gym passes and took care of some other on-campus business (I’m 99% sure it was this day, but I could be off by one).

I do know Caelan researched like crazy to find all the best renter-friendly products to maximize the storage space and aesthetic she and Noah hoped for in their new space. She totally nailed it! The boys helped moved the previous day’s impressive pile of boxes out of the way to create a sort of runway for wallpaper layout—the project Caelan most looked forward to completing. She and Gabby problem-solved through it like pros! The end result is suuuuuuper cute! Somehow Gabby still had the patience and steam to stick-tile the kitchen—a tedious and detailed effort that looks quite marvelous. I saw the same product being promoted on an HGTV renovation show the same night, so it must be legit : ) Not easy, but legit.

While I unpacked kitchen boxes, Buck worked on scrubbing out the bathroom with his drill and all the chemicals we bought at the store. It needed it. Badly. Noah took a run at the bathroom sink with the same items the next day. There have certainly been some apartmental updates over the years, but not all at once. So, there are some things that are still waiting their turn for retirement after maybe 20 plus years of good usage.

We also think they may have hard water—Noah tried using the kitchen sink sprayer and it WOULD NOT turn off! If it was a prank by Gabby, it could not have been pulled off more perfectly (it wasn’t :) The kitchen got a good floor wash, and it took Buck and a bag of tools to get the faucet to work properly again (the sprayer is still broken, but at least not showering the kitchen).

The days kind of run together, but this might have been the day the boys went to the auto parts store to get Caelan a new tail light for her car. And also perhaps the day Caelan’s over-the-toilet shelf arrived. G$ built that for her and she is delighted with it! Before, there was this off-centered, paint-splattered, golden-oak, mirrored medicine cabinet hung awkwardly above the toilet. I’ll spare you Graysen’s thoughts on that, lol! They kept it in case the college wants it reattached (stuck it up in a closet), but it really looks like dumpster furniture. The replacement piece is bright white and matches the sink cabinet and looks cute with the sunburst shower curtain Caelan selected. They did have to prop the new storage shelf up on some stilts, because the toilet is for giants, tall giants, but it all came together really well, yay team!

Hmmm, I might be off on a couple of events, because I just remembered this was the day I needed to log in for a work webinar. Buck and I went back to the VRBO; he took a nap while I took notes on the future of the blue-collar workforce. An hour later, I tuned in to my dear college friend’s dad’s funeral service. Sometimes technology is amazing, and I loved hearing her husband and boys’ stories about her quietly funny, gently courageous, God-loving dad. It’s hard losing your dad.

Well, soon Caelan wondered what we were thinking for dinner. I texted back a taco emoji. We knew there was a good Mexican restaurant in town from our previous visit. We walked over, Buck and G$ drove. The weather was so nice! The waiter joked with Buck when he asked if they had hot sauce that if they didn’t have hot sauce, they could not be a Mexican restaurant. He gave Buck the level 1 and told him there were two more levels of hot if he wanted to keep trying. Buck was happy with the flavor of level 1—so maybe next time :)

After dinner, the newlyweds offered to buy ice cream, so we walked (Buck and G$ drove) up to the local ice cream shop. Caelan wanted to show Gabby the campus, so we walked across the street with our treats. Buck and G$ headed back to the apartment, while we took our tour of the lake, helped a high school student with an Amazing Race challenge question, got to recognize some locals by sight, and meandered back to the apartment. 

Lots of cute houses with lots of different architectural styles, lots of interesting businesses and more empty storefronts with potential—Caelan’s got her mental wheels turning—it just feels safe and quiet. We met Buck and Daisy out for a walk of their own, coming to meet us on the other side of town. Fancy that, we know people here :)