We've had house guests for 2 weeks. First my parents, Penny the dog and my sister, Lisa. Then Mom, Dad and Penny left leaving just Lisa. A few days later Lisa's husband, Larry, and dog, Libby, joined us. They left this morning. Don't get me wrong, I love house guests, especially now that we have a house. Visits from our Florida folks are what keep us going between our trips "home." But just writing the above rundown of guest-traffic was a little tiring so you can imagine what it was like to live it!

The best part of having out of towners is taking the opportunity to do "touristy" stuff. Last week we hit Lake Lure for a picnic and a little mountain air and visited Lazy 5 Ranch. The drive-thru safari left my Explorer full of animal pellets (the food!) and my face was sore from laughing at the kids' reaction to the up close experience...apparently emus can be very scary!

I'm sad to say that I didn't have my camera with me on either outing.