Hobbit-ish Potpurri: Vacation & Bloggity Summer Camp Edition

Howdy Humble Readers...

The Gamgee clan is home from K-town and we're all feeling the effects of the day after vacation.  I'm just a slug today, Ginny has been fussing pretty much non-stop (although that could be at least partly attributed to teething, too), and my poor Beloved is back at work.  We drove 11 hours yesterday, and Ginny did pretty well for about 2/3 of the trip.  My shoulder is killing me today from having to reach back into the back seat to let her hang on to or suck my finger for 3+ hours.

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Before I give you all a run down of our vacation or answer today's Summer Camp question, I have to put this out there.  Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows, Part 2.  If you haven't seen it yet, kindly skip down to the next section, 'kay?  I need to give my opinion...   Honestly, I was disappointed.  Yes, I cried... twice.  One of which was a point where I have never cried while reading the book.  Once for Snape and once for Harry.  The best I can say about the movie is that it was good... but it could have been so much better.  I really feel that they sacrificed important parts of the story in order to add in big over the top battle scenes.  If you've seen it, what did you think?

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Calliope, at Creating Motherhood, our fearless camp director has asked today, "What did you want to be when you grew up? Why and/or how did that change over time?"  Hmmmm... good one.  I'm not sure about when I was very little, but I distinctly recall wanting to be an astronaut or a sculptor when I was nine.  Both of those things faded as I learned that my artwork never turned out as I imagined it in my head, and as I lost ability/interest in math and science that would be essential to an astronaut.  It was shortly after I moved on from elementary school that the desire to write began to take root in my mind and heart.  I still hope to some day grow up to be a writer.

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Vacation was great... busy but great.  Ginny did amazingly well on the journey out to K-town, and we were very intentional about stopping often to let her out of the car seat.  The week was spent visiting family, hanging out on the deck drinking wine with my Mom, watching all the kids in the pool, and enjoying a lot of good food.  Mom's potato salad, Mom & I made ribs, and we had a meal of things from my favourite butcher shop (steak, stuffed mushrooms & zucchini, twice baked taters).  We visited G.G. (my grandma) in the nursing home and saw a few of my favourite home-type places.  Went to a couple of movies, did some shopping... and my ever adventurous Beloved spent a couple of days helping my Dad and BIL with some renovation work on Mom & Dad's house.  Ginny went in the pool for the first time, which met with mixed reviews from the wee girl.  And we got portraits taken of all four of the grandkids together.  Like I said... busy!  Pics will be posted in a couple of days with Ginny's 8 month update.

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I'm excited about this week's 'On the Nightstand' post.  I've read some great books in the last couple of weeks and I can't wait to share them with you.