Between babies, (like Chappell Monroe born to Bill and Stacey) last week,

and Cousin Camp, things have been busy.

Add to that a birthday party for Kent and Natalie and a visit to Jonesboro
for Hattie's grad school orientation, visits with friends, Becky and Derrill
in Doniphan for the weekend, and just regular family things, and life
is full.

Oh, and the plants are growing like crazy.  The peonies are reaching the end
of their furious and marvelous blooming, the irises are beginning to fade,
the lightning bugs are just beginning to be glorious, and the frogs are as
maniacal as they have ever been.

We learned last weekend that Kent's mother, Oma, has a half-sister named
Barbara who is 83 and lives in Chicago.  Oma and her sister are planning on
meeting somewhere in between Chicago and St. Louis in the not-too-distant
future.

Ancestry.com did it again!  Bill posted a picture of Oma's father, Addison, who
deserted Oma and her mother when she was a young child.  Oma never saw him
again.  He then had a daughter (born in St. Louis) by a young teenage girl.  That
daughter was left in an orphanage in Indiana.  Unlike Oma, that daughter did see
her dad from time to time, and her 6 children remember him visiting once a year
and giving each of them a dollar bill and a box of whatever he was selling at the
time.

One of the grandchildren recognized the picture that Bill had posted and she
contacted Bill, and now Kent has a half-aunt and six half-cousins that we never
knew about.

Mike and Deb are headed to Florida in a couple of days to get their furniture.
Fernnook Lodge is not really move-in ready yet, but they are bringing their
things up here anyway.

And, dad's AC went out tonight.  We were all sitting around the deck when it
began to make some very suspicious noises and went a bit beserk.  Dad has
the emergency guys coming soon (hopefully at least).

Kathleen was here the other day and it was hot and she wanted to play outside
in the sprinkler.

K--Grandma, can we play in the sprinkler?

G--No, I don't have extra clothes for you.

K--You could take us to get some clothes.

G--No, I am too busy now.

K--Grandpa could take us to get clothes while you stay  here and work.

G--No, Grandpa is too busy.

K--Hattie could take us to get clothes while you and Grandpa stay here
and work.

G--Kathleen, you sure have a lot of ideas.

K--I have to have a lot of ideas; you keep saying, "No!"