Family Trips and getting back to life

We met family members at three different reunions last week - lotsa family!! It was fun and memorable, but always nice to get back to the cool mountains. Today we had a huge cloud burst that really cooled things down and was over in 3 minutes - it was fun while it lasted. The best news is that we have peas!! Our garden is producing well so far this year. We started to eat the first peas yesterday - they were divine! Someone commented that they were the candy of the garden - no wonder we like them so much! Our swiss chard is almost out of control, and the lettuce and radishes are almost going to seed as well. We've got to start giving stuff away. Our tomatoes all have flowers on them, but we really hope they'll hurry it up. I got up at 4:45 am today and went hiking. It's kind of fun with a head lamp cause you only see what's directly in front of you instead of watching ahead on the trail (add the increased fear of mountain lions and you've got some great adrenaline). We reached the top while I was still expecting several more twists and bends in the trail (yes - 'we' - there is actually someone crazy enough to go with me at that time of the day). Today I took the girls to play at the children's museum and in the water panning for gold again, and the girls actually found several nuggets. I'm not sure if they are authentic or not, it will be fun to see. Later we went to the library where a cellist played and did a story with music. The girls got to try to play a tiny cello and thought it was pretty neat - therefore pictures pending!