Recap of the family visit

My parents left after church yesterday to head home. It was a fun visit, and we did quite a bit while they were here: toured around town, did some projects around the house, and, of course, did a lot of eating and talking. Here’s the overall recap: - Our lawn is now making a full recovery. It must have sensed it was in the presence of gardeners because it’s starting to look greener and less like the scruffy mess that it was before. - We discovered that the locals here are extremely friendly and helpful. When we got lost looking for a place we later realized that doesn’t exist (despite what the internet said), we stopped at a gas station and had no less than 3 people helping on our behalf. One man went out to the parking lot to ask his dad, another called his wife on his cell phone, and the clerk found a map for us. Score one for the locals. (Although my sense of direction scores no points for this one.) - My sense of direction also earns no points for being unable to find the recycling center, despite two separate attempts. We finally realized that driving aimlessly and wasting gas canceled out the potential benefits of recycling the 2 cans, the glass jar, and 3 newspapers in my trunk. - Husband figured out where I get my aggressive stance against bugs. My mom pushes bug spray the same way I do, as if our lives depended on ridding the bugs forever - or on a generous commission from the sale of bug spray. - Three uninvited guests crashed our family gathering: two scorpions and one black widow spider. The black widow was outside, and the two scorpions snuck in the house somehow. But all met the same fate – death by a large, blunt object in Husband’s hands. If he hadn’t intervened, my mom and I were ready (not surprisingly) with bug spray. - The old dishwasher-that-overflowed-and-ruined-the-carpet story (from a family visit a few years ago) never gets old, and it’s retold at every subsequent family gathering, including this one. - Family visits make for a great excuse to have an ice cream dessert after every dinner. It was a great time, and I was sad to see my parents go. I guess I’ll have to eat ice cream for dessert this week in their honor.