All alone.

I had a very, very enjoyable time with my daughter, Leigh and her (almost) 2-1/2 yr old son, Benjamin.  They left this morning after a 2 week stay.  It was Leigh's first summer visit to this area and I think she was pleasantly surprised.  She got to do some hiking along with the other activities of vacationers.  I think she took 400+ pictures and was quite lucky in her wildlife spotting.  Benjamin was a hoot!  It was amazing the English vocabulary he gained while here.   Not only does he know farming lingo, he also can say and identify "scat" on the trails.  I enjoyed learning German from him.  He is definitely bi-lingual and never rolls his eyes when I mispronounce a German word.  

The idea is to see things close up, but he preferred to look through these backwards.

Perfecting that tourist look. 

 By Jenny Lake in GTNP

Leigh's favorite place to shop while in the valley is the local thrift shop that benefits the hospital.  We brought home lots of toys for Benjamin to use while here.  Yesterday, we returned them to be resold.

So they are winging their way towards Georgia and a visit with sister Brooke and her family.   Husband/Papa, Rene is also in the sky flying from the other side of the world to meet them there.  After seeing friends in SC, they will have a visit to the beach then they will return home to Germany before a 5 month stay in India.

Since Leigh moved to Germany I have actually seen her about every six months.  Far more than I expected.  But we've both got other committments and plans this coming year and I think it is going to be much longer than that before our next visit.