Running here, there, and everywhere!

Good morning, everyone!  (Or afternoon or evening, depending when you are visiting!)

First of all, a bread update for everyone.  This week's loaf is he best yet.  It rose wayyy up and filled the whole pan and is delicious!  Huzzah!  Now I need to work on texture.  It's not quite as deliciously chewy as I would like.  Perhaps I'm not doing something quite right, or perhaps this recipe simply does not make chewy bread . I thought the problem might be that I didn't knead it long enough, so I set a timer for 10 minutes.  After about 5 I was thinking "Oh!  This is never going to end!"  lol  I managed to knead the dough for about 8 minutes and figured that my arms falling off would be a worse consequence than having not-quite-as-chewy-as-I'd-like bread.  It makes excellent toast.

Anywhoo...


In addition to bread making, we've had quite a lot going on.

We went camping this past weekend, along with my in-laws.  My husband's twin brother, wife, and daughter came on Saturday afternoon and stayed Saturday night.  The weather was less than perfect, but we managed to have a good time, anyway.


We arrived Friday afternoon around 4:00 and quickly set up camp, as it appeared that it might start raining at any time.  Sure enough, 15 minutes after we had the tent up, along came the rain!  It continued to rain all night.

When we woke up on Saturday, we noticed the rain seemed to have slowed down a bit.  Hubby and I took a relaxing walk around the lake (there is a lovely paved path that encircles the lake) and came back to see if anyone else had woken up.  Nope!  We decided to go back in the tent and rest awhile longer since neither of us had slept very well and it was early. (I think we got back to the site around 6:45 am) We awoke about an hour later, and once again it was raining pretty hard.

 It rained until about 2:30 and then started to get nice.  Hurray! 

       Check out the blue sky view from the tent! 

The rest of Saturday, we went on a short hike, enjoyed spending time with our niece, Abigail, and had a campfire/weenie roast.  

Sunday dawned warm and sunny...


                            Good morning! 

  We started tearing down camp and in between eating meals and taking breaks/chatting with one another, we made it out of the campgrounds right at 3:00.  The nice think about camping in a PA State Park is that they offer such a late checkout.  You can stay and enjoy lunch on your last day and still have plenty of time to tear down and pack up. 

It was a nice weekend, all in all, despite the unfavorable weather conditions Friday and Saturday.

On a sadder note, Scott's grandmother, Beverly, has taken a turn for the worse and has been admitted into Hospice care.  She has cancer in several organs and does not wish to pursue treatment.  Please keep my hubby and his family in your prayers as this is a difficult time.