Serving up some guilt and photos

We're in Knoxville, TN tonight and have a big day tomorrow but I wanted to post a few pics for those of you who may not have seen the kids in awhile (like my parents who decided that taking off for 4 months to Alaska, while both their children and all of their grandchildren moved either out of state or out of the country, was a good idea). Okay, dad's probably chuckling a bit after reading that and mom has just been hit with an incredible wave of mother guilt. And mother guilt just sucks so let me just clarify by saying that I harbor no bad feelings toward them about their ill-timed trip. I'm a big girl now and can handle things on my own... unlike when I was accepted into a high school honors program for a summer at UC Davis and had to drive myself to a new town while my parents were off on some vacation somewhere, and there was a family picnic held the first day for the students and their parents but I just stayed in my dorm room.... That's enough, right? Suffice it to say that I'm chock full of character.

Here are the pics to leave you with a smile, Mom.

This first pic requires some explanation: While in Memphis Clara insisted on holding Sam's hand and riding next to him. We weren't able to capture the true sweetness of the event on camera, though.