We have started the countdown

Sage greeting his grandpa at the Adelaide airport in 2008

Samantha has made a count down sheet for their Sydney and Iowa trip.  We on the Iowa side are counting the day too!!!  Since today is the 19th and they land at 10 in the evening on the 28, we will just have to count 10 whole days.  Ten days to wait.  Ten days to clean house, cook a couple of meals to put in the freezer, buy groceries, pick up bikes for the kids to ride from a friend, iron the pile of clothing in the guest room, clean some more, work on 4-H projects with Kelsey and Hannah, garden a bit, and maybe clean the windows that have not got their spring cleaning yet.  Plus there is office work that must not be neglected because once they come it surely will be in the "only do what absolutely must be done mode".  We also have a couple of small projects to do for some fun activities while the kids are here.

Idea one is to watch the corn grow.  Warren and I will plant a stick in the grown beside the corn field.  On the first day the kids are here we will measure the kids and the corn.  Every day or so we will again measure the corn.
The kids want to plant or harvest from the garden.  We may go to the strawberry farm if it is still open.  The raspberries are just starting so they can help pick berries.  I will have them plant something and then send updates on the growth. Do you suppose they want to learn how to weed?

Samantha Christmas January 2009 

Hannah and I will make homemade marshmallows.  They are fantastic roasted.  We will introduce Samantha and Sage to s'mores.  Aussie's do not have graham crackers and their marshmallows are way different.  They do have Tim Tams which almost makes up for the lack of graham crackers and marshmallows.