The backpackers came home on Saturday, and Henry had a great time (despite getting his first bee sting). Jack said it was pretty fun, but he didn't get to explore on his own (bears), so "that sucked". Hannah is having a pretty hard time with homesickness. Plus, she saw a big snake and stepped in Jack's barf while hiking. We're trying to figure out how to make the next week go quicker for her. Mitch gave a terse, "no comment" on how the trip went, so I'm going to say that it was, at best, memorable.

Yesterday, we went and saw the tall ships docked at the red wharf. The Lady Washington was there. It was one of the ships used in the filming of the Pirates of the Carribbean. The Captain said we weren't allowed to lick the deck where Johnny and Orlando stood. Like I, um, even would! Later, Mitch set up the archery range so we took turns firing arrows over the target and into the pile of stinging nettles behind it.

Our dishwasher has a little leak, so somehow that translates into us needing a new dishwasher, and we might as well get stainless steel, and if we get stainless steel, we have to replace the range, refrigerator, and microwave, and if we do that, we can't keep these crappy laminate countertops, we'd better get granite, so, sorry kids, I guess you will be keeping crooked teeth. As you can see, negotiations are still in the works. Six bucks for a new line to the dishwasher or $10,000 to spruce up the kitchen. "Which will more than pay for itself when we sell, blah, blah, blah."