A little check in from Missouri-

the land of my childhood... where my family has all gathered to spend a couple of weeks together while my parents are visiting from Italy, where they now call home. Jae and Grant came down and so did the kids and I. Our husbands home in Michigan still working. I do miss Billy.

Here is my family... from top to bottom... Logan, Christine, my brother Mike, Caden (they all belong together - with Micha who is sitting by my mom) Then in the second row is my sister Jae, Madyline, Lynette (holding Sophia), Harrison and my brother Ken (who belongs with Lynette and Sophia). Last row that is a little crooked is Mom, Micha, Grant (you know him... he goes with Jae), Avery, trace, and then Dad.

It's been fun to give my kids memories of things I grew up with... catching crawdads with our bare fingers in the freezing cold, spring fed river. Harrison got quite good at it actually. Feeding rainbow trout at the hatchery and watching them all wrestle each other for that one tidbit of dried meal. Eating huge amounts of fried chicken on the picnic tables right next to the playground and the river. I spent hours as a kid on that exact soil... eating that exact meal. Hooray for tiny little Roaring River State Park. We do love you and all your moments.

Ah, memories are such beautiful things. We spent time climbing the falls (although I didn't let them share my memory of walking up into them!) . The kids scrambled up the rocks and threw stones into the churning water and explored guppy puddles (which hold more slime than guppies these days).

I'm back in the world of Dr. Pepper with Sonic Ice... and Sharon introduced me to Dr. Pepper slushies. I've only had one. I swear.

Tomorrow we drive up to KC for a few days, and then on to St. Louis to say goodbye to Mom and Dad when they fly back to Italy. But for now, I'm going to head over to the hotel real quick. Madyline has apparently taken that step into withdrawn teenager this week... I left her still sleeping two hours ago. I can't believe she is still asleep- which means she is watching foodnetwork and enjoying the silence.

Love to you all. I'll check in from KC.

Oh... Katie... reading list. I've just started a book called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingslover. I'm so amazed by it that I've gone online and bought it so I can read it slowly and truly savor what she has to say about her year of local eating. I wonder how my tomatoes are doing. Billy?