My husband Steven and our son Alex and I were walking into the house after an afternoon visit with Steven’s brother and his family.

“I love visiting Liz and Donny!” I dropped the two packages of parsley seeds on the coffee table. “I feel like Donny’s our own family horticulturist.” I was still nibbling on the blade of garlic chive I’d broken off one of their plants. “I’m feeling inspired!”

Steven started to laugh as he began turning on the lights in the living room. “Exactly what are you inspired to do?”

“Plant a full herb garden next year!” I picked up the parsley seeds. “And I’ll start with these.” I began looking at the back of the packet. “Wow, I can’t find anything written in English on here.” I raised my eyebrows as I looked back at Steven. “That must mean they’re really good!” I looked again. “Oh, wait there’s some English next to the United Kingdom flag.”

I handed the packet to Steven. He looked at the packet, nodded his conformation, then handed it back to me.

“I also want to get some of this garlic chive.” I looked over at Alex holding up the blade that was still in my hand. “Did you taste any of this?”

Alex shook his head. “Not a fan of garlic.”

I sighed. “Oh yeah.” I shrugged my shoulders. “We’ll get regular chives and garlic chives!” I went over to the kitchen window and looked out on our deck. The sun was just beginning to set as I pointed to a few pots still out there. “I still have some mint and some parsley that I’d gotten for the monarch butterflies a few months ago.”

Steven stood next to me and looked out the window. “What happened to the pot basil we had?”

I looked over at him and shrugged my shoulders. “Well, the basil started out strong but then I kind of forgot to water it.”

Steven shook his head as he went over to the cabinet to get a glass then went to the refrigerator to fill it with water. “I’m not feeling much hope for this herb garden next year.”

I ignored him and asked, “What was the name of that vine that Donny pulled those little tiny berries from. Remember it tasted just like kiwi?”

“I think it was actually called a kiwi vine.”

I snorted a little laugh. “Well, that’s appropriate.” I looked over at Alex again. “I don’t think you got one, but they were delicious!” I looked back at Steven. “How about we get one of those too!” I pointed to the side of the yard where our cyclone fence was. “We can plant it over there. We could cover up the ugly fence and have delicious fruit at the same time!”

Steven looked confused. “Didn’t Donny say the birds got to them before he got a chance to pick any of them?”

“Well, maybe we’ll have better luck.”

Steven raised his eyebrows, a surprised look on his face. “Donny works in his garden every day and you can’t remember to water your basil.” Steven took a drink of water then shook his head. “Who do you think has a better chance of beating the birds to a harvest.” Steven place his glass in the sink and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.

I looked over at Alex. “Well, at least your Uncle Donny has faith in me.”

Alex came over and patted me on the shoulder. “I have faith in you, too.”

I couldn’t help but smile as I looked back at Steven then walked over to the coffee table, picked up the packet of seeds and started shaking them. “Just you wait and see! It’s going to be awesome!”

“Don’t forget your water bottles!” my son Alex called from the kitchen as I was headed out the front door for work.

“Oh, for the love of…” I put my bags down and went back to the kitchen to pick up my two insulated water bottles from the counter. “I just finished filling them too!”

“Maybe you should slow down.” Alex looked at the clock on the stove. “You’re not late are you?”

“No.” I sighed. “I just feel like I have so much stuff to bring to work everyday!” I tucked the water bottles under my arm and went to get my bags. “You know when I was a kid no one walked around carrying water bottles.” Alex had followed me to the front hall as I reached down and scooped up my bags. “When did everyone get so obsessed with keeping hydrated?”
Alex laughed. “You never drank water when you were a kid?”

I adjusted the water bottles under my arm as I reached for the door knob. “Not like this. When you were playing outside, if you got thirsty, you took a sip from the garden hose.”

Alex looked surprised. “Did you really drink from a hose?”

I laughed as I put the water bottles on the side table and readjusted my two shoulder bags then reached for my lunch bag.

“Here, let me help you.” Alex took the water bottles and lunch bag and we headed out the door together. “Well?”

“Well, what?” I took my keys out of my purse and tapped the key fob to unlock the car.

“Did you really drink from a garden hose?”

“Yuck, no!” I tossed my bags in the back seat. “I didn’t, but a lot of kids did.”

“That’s gross.” He handed me the water bottles and I tossed them on the front seat. “I thought so, too. When I was a kid when you got thirsty you went in and got a drink! It was easy.”

“But once you’re thirsty you’re already dehydrated.” he reminded me.

“Well we didn’t know that then.” I climbed in the car, tossing my lunch bag on the floor. “Besides it never seemed to bother you when you were younger. I never packed water bottles for you when you went to school.”

“That’s because we all used the water fountains in school.”

I looked over at him with a horrified look on my face. “Oh, my gosh! You did?”

“Of course we did.” Alex shook his head and laughed. “I can still taste the water in school, it always had that nice hint of lead when you drank it.”

“Those things were filthy!” I cringed as I thought about it. “Every kid in school sticking their mouths on it!”

Alex reached in the door and patted me on the shoulder. “So that’s the reason why all the kids are bringing water bottles to school now.”

“Oh man, I’m so sorry.” I shook my head. “But no one was talking about staying hydrated when you were little.”

“I forgive you.” He stepped back so I could close the door. He tapped the roof of the car as I started to pull out of the driveway. “Stay hydrated!”

My son Alex came into the kitchen as I was busy beating some eggs in a bowl.

“Oh, good! You’re up!” I held out the bowl for him to see. “Do you want some eggs for breakfast?” I went over to the sink to peek inside the watering can I was filling to see if the water had reached the top before I turned off the water.

Going back over to the stove I pushed the basket of dirty laundry out of the way with my foot before looking over at him to get his answer.

“Um.” He was looking around the kitchen where the dishwasher door was open and the clean dishes were halfway put away. “Sure.” He went over to get a cup out of the cabinet.

I reached over to grab another egg from the carton, cracked it into the bowl and began scrambling the mixture some more.

“I’m glad you’re up!” I poured the eggs into the pan before reaching down to scoop up the laundry basket. “Can you watch the eggs while I start a load of laundry?”

“Okay.” He picked up the spatula next the the pan and stood ready.

“Great! I’ll be right back!” I went downstairs to start the first load of the day.

A few minutes later I was back and took the spatula out of his hand. “Do you want to pour us some orange juice?”

I reached over to push down the toast that was already waiting in the toaster.

“Are you okay?” he asked as he went over to the refrigerator to take out the orange juice.

“Sure, why?” I reached into the dishwasher and put two glasses on the counter for him.

“You seem…” he seemed to be searching for the right word. “Busy.”

“Hey, I’ve got a lot to get done.” I reached back into the dishwasher to pull out two plates for the eggs. “Oh, wait!” I looked over at him. “Did you want cheese on your eggs?” I was headed to the refrigerator.

Alex caught me by the arm. “I’m good. I don’t need cheese.”

“Oh, okay.” I went back to the stove just as the toast popped up from the toaster. Grabbing the toast I quickly tossed the slices on the plates. “Ouch.” I quickly began waving my hand. “That was a little bit too hot.”

Alex was shaking his head as he went over to the table carrying the two glasses of orange juice. “You’ve got to slow down.” He put the glasses down and turned around to see me holding my tea cup and drinking the last of my tea.

“Wait a minute!” Alex was still shaking his head.

“What?” I picked up the plates with the eggs and toast on them and brought them over to the table.

“How many cups of tea have you had this morning?”

I put the plates down and shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know. Two or maybe it was three.” I went over to the refrigerator. “Do you want butter or jelly on your toast?”

“Oh, it was definitely three!” Alex started to laugh. “I’ll take butter, please.”

I reached in the refrigerator and took out the butter.

“What do you mean it was definitely three?” I was headed back to the table when I walked past the sink to see the filled watering can sitting there. “Oh man!” I handed Alex the butter. “I’ve got to get the mums watered.” I grabbed the watering can and headed for the back door. “They’re starting to get droopy and mums aren’t as forgiving as some other plants.” I opened the door and looked over at Alex. “I’ll be right back. Start eating without me!”

As I walked out the door I could hear Alex saying, “Oh, it was definitely three.”

I was sitting in a chair in our living room across from my son Alex who was laying on the couch.

“Do you remember when we were in the woods yesterday and that chipmunk was talking to us?” I asked him.

Alex laughed. “You mean the one where you were saying, ‘Hey little buddy you seem a little upset’ to him?” He had tried to imitate my voice.

“Yeah. That’s the one!” I had to laugh at his imitation. “We were only a few feet apart and we even made eye contact!” I sighed. “I thought maybe he was upset that the acorns are so big this year and he was having trouble getting them into his little cheek pouches.”

Alex shook his head as he sighed. “Okay. What ever you say.”

“Well, I just found a video that you can hear their different calls.” I held my phone up and hit start.

We listened to the first call. I hit stop. “That one’s called a chip-trill.”

“Nope. It wasn’t that one.” Alex said as he adjusted the pillow under his head.

I nodded. “I agree.” I hit the play button again. We listened to the next one.

After the call was done I hit stop. “That one’s called chipping.”

Alex shook his head again. “Nope. Not that one either.”

I hit the play button again. This time we heard an agitated, quick and deep sound.

“That’s it!” I cried.

“Yup.” Alex was nodding his head. “So what does that one mean?”

I looked at my phone. “It’s called chucking. They make that call when they’re facing an aerial predator.” I couldn’t help but frown as I looked over at Alex. “We weren’t predators!”

“We were to him.” Alex had to laugh. “So, while you’re trying to have a long conversation with him what he was actually telling you was he wanted both of us to get lost!”

I sighed. “Well, live and learn.” I put the phone down on the arm of the chair. “Well at least I’ve learned a second language.”

My husband Steven had just come into the room. “You’re learning a second language too?” He sounded surprised. “I’ve been doing an online class, learning Spanish.”

I smiled as I held up the phone. “I’ve already mastered my second language, chipmunk!”

Steven rolled his eyes as he shook his head. “Oh, you were having one of those conversations.” He continued into the kitchen.

“Hey, I’ve had learning a second language on my ‘bucket list’ for some time now.” I called out to him. “And BOOM! I can take that one off my list!” I dropped the phone back on the arm rest of my chair.

I looked over at Alex who was slowly just shaking his head.

“Hey, what can I say.” I sighed as I leaned back in my chair. “At my age it’s just easier to learn animal and bird languages than it is to learn human.”

My husband Steven and our son Alex and I were walking down the path of one of our favorite parks when I spotted what looked like a small tree.

“I bet you that’s a black walnut tree.” I said as I walked off the path to get a better look.

“Nope.” Steven said. “It looks like a locust tree to me.”

I looked over at Alex. “What do you think?”

“I think you should look it up on your app.”

I smiled. “Good answer.”

I pulled out my phone. “Ever since I downloaded this app I’m obsessed with names of plants!”

I got closer to the tree and snapped the picture. As I walked back to the path I watched as the dial spun around ticking away as it tried to identify the plant.

“So…” Steven said.

I made a small gasp as the picture popped up on the screen. “It’s poison sumac!” I turned the phone around for them to see.

“Really?” Alex took a closer look. “Did you touch the plant?”

“I don’t know!” Just then my nose got itchy. I went to itch with the sleeve of my shirt when I stopped. “Did either of you see me brush against it?”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “I really wasn’t watching you.”

Steven shook his head. “I wasn’t either.”

“Great.” I went over and itched my nose against Steven’s sleeve.

“Hey!”

“Well, I can’t use mine!” I cried. “I don’t know if I touched it.”

“How bad can it be?” Alex asked.

“Poison sumac is worse than poison ivy and poison oak!” I looked around. “Why would a park let poison sumac grow!”

Steven laughed. “I’m pretty sure they’re not planting it. It just popped up.”

I looked down at my hands, still holding my phone. “Does anyone have any hand sanitizer?”

“Why would we bring hand sanitizer on a walk?”

“I don’t know.” I cried. “I just don’t want to get poison sumac!”

We began to walk again.

Steven looked over at me and saw that I was walking with my hands held away from my body still holding my phone. “Are you planning on walking like that for the rest of our walk?”

“Yup!” I could feel another itch coming on my forehead this time.

“Okay.” Alex turned around. “Let’s just go back to the car so you can use the hand sanitizer and we can go back to having a nice walk without you being so upset.”

Steven turned around with Alex.

“Thanks guys.” I sighed. “I was trying not to make a big deal out of this but…” I shrugged my shoulders. “It’s poison sumac.”

Alex started to laugh. “Walking like you’re in a zombie movie is definitely not making a big deal out of it.”

I looked over at Alex and gave him a withering look. “Poison sumac.”

I leaned closer to Steven. “Can you reach in my pocket and grab the keys? I don’t want…”

“I know.” Steven said as he got the keys out of my pocket. “Poison sumac.”

“Thanks guys.” I gave a small sigh. “Five minutes from now we’ll be back to a normal walk. I promise.”

Alex shook his head. “At least what’s normal for us.”

“Hey, Alex!” I called to my son. “You want to take a quick trip to the beach?” I was just finishing loading the dishwasher with all the dinner dishes.

Alex came out of his room, looking at his phone. “Sure. We have another hour before it gets dark.”

“Great!” I dropped the detergent pod in the slot, closed the door and turned it on. “Let me grab my keys and I’m ready to go!”

As we were driving to the beach we had our windows down enjoying the sounds of the cicadas buzzing their summer song.

“I’m going to miss that sound.” I sighed.

“What sound?”

“The cicadas, I just love that buzz.” I sighed again. “It’s so summer.”

“But it’s still summer.” Alex laughed. “Why do you always do that?”

“What?”

“Rush the season away. Last week you were saying you couldn’t believe it was already fall!”

“Well it’s fall to me.” I shrugged my shoulders. “Once school starts it’s fall.”

“Fall doesn’t start for another few days.” he reached over and patted me on the shoulder. “Would you please just try to enjoy the last few days of it?”

I had to laugh. “I’ll try.”

We were pulling up to the parking lot at the beach. As I climbed out of the car holding my sweatshirt I could feel a warm breeze blowing. “Hey, I’m not even going to need this!” I tossed the sweatshirt back in the car and locked the doors.

As we were walking to the beach I couldn’t help but stop and slowly inhale. “I just love the smell of the ocean.”

Alex nodded. “It is nice down here tonight.”

We walked along the path through the sand dunes. Once we were through the dunes Alex and I quickly scanned up and down the beach.

“I can’t believe more people aren’t down here.” Alex noticed. “It’s beautiful out.”

“Shhh…” I looked over at him. “It’s local summer.” I whispered. “It’s our turn to enjoy the beach.”

Alex laughed. “I’m pretty sure it’s not a secret that it’s nice down here this time of year.”

I shrugged my shoulders again as we got closer to the shoreline and sat down on the sand. “I have no idea why more people aren’t here.” I looked over at Alex smiled. “But I love it!”

I reached down and picked up a seashell that was partially buried in the sand and held it out for him to see. “Not as good as the ones you usually find but it’s still pretty nice.”

Alex nodded as I slipped it in my pocket. We both got quiet as we listened to the waves crashing against the shoreline and the seagulls squawking to one another as they ran around the sand looking for food.

I took another deep breath. “I really do love it here.”

“Yeah, me too.” Alex reached over and patted me on the shoulder. “I’m glad to see you’re still enjoying your summer.”

“At least for a few more days.” I nodded my head and looked over at him. “Maybe we’ll even have a really nice Indian summer this year!”

“See, that’s a better way to think!”

We listened to the waves for a few more minutes.

“But I still have to go back to school again tomorrow.” I grumbled.

“And the real you is back!” Alex laughed.

I just finished making lunch and handed my husband Steven a plate with a turkey and swiss sandwich on it. I gave my son Alex his plate and grabbed mine as we all headed into the dining room.

Once we were seated I looked over at Steven and proudly announced, “I stomped on a spotted lanternfly today while Alex and I were on a walk!”

Steven looked surprised. “You saw one?” He opened the jar of pickles, took one and handed me the jar.

I nodded as I put the pickle on my plate and passed the jar to Alex. “First one I’ve ever seen.”

Alex looked over at me. “I couldn’t believe you knew what it was.”

I shrugged my shoulders as I put my napkin on my lap. “Me either.” I looked back at Steven. “We were walking at the park when I looked down and saw this strange looking bug.” I looked over at Alex. “It was pretty big, wasn’t it?”

Alex nodded. “It was a big bug.” he agreed.

“Anyway, I thought it was a spotted lanternfly so I tried to stomp on it but it leap away.”

“Wait.” Alex sounded confused. “You thought it was a spotted lanternfly?”

“Well, I knew for sure it was one when it did its leap and I could see the red part on its inner wings.”

“So you were ready to stomp on a bug before you knew for sure?” Steven asked.

“But I missed.” I argued. “So it doesn’t count.” I reached over for the bag of potato chips and poured some on my plate. “Anyway once I was sure I stomped away.”

“Are you sure that’s what you’re suppose to do?” Alex asked as I handed him the bag.

“Yup.” I nodded my head. “I even called the park when I got home to let them know I saw one there.”

“What did they say?”

“That there’s been a few sightings but they’re such an invasive bug that they’re asking people to step on them when they do see them.” I looked over at Alex. “So I did my part for nature today.” I smiled as I took a bite from my chip.

“Exactly what is it that they’re eating?” Steven asked taking a slice of tomato from the plate to put on his sandwich.

“Well, they say they’re doing a lot of damage to different trees and crops.”

I looked over at Alex. “I know it seems a little counter-intutive to be out on a nature walk and then stomp on a bug.” I sighed.

“Well, if they’re damaging crops…” Alex said.

“Hey, when I heard one of the things they were going after was grapevines that was all I needed to know.” I looked back over at Alex. “I know when you hear grapevines you’re thinking of jelly.” I pointed my thumb to my chest. “But when I hear grapevines I immediately think about the wine industry and no bug is going to mess with that!”

Steven started to laugh. “Exactly.”

Alex just shook his head as I picked up my sandwich.

“Nope.” I was shaking my head, too. “Nobody is messing with that.”

I pulled my bathrobe a little tighter before I sat down on the couch and grabbed my laptop.

“Okay, let’s see if she sent me the link.” I said to myself as I opened my mail. Sure enough my sister, Liz had sent me the link to her church service.

I settled back in the cushions and reached for my cup of tea. Taking a sip I waited for the service to start.

When I’d visited my sister a few weeks back, I’d gone to a Sunday service with her. She was a member of the choir and I’d wanted to hear her sing. The last time I’d heard her sing was when she was living in New York and was one of the main soloists for a church on Lexington Ave. I’d try to go into the city a few times a year to hear her sing. But now that she’d moved to North Carolina I’d missed listening to her.

Well, I enjoyed the service so much that when I got home from my visit I began virtually attending church with her.

I took another sip of tea as I watched the choir file into the church. I could see the service was about to begin.

That’s when my son Alex came into the room. I put my finger to my lips and whispered. “I’m in church.”

Alex eyebrows went up and he started to laugh. “In your bathrobe?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “It’s not interactive. They can’t see me.” I watched as the congregation stood to sing the first anthem. I put my finger to my lips again. “Let me know if you can hear Aunt Lizzy when she sings?” I whispered.

This was one of the reasons I liked her church so much. They had a lot of music.

The anthem started and sure enough you could hear my sister as she sang. I looked over at Alex and smiled. “Do you hear her?”

Alex nodded as he headed into the kitchen to make some coffee.

I was humming along with the anthem, amazed at how many of the songs I’d recognized over the past few services.

Several minutes later it was time for the choir to sing. This was when the camera panned out and I could see my sister as she sung with the group. “Do you want to see Aunt Lizzy?” I called to Alex.

Alex came back into the living room. I moved the laptop so that he could see. “She’s right there!” I pointed to her.

“Yup. There she is.” He sat down on the other side of the couch.

That’s when my husband Steven came into the room. “Anyone interested in some breakfast?” he asked.

I put my finger to my lips and whispered. “Not right now. We’re in church.”

Alex looked over at me and shook his head. “I’m not in church.” He got up and headed to the kitchen. “And I’m definitely interested in some breakfast.”

“I’m making some eggs and sausage.” Steven followed Alex into the kitchen.

“Hey, can you save me some?” I called. “I’d like to have some when the service let’s out.”

Steven poked his head around the corner. “Why don’t I just bring you a plate and you can eat it while your watching?”

I cringed. “I don’t know. That seems kind of disrespectful.”

Steven started to laugh. “You’re curled up on the couch in your pajamas, talking through half the service!”

I cringed again. “You’re right.” I whispered as I adjusted the laptop. “I’ll make my own breakfast after the service.”

I had just walked into the laundry room, ready to switch a load of clothes from the washing machine to the dryer when I realized I was standing in a puddle of water in my bare feet.

“NOOOO!”

I could see that it wasn’t just a puddle but the entire floor was covered in a sudsy mess.

I quickly gathered the load of unwashed towels that was supposed to go into the washer and began mopping up the mess.

Moments later my son Alex was standing in the doorway. “What’s wrong?”

“The washer broke!” I wasn’t making much progress with the towels.

Alex looked over his shoulder. “It’s wet out here too.”

“What?” I came to the doorway and looked past him. I could see the water had seeped under one of the area rugs which was now soaked. “Oh, for the love of…” I grabbed my phone and called my husband Steven. He picked up on the second ring.

“Morning! How’s your day going?” he asked.

“It’s a disaster!” I cried. “The washing machine broke and there’s water everywhere!”

“Calm down. I’ll send one of my guys over to see how bad it is.”

“It’s bad!” I was looking around the laundry room for anything else that would sop up the mess.

“Don’t worry. Someone will be there within the hour.” His voice was calming me down.

“Okay, thanks.”

“What I need you to do now is call the appliance store and see if they have any washing machines in stock.”

“What?” That made me stop in my tracks. “What do you mean if?”

“A lot of my clients are having trouble getting appliances because of Covid. Everything is backed up.”

“No, no, no, no!” I was shaking my head and looked over at Alex who had a look of concern on his face.

“I’ll send you my contact at the appliance store. Just give them a call.”

I hung up the phone and looked at Alex. “We’re doomed.”

Alex laughed. “What did Dad say?”

“That there might not be any washing machines available right now.”

Alex eyebrows went up. “That’s not good.”

“Nope.” Just then my phone dinged. It was Steven’s contact number at the appliance store.

I took a deep breath and dialed. When I got his contact on the phone I explained my plight.

I could hear him sigh. “Well…”

“I’ll take anything!” I cried. “I just want something that washes clothes. I don’t need anything fancy. In fact I prefer low end, less things that can go wrong.”

“Oh, well we do have a few machines like that still in the showroom.”

“Perfect! I’ll be right over!” I looked over at Alex. “We’re in luck!”

Alex laughed. “So I hear.” He pushed a wet towel with his foot moving it closer to the middle of the puddle. “Good thing you like things low end.”

“Hey,” I looked around the laundry room. “What do I care what the washing machine looks like.” I began dropping some of the soaking wet towels into a laundry basket. “It’s not like I’m going to be bringing anyone down here to entertain.”

Alex nodded his head. “True.”

“Besides your Dad loves my frugal side.” I smiled as I shrugged my shoulders. “So it’s a win-win for everyone!”

“Okay, I’m going!” I called to my husband Steven. I’d just hung up the phone with my sister Liz, who now lived in North Carolina.

I was sitting in the living room when Steven popped his head around the corner from the kitchen. “I thought you said you couldn’t go.”

“I didn’t think I could.” I got up from the couch and headed to the kitchen. “But Liz’s friend Rita is driving down and it seems like a no brainier to join her.”

Steven nodded his head. “So, when are you leaving?”

“Day after tomorrow.” I leaned against the counter-top crossing my legs at the ankles.

“How long are you going to be gone?”

“A whole week!” I began ticking off, on my fingers, all the things I needed to get done before I left. “I need to water all the plants, change the hummingbird feeders, get all the laundry caught up, figure out what clothes I need to bring…” I was scanning the kitchen when our son Alex came into the room.

“Your Mom’s headed out on a road trip.” Steven said as Alex went over to the cabinet to get out the coffee.

“Nice.” He pulled out the coffee and a mug, putting them both on the counter. “Where are you going?”

“North Carolina to visit Aunt Lizzy.”

“That’s great. It’s been a while since you’ve seen her.”

“I know! I’m really starting to look forward to it.”

Alex went to the refrigerator and grabbed the gallon of milk off the top shelf. He shook it to show that it only had an inch left in the container. “I guess this needs to go on the grocery list.”

I groaned. “I’ll need to go grocery shopping to get you guys stocked up for the week.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Steven said. “We’ll do it.”

“Really?” I was relieved to take something off my to-do list.

“Sure.” Steven looked over at Alex. “It’s not like we’re going to be cooking.”

Alex laughed. “Do we have frozen pizza downstairs?”

I nodded. “We do.”

“Well, then we’re all set.” Alex put the milk back in the refrigerator.

“Sounds good to me!” Steven agreed.

“Awesome!” I turned around to head to our bedroom. “Now I just have to figure out what I need to pack.”

As I headed down the hall I could hear Alex ask Steven. “We aren’t really going to be eating frozen pizza all week, are we?”

“No, we’ll just order out.”

“Hey! I heard that!” I came back out to the kitchen. “Why is it I’m the only one who does any cooking around here?”

Alex and Steven shrugged their shoulders.

“Don’t you want to start packing?” Steven asked. “You only have a few day before you leave.”

“That’s true.” I turned around to head back down the hall.

“Nice way to change the subject.” Alex whispered to Steven.

“I can hear you!” I turned back around.

“Road trip!” they said in unison.

“I know!” I smiled as I turned around to head to our bedroom. “I’m so excited!”