Update

We start with a happy photo of our vegetable garden. It was fun for me, having been away for more than two weeks, to see the amazing growth of our zucchini, tomatoes and grape vine. We should have plenty of fruit from the first two, in the near future. We can't expect fruit from the grape vine, because they produce on the prior year's branches, and we planted it as a very young vine.

Next, here are two photos of our house from this weekend, after the cleaners have worked on it Thursday and Friday. All the couches and mattresses are gone for cleaning, and much of our stuff is gone too, or in bags, labeled for cleaning. Two large air purifiers are in the house; you can see one in the living room.

When Cora first went in, she said, "Where's my playroom?" She has been a bit out-of-sorts since we came home to live in a hotel, and has been attached to her Minnie Mouse doll like never before. She wants to go home, but understands that the house is dirty and we can't go home until it is clean. (We haven't mentioned the fire to her.) She is sleeping fine in our hotel, which is a large suite, thankfully; I'm glad this is all happening now and not a year ago, when she really struggled to sleep outside her own crib.

Lastly, you can see our clean Somerset. We had her groomed Thursday, and she came back to the hotel sporting two bows and a bandanna. I don't think she liked it very much, but it gave us a laugh.

Our hotel is very, very nice, and we are loving the free, cooked-to-order breakfasts each morning. We also have enjoyed the complimentary drinks from the bar in the evenings.

The suite is probably the same size as the little apartment we rented when we were in between homes, so we are living it up, in a way.

Stace and I spent a number of hours Saturday looking at bathroom options at Lowes and Home Depot, and have a good idea of what we want to use for our remodel. Cora stayed with Grandpa and Auntie Mel, overnight, so we could devote some time to the shopping and to each other. It was great having our first night without Cora since she was born! And she did very well, I was glad to hear.