I just finished booking plane tickets so that my in-laws can make a trip out here to see us. It was somewhat tricky finding flights that were not too hellishly expensive, but that also didn't involve too torturous a trip. We didn't want to route them via Turkey, for instance. Though I was a little tempted : that one was a particularly reasonable fare. Anyway, they will be arriving (via Atlanta rather than Istanbul) on December 3rd, and staying until January 13. It's going to be lovely - six whole weeks, and their stay includes Christmas, my birthday, Emily's birthday, and Stephen's New Year's Day birthday. I'm looking forward to this so much!

And, in other fun news, we've decided we're going to take a mini-vacation over the Labor Day long weekend. We'll be driving over to Alabama, camping, and doing some climbing. The snag is, Bobby wants to camp as close as possible to the place where we'll be climbing. Which means camping without access to running water. And I am just not thrilled at the idea of a couple of days of climbing without being able to wash. I could cope with a campsite that had even a basic, cold-water shower. It's not like I'm demanding copious amounts of hot water and fluffy towels - I just want to be able to wash off the dirt and sweat that accumulates after a day of physical activity! So, we'll see what we decide on - wonderful hot water in a probably-not-very-scenic place, or dirt and sweat in (hopefully) beautiful surroundings.