Summer vacation has been less than restful for some of us at the Casa Redhead. Still, we've been managing to have a pretty good time.

Last week we had my nephew, J. He and the Princess (they're 17 months apart) attended Magic Treehouse theater camp at the Rep. They had a fabulous time and the Rep staff did an amazing job. I, however, got a little weary of slogging through downtown traffic twice a day and was glad when the little thespians wrapped things up with a delightful "shareformance" on Friday afternoon.

In the meantime, my sister (J's mom) and her other son A (Little Guy's BFF), came into town on Wednesday. We hit the ChickFilA Story hour and the very cool new "sprayground" at Dr. Phillip's Community Park. The shopping trip to Kohl's was less fun for the short people, but my sisters are my favorite personal shoppers, so I was thrilled. Sis also kicked us out on a real live date while she was here. The experience made me twitterpated (or maybe it was the killer sangria at the Iberian place we tried...)

My youngest was in heaven, and proclaimed to his sister during Sunday evening's bath, "I'm all alone. We need get in the car and go see my A."

TQ and Eeyore, Jr. are back at the books. EJ is taking Keyboarding via Florida Virtual School (well worth his time and not to much a of a cut into his summer calendar of Guitar Hero and Lego Indiana Jones on the Wii!). TQ is taking the big summer hit...IB Geometry five long days a week at the high school.

For the record, I only got a little weepy when I dropped her off Thursday morning. I was probably helped with my self-control by her compassionate comment, "You're not going to CRY, are you Mom??"

Friday night my husband showed up (the downside to the otherwise lovely new job is that he's gone about 13 hours a day most of the time--anyone want to buy a lovely discounted house in South Orlando??) as did my brother in law. We had a pizza dinner and spent the evening baking for the weekend.

Saturday, my aunt and uncle from Ohio, one of my cousins, her husband, and their three kids, drove in for the day (they're doing the Disney thing this week in Kissimmee). My mom and her hubby,and my other sister drove up as well. If you're counting, that was twenty of us having apps and lunch at my house that day! We had a lovely (albeit noisy) time of swimming, eating (pasta and sausage for a crowd), and catching up.

During the party, I made the comment, "Of course, now that I've got all of you here, some realtor is going to call and ask to show the house". (Things have been pretty quiet on the showing front here).

Actually, the people who wanted to see the house pulled up at the curb (with no call) as we were ushering our last guest out. Not the pristine condition that I'd like to show the house in, but a looker is a looker, right?? All in the good cause of keeping Heather humble, I suppose....

Father's Day was full of church, homemade meals, and gifts to honor Daddy. And housecleaning. LOTS of housecleaning. I was afraid that someone would call and want to see my filthy tile, er, house again that day!

I did manage to beg off Sunday School for a quiet moment at Starbucks, hoping that the time alone would help me manage the crazy storm of emotions that this day brings for me (grief for my beloved stepfather, sadness for my spiritually lost grandfather and father, bewilderment at my relationship with my biological father, thanksgiving for the godly heritage of my father in law, joy at my own husband's passionate pursuit of biblical fathering). It didn't help--I still cried about three times. Why do they show those videos on Father's Day???

Did I mention that all during this month the Princess has been giving us a countdown of exactly how many days until her birthday? Yes, Father's Day kicks off our Junebrations here...back to back birthdays this weekend and an anniversary next weekend.

But first, perhaps a summer nap is in order. Have a great week, and Happy Father's Day to all of my favorite men.