Summer: Done

So sad to see our lovely summer of fun end!  I will always remember this year as the one that brought the Virginians home (after our relentless campaign...which really had nothing to do with their homecoming, but Katie, Pia and I will take the credit nonetheless)

Here's my list of the best stuff of the summer of '12:

1. Cross-country drive with Tony plus our traveling companions Lois and Walt.  Poor Pooh Bear had to drive the whole way (NO WAY was he trusting me to drive his truck plus trailer hitched to the back).  We successfully navigated our way across the USA, only having to back the truck/trailer up once.  We also only ate burgers & fries ONE time the whole trip.  
2. Our move into our big new house.  It's so much fun to room with "Team Plack", I couldn't ask for better roommates.  Well, except for the occasional accident by a canine member of the team (Walter, I'm looking at YOU)
3. Having Tony & Cara all to myself for much of the summer while they job-hunted.  How great was it to have two pals at home all day?  SUPER GREAT.  
4. Card games!  We destroyed at least 3 UNO decks due to our relentless daily games.  We wore out the 4 C batteries in the card shuffler.  We moved on to "Phase 10" (fancy Books and Runs, Zaids)  Now that summer's over and we can't sit out on the deck, our pace has slowed.  Time to get a new game going.  "Fun Dominoes", anyone?
5. Teaching the ways of picking for vintage knitting & crochet patterns to my team.  You don't even know the years of teasing I've endured from these people as I insisted on stopping at any thrift store we passed.  The worm has turned folks.  I've issued a BOLO to all team members, and they do not hesitate to stop at any estate sale or thrift store that looks promising.  Tony has even taken on the Goodwill accounts at his new company (they stock the 'Will's candy display) just so he can get an "in" on any knitting stuff
6. KNITTING!!!!  All four of the gang are now knitters extra-ordinaire.  Tony & Cara are busy building their stashes with fabulous yarn, having immediately absorbed the lesson that there's no point in spending hours of time knitting with crap yarn.  They've inspired us to drag out and finish some of our long-dormant projects.  And you know nothing makes me smile bigger than seeing all four of them knitting away while watching TV.
7. TV: speaking of which, we've spent a fair bit of time catching up on some great series: Dexter (we had to skip Season 5? with the hideous Lumen in order to be ready for last week's new episode but all agreed we LOVED Trinity, greatest serial killer ever.  And I'm hoping Dex will get it over with and murder Deb, she's so annoying).  Game of Thrones (only have to wait til March 2013 for season 3!)  I'm only 1/2 season behind on Breaking Bad.  Cara is trying to convince us all to relearn to love Grey's Anatomy.  We are pretty sure she is the last person in America who still watches that show.

Anyway, it's been a wonderful summer and I'm sure autumn will bring new adventures and fun to the team.  We're already planning our trip to the Rose City Yarn Crawl for some serious stash enhancement.  Not to mention our upcoming Trip Of A Lifetime to England (though Cara & Tony had to bail due to new jobs = no vacation time.  Boo) at Christmas.