Yes, we are home from our visit to Steph, and the last part of our journey was to a pumpkin farm for a pumpkin festival.  There were approximately 6 million people there, but since two of the kids were with us (and a host of Ben’s girlfriends, both old and new) it was a blast.  There were hay rides, corn mazes, straw pyramids (just like the ones in Egypt…..if they were made in Kansas), zip lines for kids, goats, lots of lost children, and a BUNCH of moms yelling at their kids.  It was like Jerry Springer, but with pumpkins!

And pumpkins were what we were there for!!  Now when I WAS IN COLLEGE, when I was around college girls, all I wanted to do was to buy them a DRINK.  But now that I am the dad of one of them, all I wanted to do was to buy them PUMPKINS…..and that we did! Plus, the very fact that I knew they needed them for a college carving contest (knives are implied here) made me quite happy that there were no college boys around anyway.  Alcohol and pumpkin carving seem to be things that would not mix well, and although there is no reality show with such a concept, perhaps there will be soon.  But the bottom line is that we fixed them all up with pumpkins on our tab.

But it is never all fun and games, as seeing Steph and her brother say good bye is ALWAYS painful.  They are both always a mess, and I have to say I would be honored if anyone would be a 100th as upset if I were leaving them.  Yet they have lots of reasons to cry.  They have to wait a little less than a month before Steph is home for “Fake Thanksgiving.”  And why is it “fake?”  Well it is fake because we are going to celebrate OUR real Thanksgiving here at home just after Christmas with Scott before he leaves to return for the Marines.  He will be eating any turkey he gets on Thanksgiving out of a pouch packed in 1963 from wherever they tell him to be.  But sometime between Christmas and his return he will eat the real thing AND with ALL OF US!

But for now we are home, and we are thankful for it.  It was great to see Steph.  Lord knows we miss her.  And her friends are always like family to us.  We are just 300 miles away, but it feels much further.  We are just blessed to be able to see her.  She is one spectacular daughter…..and we could not ask for any better.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+