So much fun, so few pictures.  I need to do better.  Or just borrow my Mom's, since she has probably taken hundreds already!   We have gotten in some visits with both old and new friends, family, a lot of time in the water, wild blackberries, dead fish (Mariel has so far caught two pre-dead fish.  To her dismay, we have not eaten them), and all of the delights that make up a summer visit to Henderson Harbor.
Tomorrow morning is the annual visit to the Jefferson County Fair.  If you don't recall my love of the county fair, you can return to blog postings for July 2009.  Thursday- Dairy cow competition, 9 AM.  Brown Swiss.  I am so unreasonably excited.  Oh, yeah- I will bring the girls, too.
The drawback to all of the excitement is some seriously overtired children by the end of the day.  Mariel is just killing me with her whininess and drama.  Today I had to carry her, literally kicking, up the stairs to get ready for bed.  She kicked the wall, at which point I (roughly) put her down and yelled at her.  We got into the bathroom, and I asked if she thought I had any more patience.  "No, Mom. You have lost your patience," she said.  "I think you have lost two patiences."  I started to laugh and agreed, "That is probably right."  "Its okay," she said, "if you ask nicely you can probably get one back."

We made it!
Mariel, Noella and I made it to Henderson Harbor after our 2 day journey in the car.  We are happy to be here- the girls LOVE the water and the boat, and it appears that their grandparents are also pretty happy to have them around :)
A few surprising (or maybe not) facts about our journey:
20 minutes: the amount of time we were in the car before the first "I need to go potty!" emergency was declared
3: the number of times stopped on our first day for Mariel's emergency potty breaks.  Number of times that she ACTUALLY had to go to the bathroom: 1
3: the number of times we stopped on our first day for Noella's emergency potty breaks, which she initiated by screaming "POOP" over and over in the backseat.  Number of totally dry/ clean diapers: 3.  Number of times that Noella then ACTUALLY went to the bathroom on public toilets: 2.  No joke.
0: the number of times that I stopped for emergency potty breaks on the second day of driving (this does not in any way reflect the number of requests).
6: the number of times we listened to the CD of all of Jaime Lee Curtis' books being read.  Anyone want a recitation of "I feel silly"?
7,000 (approximate): number of times that I had to play "This little piggy" with one hand reaching into the back seat, equally portioned between two kids.
13 hours (approximate): number of hours that Noella was actively eating during our 16 hours in the car.  The remaining three hours she was either asleep, yelling POOP, or shredding paper.
fifty- one hundred- thirty: number of days Mariel says she wants to spend here at Grandma and Papa's cottage.  I think this means the trip was worth it!