Visit Fail

My niece Lacey, James and the lovely Gemma came for a long-planned visit today

Gemma doesn’t like camping so she hides out in the van.

so these two helped me make Medieval Times Tomato Soup* (so good! Recipe here.)

to go with the bread I made last night. (Fast and easy recipe here. I sub garlic salt for the regular salt.)

Jac was in charge of stirring and adding sprinkles of spices - “A little more sea salt… and a bit of that leafy stuff…” -

while Leia tried out the new immersion blender (so cool!)

Then we settled down for a nice afternoon chat and… hubby got a kidney stone. So he and I spent the next 4 hours in the ER while Lacey hung out with the kids until their parents arrived. Not how I pictured the day going! I’m seriously bummed to not have had more time with one of my favorite nieces, but not as bummed as hubby who gets a follow up visit with a specialist for his very big stone. At least it didn’t happen on the cruise! Small blessings. 

* Note to self - and whoever else didn’t know that a “stalk” of celery is the entire, multiple rib package. That’s a *lot* of celery.