Wow, it's Friday already

I haven't gotten around to posting about our trip to Champaign. It was great. Noah and Lauren are doing really well. Lauren likes her job taking care of wayward kids at a correctional facility. Noah finished his summer school with good grades and has a month off before school starts again. Their house is cute and comfy, and sleeps seven as we found out.
We'd been up in the air about whether to drive down and back on Monday or stay there Monday night. We were having such a nice time we couldn't tear ourselves away, until after Lauren fixed biscuits and gravy Tuesday morning. (Thanks, Lauren)
Sam and Maxie (the poochies) are doing fine. Max must remember his days as our house-guest, because he was very attentive to me. Audrie, the cat, was torn between a desire to just hide someplace til we left and the need to assert her territorial prerogatives.
Mark, Steffie, and Malachy drove down separately, and ended up spending the night too. So it was real quality family time. Noah got Mally a cute stuffed dinosaur to carry around and sleep with, and I got to go to Sonic - for a coney dog. Yummm!