Additional Vacation Photos, a Surgery, and Flowers

Last week, Malachi had surgery to repair 2 childhood inguinal hernias.

He's healing and overall doing pretty well, but it's slower than he'd like.  My parents came to watch the younger kids during the surgery, and Mom made chicken and rice soup, which Malachi really enjoyed.  He was also treated to a care package from my sister's family, and the treats my parents and his siblings picked out for him.  He's been sleeping in the middle of the living room, so he wouldn't have to keep going up and down stairs to get to the bathroom, but I think we will be moving his bed back down tomorrow.

Malachi didn't get to go with us, but Nathaniel and I took Lydia, Gyunay, and Emry to the Bulgarian reunion picnic on Saturday.  Elijah stayed home to look after Malachi, and Pilot was working.  The kids had a great time.  I was happy to see friends we had not seen in a very long time, and I was even happier to see the kids interacting like it hadn't been that long.  After the picnic, we visited with Nathaniel's sister's family for a while, went to Korea House for dinner, and headed home exhausted.  

I've had a rough time getting my garden going, with the weather and the deer interfering so much, but the flowers sure are pretty: