Renvoye

The roadweary travelers have returned.  Logged over 5000 miles on the odometer of the Suburban.  Nine passengers, ages 3 months to 41 years, survived and even enjoyed each other's company. I didn't finish half the books I brought to read, and I know that at least one bag of books I packed didn't get touched. But media usage wasn't excessive.  Lots of staring out windows and listening to music and enforced family togetherness time, most of it pleasant. I admit I was the thorn one late evening when our accommodations weren't what I expected. (Note to self: it is considerably cheaper to stay in Winslow, AZ, than Flagstaff.)  We are not too scarred from the trip, except that with just about 300 miles left to go, a rock bounced and hit our windshield and left a pock and a crack that we watched grow from a few centimeters in length to several inches as we drove. The challenge was to watch the road and not the crack.  At that point it was dark, and our view of the desert was impaired anyway.

The summary: This was the baby's first grand tour to meet the extended family.  Six of the kids and I flew to Indiana late in June.  One of the teenagers went on a mission trip to an Indian reservation in New Mexico with the church youth group, so he and my husband drove out together a few days after we left. My oldest son elected to work at his life guard job instead of going on the mission trip, although I think he would have enjoyed it since they mostly did construction work.

The flight went smoothly, other than a hiccup at the beginning when our flight was delayed over an hour. We hung out at the USO after checking our bags. Thank goodness for the USO - I never really knew what they did before we went to Guam.  Staffed mostly by retirees, they provide drinks, snacks, toiletries, reading material, computers, movies, showers, and sleeping rooms for traveling service members and their families.  Not as luxurious as the First Class lounge, I imagine, but a lot friendlier.

Since we were traveling with Baby, we were welcome to board early, which is a big deal on Southwest because we all got to sit together.  Kids were great on the plane, including Baby.  In fact, she was an ideal traveler the entire trip.  Just the right age - big enough not to be fragile, small enough not to feel trapped in a car seat.  She even took a bottle while on the road, so I didn't have to lean over the carseat and nurse her as I have done in years past to sooth a sad baby when my husband wasn't ready to make a rest stop. And she learned to suck her thumb after we lost her binkie. Our first thumb sucker.

We made it to Indiana, where we had a wonderful week with my side of the family. Lots of cousin time. Celebrated birthdays and baptisms. Played in the mud. Constructed forts. Drank a lot of coffee and chatted a lot on porch swings. Went thrift store shopping more than once.  Walked down country roads.  Admired spacious blue skies and starry nights.  Rode horses.  Ate honey. Picked green beans. Cut down trees. Soaked in the greenery and the rain and the flowers. Fit in a couple of college tours. Talked more and drank more coffee. I love that place and those people.

All in all, one of the more relaxing visits with my side of the family. I've noticed that our family visits usually begin with exhilaration heightened by travel exhaustion, followed by a day or so of awkwardness or rough-edged, slightly guarded conversations, before we settle into the deep familiarity of familial comfort. This year we settled in sooner than in years past. The kids, other than a couple babies, are all pretty self-reliant or willing to be guided by their older siblings. They don't require a lot of parental attention (except when over-indulging in body humor). No one was sick or injured.  Having heard plenty of stories of unhappy families, I am beyond grateful for close relationships with parents, siblings, cousins, and in-laws.

Here are more than a few photos from the first stage of our journey in Indiana. As you can guess by the numbers of photos, I can't get enough of this place.  My sister also shared good photos. Stage two, Oklahoma, land of the free and the brave, was equally full of quality time with loved ones - more photos to come.

Flat Stanley came on the trip.

He loves the luxury of flying, especially with bargain prices!

The 19 biological grandchildren. The 2 stepgrandkids weren't able to come this year.

Chubby baby laughs for Nana, her delivery nurse.

Babies love smaller babies.

The landmark oak.

Farm chores are more fun.

Tree removal service

The idea was to remove the tree so it wouldn't land on the house in a storm.

Instead it almost landed IN the house.

Only a few shingles were lost.  Getting to use power tools makes everyone forget their frustration.

"California moms." This is a version of dress up where you find bright makeup, fancy shoes, and stylish bags. Big sunglasses not pictured. 

Two cousins share a birthday - and both like sports better than make-up (that's a field hockey puck on the right.)

Baby love

Practicing for survival.

A woodland fort takes shape.

Five year old with loppers.

Look carefully to see the bee swarm around the crabapple tree. An amazing process to watch the bees
leave their hive and fly in a cluster to a new home.

A sugar trap lures the bees here. What I don't have a good photo of is the bees hanging from a little oak
halfway through their journey. They looked like a growth.

Laura Catherine Jane becomes a Christian!

The fam. Wish someone would have told the fifth child to tuck in his shirt and
told me to fix that flip on the back of my hair. . .

Sons with our daughter and new goddaughter/cousin.

The shed.

Baby bunnies.

Riding the Haflingers. They prefer to pull wagons.

Mmmm, blackberries.

Oxeye daisies

Daylilies

Delphinium

The Galloway herd is growing.

Stocking the hayloft with spring's first cut.

Rocket blast!

Fungus among us.

Good night to another good day. Love this view.

Frog and salamander momentarily trapped. The "zoo" at the fort
also included a little snapping turtle, a box turtle, and a crawdad.

Monarch on milkweed

Centerpiece at the fort.

A belated portrait in the Christening gown, handmade by a friend for our fifth.

The ongoing euchre tournament.

Honeycomb

Mr. McGregor at work

Teddy at play

More honey. Liquid gold

Yay, America! A pre-Fourth celebration

Last stop in the Midwest: a quick jaunt off the interstate to see where my grandfather's mother and grandparents are buried. My aunt has been working on the family history.

The joys of hospitality

View of Orote Peninsula from overlook

As I mentioned a couple posts back, we had a visit from family.  All the cleaning paid off in a delightful visit over two weeks with my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and their two girls. They came to escape New England’s arctic weather, as well as to catch up on cousin bonding time. Both goals were achieved.  Although I had a list of potential excursions planned, we spent most of the time at the beach, soaking up sunshine in between snorkels and dives, or sitting around the table with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, depending on the hour, soaking up good conversation while the kids played happily.  

The cousins’ visit reminded us of how blessed we are to have family with whom we love spending time.  They were easy guests – they cook and clean – and the kids get along well together. We might have heard some whining, but no angry voices. Cousins are one of God's best inventions. (Remembering this Anthony Esolen essay from Touchstone.) 

Instead of going to all of our weekly events and practices, we took time off to make delicious meals and to sit around on the front porch while the kids ripsticked into the sunset. We did share some of our regularly scheduled activities, but scaled back to savour our time with the cousins. We also fit in outings to the waterpark, the jungle river “cruise,” and Cocos Island “resort.”  Don’t let the names of these places fill your mind with glamorous destinations: the waterpark is a few slides at a hotel, the cruise is on an old flatbottomed boat, and the resort is a few concrete buildings on a small island just off the coast of Guam where you can rent jet-skis and ride banana boats, although the kids mostly wanted to play in the pool.

Ferry to Cocos Island

Kawai! Posing with tourists.

And their trip also gave us a chance to do a few things we hadn’t done: paddleboard to Turtle Rock, do a boat dive to the Seabee junkyard, eat at a couple of recommended restaurants.

Playing in the ditch

We were glad of overcast skies this day because our fairskinned
relatives of the north were beginning to blister.

Pictoglyphs at Gadao's cave. They seemed fresh to me, but apparently
are Spanish era - a few hundred years.

The famous watering hole, Jeff's Pirates Cove

Examining Noah's ark plants growing into limestone at a recreated village

Learning to make fire with ironwood and coconut fiber

The boonie pup did not come home with us.

Seaside dining

Attended a couple rugby games. That's my kid in yellow getting hoisted to catch.

And watched more than one soccer game.

Celebrated another Eagle ceremony

Two of them

As cub scouts

And had a birthday party for a Pokemon fan. Good thing they are so easy to draw.

Big John with Kika at Ft. Soledad

Visiting these places with a tourist’s eyes again opened my heart to melancholy as our own departure date nears. Since our company left, I’ve been wandering around the house in a daze, intending to attack projects that have been neglected, but instead I browse through the internet catching up on news or flip through the stack of mail I’ve ignored, numbly adding to my to-do list.  (To procrastinate more, I’m sharing some photos of their visit.)  On the list of things to do three months out is to set our pack-out date, to let housing know we’re leaving, to fill out the forms for early release from school (no big deal since DOD schools may have days cut because of sequestration). Still haven’t decided about school in California. Still haven’t decided whether to live on base or out in town.

Waterpark fun

Also on my to-do list: a number of hikes, a couple more dives, more paddle boarding, more sunsets, more evening walks, more days on the beach.

Also: take leave of our neighbors, our jobs, the chapel community, the scout troop, home schooling friends.

Moving on again.

Oh no, now I’m getting sad. I’m supposed to be reflecting on our great weeks with family. They kept reminding us how wonderful this place is. The kids, especially the older boys, are so happy here with their friends and activities.  The ocean is so beautiful.  Sunsets are breathtaking.  Life is so easy here.

View of Inarajan hills

Sunset over the rugby field.

Meanwhile, the girls have come up with an itunes playlist they call “Home songs.”  It started with the Olympic gymnastics theme song by Phillip Phillips, but they added “The House that Built Me” by Miranda Lambert and “Temporary Home” by Carrie Underwood.  (Also "This Land is Your Land” and a reggae version of “Take Me Home, Country Roads” and Tim Hawkins’ “Homeschool Family.”) I have to admit these songs make me feel a bit maudlin.

It’s all temporary. We're all just passing through on our way home. It's a beautiful journey.

Sunset over the neighbor's house.