So we've been home for almost two weeks, and I still have unpacked bags sitting around - just the cartainment bags, but still.  I have uploaded some pictures, though, and started a photo book of January to June 2013. Maybe by this time next year, I'll get around to organizing this year's photos.

The run down: Last week we had company and Vacation Bible School. This week the younger kids are participating in a theater program on the base and the olders are helping with some inner city teens visiting the parish and the beach.  The olders go to the west coast Steubenville retreat tomorrow.  I've been spending many hours in the car taking the kids places.  But we did get in a visit to the weekend art fair, some good hours at the beach, some nice birthday party dinners with the cousins - including adult date night (with obligingly quiet infant) - and a weekend movie at home (Walter Mitty, which I liked better than I expected because my expectations were low, perhaps).

I just updated my sidebar reading list.  I'm sure I'm missing a few titles.  At some point I might post some book notes. Lately I've been working my way through The Bedford Concise Guide for Writers. I'll be teaching composition again beginning in late August, along with a Learning through Community Service class that will meet primarily online.  Hurray!  I interviewed for one other job at a different community college the day after we got home, but I totally flubbed the interview. Embarrassingly awful.  I expected to go in for a conversation with a dean and instead had to sit down in front of a panel and then do a teaching demonstration. I was totally unprepared and now have a list of "I should have saids." But I'm a little relieved not to have the opportunity to stretch myself; teaching one class one night a week will be enough for me right now. I don't want to leave the baby or the other kids, even though my rational side recognizes that a few hours a week won't undermine their sense of security or success in school or their faith. I was always a little proud of the fact that my mother worked part time as a nurse, so my vain side hopes they might appreciate having a mother who teaches part time.  But I also want to be around for the kids' lives - with my oldest entering his senior year, I'm suddenly face to face with the "it goes by so fast" reality of raising children. I didn't believe the little old ladies when they told me that back when I was lugging around 3 or 4 toddlers.  But now I know they were telling the truth. Where does the time go? I'm so grateful for the good years we've had.

We made a few more memories on the trip back from seeing family. Here we are at the Grand Canyon, the Disneyland of National Parks. It is a wonder to behold, but it does seem a little surreal. Lots of foreign languages overhead while we walking along the rim. We took a short hike into the canyon. Constrained by time and the willingness of our hikers to be adventurous, we turned back at Ooh Ahh point.  If you don't have a really long time - days - to hike the canyon, a few hours is sufficient to get a sense of the place. So we continued on our homeward journey.  Made a brief stop at the Hoover Dam. Viewed Las Vegas from a distance (Blech.)  Rolled into the driveway shortly after midnight, exhausted, but exhilarated to be home.

Astounding

Sometimes you need a break from all the vastness. Look down.

Is that a painted backdrop?

A glory filled day.

From natural wonder to man made.

Hurry! Dad will drive off without you!

Low water level.

They made nice bathrooms back in the Depression

And carved inspirational and lovely reliefs. Even dams need beautifying.

Oklahoma retrospective

From Indiana we drove southwest, a drive we've done so many times now that the kids know just where you can first spy the St. Louis Arch, Gateway to the West.  All want the honor of seeing it first.

It was fun for me to see how my older kids are now like the fun uncles. My boys are closer in age to a couple of the aunts and uncles than to their baby sister and cousins, so now they get to be the entertainment. They've been taught well.

I'm blessed in my in-laws. We have a wonderful time when we visit them. Even though summer in Oklahoma can be a brutal time of year weatherwise, we were there for a beautiful week, and the new pool made what heat there was an incentive for water play.

You know you are in a rural area when you can buy live bait in a vending machine.

Four of July firecracker truck races. Boy heaven.

 

Who needs matches?

Girl heaven: nail painting day

Cousin heaven. Plenty of babies to go around.

Water gun wars

Specimens at the natural history museum in Norman.

You can see what kids find fascinating on the giant mastodon statue.

Another favorite pose.

Flat Stanley enjoys a swim. Good thing he's covered in contact paper!

Don't get me, Flat Stanley!

Flat Stanley, where'd you find a triceratops?!

OKC skyline. The city is growing.

Chihuly exhibit at the OKC art museum.

We were treated to a tour with the head of the museum
since we met him once at a military function out here. Very
informative

Birthday treats

Tom Sawyer understudies.

Super tree-house at the science museum.

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.