On the Road Again

No photos from our goodbye.
Adults up at 5:00 A.M.  Kids up 5:40 A.M. 
Packing up.   Loading up.   Piling in. 
With some breakfast thrown in. 

Everyone knew what was coming next. 

Driveway hugs and holding back tears. 
Fast goodbyes before it got too hard.
Man – what a hard, hard way to start the day. 

Questions that we don’t know the answer to:
How was it our family of 8 merged in effortlessly? 
How did we have so much fun without a Major Destination?
Will we ever get the chance to spend this kind of time together again?

James 1:17
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Thank You, Father, for this Good, Perfect gift of time.

 

 

 

Our ride to OR was supernaturally gentle.  While many may attribute the absence of arguments to abundant technology, I believe we were blessed.  SO MANY PEOPLE have been praying for our travels.  I was not fearful when we piled into the van today.  Although we had 723 miles before us, very little sleep behind us, and supercharged emotions amongst us, the ride was wholly pleasant. 

The views ranged from beautiful to boring.

 

 

Desolate or delightful?
You decide.

 

Idaho LOOKS like a potato!!!

 

At least the skies were GLORIOUS!

 

We made excellent time.  Just excellent.  Beyond my wildest expectations.
Did I mention we made good time?

Lunch in the car again.
Three exceedingly efficient potty stops.
And just down the road from our hotel:

Oh yeah, baby.  We “need” one of these back home!

Check in.  Swim.  Off to bed and blog.

This is the only hotel on our trip where we had to have two rooms for 4.  John’s points covered it, though; and they “upgraded” us to two mini-suites. 

Last day of vacation–packed with FUN

We’d been blessed Every Day of our trip with outstanding weather.  Today was no exception as the forecast was fourth consecutive day in the 90s.  Praise the LORD!  I was not happy to see the forecasted weather for our Yellowstone day is 58○F and our Badlands day is not much warmer.  OUCH.

The girls took the little ones and the dog for a walk.  See – Tab doesn’t have a dog – so she thinks walking a dog is fun.  Ella doesn’t have little sisters, so she thinks walking little sisters is fun.  It works.

The girls made some parfaits for breakfast.

Ella and I ran to Target to buy t-shirts and underwear for some of the kids.  After the Really Long Day we drove 916 miles we cried uncle acknowledged that our trip home would likely be less miserable if we only had one killer-drive day, and not the three I had originally planned.  Try as I may to repack our things, there just weren’t enough clothes for some of the kids.  Target to the rescue!

Meanwhile, the rest of the crew went to mini-golf.  Ella and I got there when they were on about the 9th hole.  She joined in and I grabbed more photos.

 

I’m not sure who won.  I’m quite certain it didn’t matter. ♥

We went home for lunch and I spent some time confirming hotel information and some activities along the way.  (Tune in later in the week for exciting summaries!)  We also gave Katriel time for a nap. 

Our final fun activity together was visiting Sky High trampoline center.  We essentially had the place to ourselves,because there aren’t a lot of people who say, “Let’s go jump around feverishly in a ginormous warehouse without air conditioning.”  The kids had a blast and the dads may or may not have injured their backs with their acrobatics.  I foolishly wore a skirt and missed out on the action. 

We believe Marie broke her toe. 

 

We piled back into a terrifically stifling hot van (oh it felt so GOOD not to be freezing) and headed home for enchiladas and some serious packing up. 

A few movies were enjoyed around the house and bedtime came a bit harder tonight as the reality of the morning set in. 

A reluctant goodbye and a glorious beach day.

The kids woke so early each morning that it was not possible to grab pictures of their sleeping arrangements.  The activities of the week FINALLY tired them enough that we got some shots.

The boys had the living room…

and the girls spread out in Ella’s room.

Another breakfast feast blessed us, including homemade cinnamon rolls.  The grown-ups immersed themselves in conversations and the kids squeezed in more games as the clock seemed to speed along whisking away our time with the Steins. 

We’d been discussing this trip since February and as we all pushed through weeks and weeks of school looking forward to our gathering, it FINALLY happened.  And before we blinked, it seems, the time was over. 

Three homeschool moms.   You can tell by the skirts? 

There were tears and long faces.  Tara said later that her youngest daughter wanted to live with the Maxfields.  ME TOO, Mary!!  I must admit, that even when Tara and I lived in the same county, most of our communicating and friendship-building has occurred over email.  For she and I, we both know we can just slip back into the long-distance support system we are both grateful for.  It is sadder for our kids.  My kids have had limited time with the Stein kids, but they’ve thoroughly enjoyed every opportunity to play and I am sad our families can’t frolic more frequently.  We’ve tried hard not to ruminate on this.

We waved as their big van drove away and turned to reenter the house.  There was a hint of what we would face ourselves on Tuesday.

It took a bit to mobilize, but we made our way to the beach on the Willamette River.  This water was a bit warmer than Siletz Bay, but the sand was more of a fine dirt.  I’d forgotten to pack any sand toys, but we politely asked if we could share toys with other families and after a false start, we hit the jackpot.  (Seriously – WHO wouldn’t let some little kids share sand toys?  Right?  We didn’t ask to use their Jet Skis or water bottles!)

A quick thumbs-up to Lauren.  When they lived in Victor, it was predominantly Ella who liked to love on my little girls.  However, on this trip, I VERY frequently found Lauren showing loving-kindness to Johanna and Katriel.  The girls basked in her attention.  What a blessing to have this young woman to look up to. 

Silliness ensued.

As did some resting.

But the real deal was paddle boarding. 

The kids bemoaned how few pictures I took of them paddle boarding.  The beach was moderately crowded as was the first few feet of the water.  Getting good shots was hard.

The little girls got rides on the boogie board.

After a delicious lunch and more water play we took our filthy selves back home.  “Tubbies” and showers kept folks busy as Mrs. Maxfield and I pulled out succulent leftovers.  We rounded out this night with ice cream sundaes, followed by popcorn and one of my favorite movies: Maleficent. 

Proverbs 27:19-
As in water face reflects face, so that the heart of man reflects the man.

Romans 1:12-
That is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.