"Welcome Back" to ME!

Though not actually "home" (whatever that means).    We're back in Colorado en route to Idaho.  I never got farther than showing you my packing job.
Then I promptly neglected the computer and blog for a whole month!  And how NICE it was too:-)  I can't apologize.

















We had an amazingly wonderful family vacation/adventure/trip to New England, and caught beautiful Fall color  from Ohio to Main and down the Atlantic coast. 
We saw old friends, made new friends, and talked to some wonderful "locals" along the way.
We rented an RV from Missouri  which made the drive a novelty for the kids and a convenience for mom and dad. 

I plan to drag you through a journal of our adventures, but since it will be a slow go, here's a picture to start you off:

One family photo (the only one we got, actually):

We were at the town of Sandwich on Cape Cod, Mass.  

Atlantic ocean behind us.

Susanna would rather be collecting shells and rocks - little ham!

Love,
me

On Vacation

First there was the mind-boggling game of "What-to-pack-and-how-to-pack-for-8 of us" game.
Not sure I won, but I finished that hand at least!
See?

10 new white socks for you,
10 new white socks for YOU,
10 new white socks for you,
10 new white socks for you,
10 new white socks for YOU....
(and so on)

A fleece for you,
A fleece for YOU,
A fleece for you,
A fleece for you
A fleece for YOU,
A fleece for you...
(and so on)

10 underwear for you,
10 underwear for YOU...

Anyway, you get the idea.  It stretched my brain and all my resources - especially when I realized that ALL the girls had worn ALL their pajamas to threads.  That made it hard to keep a pattern with my mantra:

Pajamas for you,
Pajamas for YOU,
Pajamas for you.. and then nothing.  It really messed up my groove, so I moved right along to:

New boots for you,
New boots for YOU,
New boots for you,
New boots for you,
New boots for YOU...

It all worked out in the end apparently, because we left.



Day 1:  We drove from North Idaho all the way to Billings Montana.
Day 2:  We drove from Billings Montana to Denver Colorado.

I know we are driving to the East Coast to see the Fall Color, but I was absolutely stunned by the brilliant color in Montana especially.  In the South-Easterly part there's an awful lot of open land with nothing, but let me tell you that Montana knows how to color its trees and shrubs!  These couple pictures don't do justice to what I saw, but I was the one driving so that made it hard to take pictures (Thanks Babe!).

Day 3
Day 4:
The kiddos and I have been relaxing at Uncle Wyatt's place while Daddy has been in to the office (his work is based here in Denver) and I got to go spend a "girls night" with some of my best lady-friends.
It got late... like, 12:40 AM late.  Hmm... had a little fun I guess:-)

(I'm sorry about the blinky picture Carrie, but did you ever NOT blink?)

Today we went to the library and also replaced the girls ragged jams.

 Needlepoint at Uncle Wyatt's that Grampa made.

Darling little munchkin underneath.

So.... onward!!!

Some Birthdays

First there was my itty-bittiest: Bryce - 1 year old on September 20!
You may remember that he shares that date with our anniversary, so it was a delightful day of remembrances and celebration.

He was not bashful about ripping the wrapping!  Obviously all boy:-)

Then there was my sweet Susanna - 6 years old on September 27!
I am still tickled that she got to keep her own date, and she is delighted to share her birth-month with little brother and Dad.  Susie made the most of her day too, while I packed like crazy for our trip to New England.
I made her birthday dinner the night before, and Auntie Hannah fed us a wonderful dinner on Sue's birthday so I could focus on preparing 8 people to leave for a month.

Happy Birthday Children O' mine!!!
I love you:-)