Last Weekend

We bought something kind of fun for the fam!

And we took it on its Maiden Voyage last weekend.
What a good time we had!

We've been talking about buying some kind of trailer ever since our lives started
including a lot of road travel (for both work and play).  Hotels have become
increasingly more difficult as we arrive late at night, haul 9 tired people into
two rooms and lay our heads on expensive pillows for only a few hours before
returning to the road.

Did you know we actually lived in a travel trailer once upon a time?
(Don't most honest people?)

We thought it would be an awesome thing to start off marriage debt-free and
without paying a rent bill.  It was awesome.  And it was an experience :-)
Needless to say  we returned a lot of wedding gifts.
There wasn't a lot of storage in our tiny home (If you think a one bedroom apartment
is small...)  One good humored friend recommended we watch The Long Long Trailer
with Lucille Ball.  If you haven't seen it, you should.  It's loads of fun
- especially if you've shared a similar "experience"!  There's more truth to that story than
I'd like to admit. HA! 
Our trailer dream lasted all of 5 months when a manufacturers defect in the hot water
heater landed me ankle-deep in a pond when I stepped out of bed one morning.
I climbed back in bed that day. :-)
It was fun while it lasted, but after the flood of '97 and all the complexity that added
AJ told me to put a bullet in his head if he ever suggested buying a travel trailer again.
What?!!  Life would lose a lot of laughter if I got that serious :-D

Besides... circumstances are different than they were the first time
(they always are aren't they?).  For one thing,  we aren't planning to live in it.
Woo-HOO!  Good news.
Second, when we travel and can pull over, having beds ready to climb into - that
will be really truly wonderful.  Also, we'll be hauling a ready-made guest room for
us when we "drop in" on our friends!
Besides that, we hope it will help us get a little further from our own yard to adventure
with the hoodlums.

When we took our new-to-us light-weight-23-foot-sleeps-10 travel trailer on its Maiden
Voyage we only traveled a few hours from home, found new hiking trails to explore, and
were forced to set up chairs around a campfire and be smoked roast marshmallows together.
The kids thought the 4-bunk room on one end was cool, and I loved that Aloria's port-a-crib
fit perfectly between the bunks for a total of 6 Bugletts in that cozy space -YES!

So after all these years, I am still a sucker for the crazy-fun ideas my Favorite Man dreams up.
Here's some pictures :-)

So was something else that made this weekend interesting:
Char and Hannah moved to another state.

It's a long story, and intertwined with bright hopes and new possibilities for them,
but there are (at least) two things on my heart:
1) I hope that this next chapter in their lives is an amazing adventure for them -full of
new friends, experiences, and new opportunities to serve and glorify the Lord.
2) I hope we get to be neighbors again some day.  Sooner if possible :-)

We camped with them for part of our Maiden Voyage as they picked up stakes and
headed out toward their new life far away.

Needless to say, Marvel Hill will feel a bit empty this summer.
(We love you Auntie Hannah, Uncle Char, Ellie, Judah, Micah, and Jo!)

("Don't take a picture of me Mom")

All agreed that our new trailer is great!  We were cozy, warm, comfortable,
and delighted with every amenity.  Can't hardly wait to take it out again :-)

We also agree that it's been a quiet week without the cousins up-hill.

Always another bend in the road.
I look forward to watching God's grace unfold in more miraculous ways.
He takes care of the details I would forget and which make the journey so lovely.