Case of the Missing August

We never intended to miss even a moment of a Marvel Hill summer,
but at the end of July my man invited me and the whole crew to join
him on his business trip to Denver.
Instead of him flying alone as usual, we drove together.
Instead of being there only a week or 10 days, we were gone for a month.
There was one lovely (but too short) stint of friends, fellowship, and a zillion kids,
and then sickness for three weeks.
But then... we drove home through Utah and to the Cousins in Nevada
for three full days of fun!

Here's a snippet of the missing month of August.

We took an excursion to Dinosaur Ridge in Colorado while we were there.  It was
pretty fun to see the footprints of those large critters in the rock.

On our way through Utah to Nevada we enjoyed the vast and very colorful beauty of rock formations
and canyons.  We stayed overnight at Dinosaur National Park... in our van.  The nearest town ended up
being completely booked and there was no room in any Inn.  AJ removed all our stuff and bags, and we
stretched the use of 6 sleeping bags between 9 people.
Our van is not set up for sleeping, so it wasn't the most comfortable night I've spent anywhere, but I have
to say I was so thankful we all fit, were warm enough, the children slept, and that the night eventually ended.
It was memory-making though, so I can't complain :-)

And that was all very fine and dandy, but the real treat was getting to see our
cousins, and to finally see their new digs and all the people and places they've
been telling us about!

One amazingly large highlight of our visit was for Uncle Char to generously share
his friend (who has been teaching Charlie how to fly an airplane) with the big boys.
Zack and Clay along with their dad, got to go for a flight and Zachary even got
to take the controls!  Beat that fellas!  Thank you Charlie.

Charlie and Hannah had been telling us about the Ruby Mountain range behind their house.
We had seen some of Nevada and weren't able to conjure up more than an image of hills covered in sagebrush.
If you know what the Sutter Buttes in Northern California look like; kind of a heap of hills in the
middle of wide open... that's what we imagined.

We were mistaken.

I think their Ruby Mountains are to them what our tiny mountain lake is to us.
I approve.

So August came and went and I never even got to set the calendar page, but that is where I discovered
the missing month.  It was hidden between the pages July and September.
After 4 weeks of being gone, we found home waiting for us where we left it.  Even the evidence of
vacationing mice and the laundry that helped add to our heaps, couldn't dampen our gladness
to be back at home in Marvel Hill. North Idaho is certainly our first love.

As wonderful as roaming can be (and was!), it's a well spoken truth that there is no place like home.