The Journey Home

It took us a few days to pack up the mobile part of our belongings
and to clean up the house before locking up and rolling out.
My beloved said "it shouldn't be too hard to pack up, since we're
not taking most the household items" and that was true.

However packing ten people for an overnighter, let alone the six month
stretch we're planning to be away, is a lot to tackle!

If you're ever interested to know how we actually do this gypsy stunt
I'd be glad to post particulars.  Just leave your questions in a comment.

Before we hit the road, I lined the Bugletts up on the front step for a picture.
Everyone was rearing to be off!

Before we even got out of town, Bryce fell asleep.
When I looked back and saw him sleeping like this, I almost laughed until I cried!

In fact... I'm still laughing!
Wow that does not look comfortable!

We drove north via Jackson Hole Wyoming and Teton national park.

This is the picture where I made my kids squint into the sun so I could get
the Tetons behind them :-D

And this is the one where I naively handed my camera to a man who made
ME squint into the sun...

On this trip from Colorado to the panhandle of Idaho we we took 4 days to get home
and traveled a little slower.
We had two vehicles and two trailers - one which we were able to pull over
and sleep in. We determined that our total length was somewhere around 90 feet long!
Everything about this expedition was pleasant except for not being all together in
one vehicle.

AJ wants a motor home.

I don't want that for my daily driver :-)

Sometimes the best little adventures are had in the places we pull over to stretch
our legs.  The rest of these pictures are some of  those "mini" adventures.

All that driving and riding and itching to get there,
and guess where we are now?!

Finishing a Season

I thought May was supposed to bring flowers.  What's the deal with snow?

As flurries of white descended on us for one last wintry Hurrah,
the day found me and the Buglett bunch wrapping up winter our own way.

Out came the backpacks, duffles, bags, and bins.
Out came the vacuum and broom.
Rags swished, washing machine whirred, bags of trash left the house.
Spring cleaning, you ask?
Perhaps of a sort.

For the past weeks our senses have begun to crave warm spring air and bright colorful
hues.  At the same time our hearts have turned to thoughts of home in Idaho.

There's been a buzz here - a constant hum of all the plans for Summer: fishing, hunting,
nature-journaling, swimming, fort-building, excavator-driving, camp-fire roasting,
rock collecting, hiking, cabin-building, berry picking and pretty much every thing that
makes summer synonymous with childhood!

Finally the dates are upon us for our transition from winter nest in Colorado,
to the season "As-long-as-we-can-stretch-it" at our home on Marvel Hill.

Home.

home.....

It sounds so good.

Cleaning, sorting,planning, purging, packing...  that's what fills our time in these
first white days of May.  As usual when I pack for our hoards, I imagine what
the Israelites must have felt when leaving Egypt.  Even when "keeping it simple"
there's simply a lot to do (and turns into even more when I discover how much
my pack rats have been filling the corners of their rooms with!).

As winter is having her "last hurrah" blanketing the landscape one final time,
so we are on our last hurrah scurrying to and fro, gathering our stuff, and tying up
loose ends to complete this season.

There will be no plunder of neighbors, or loading of camels, but with our children
and belongings we'll take to the road.

And when we do,

I'll breath a sigh of relief.

Terrific Two!

Aloria turned 2 this week.
She was sick on her birthday, so I postponed celebrations until the weekend
when everyone felt a little better, dad could be home, and she could eat cake
which was the thing she was looking forward to most!

Her day started full of balloons and a table full of love gifted to her from all her
adoring fans.  Being two, she isn't well versed in the tradition of looking for the next
present to open.
She was happy as a clam to receive her bucket from Olivia and play with that
for a while.  Then she was given some stickers by sister Susanna and methodically
applied every one of them to a piece of paper before moving on to breakfast :-)

(Miles attends the party in a jammie that Bryce picked out for him

Much of the day was spent barefoot outside since the sun was so warm and
inviting.  It was precious to watch Aloria with her big brothers and sisters.
You can see that Olivia's dollar store bucket was prized :-)

Something really special that our birthday girl received, was a bunch of wooden
people that her brothers cut out, dad assembled, and sisters painted.
Daddy worked on a doll house for them that day though it was clear they could be
played with even without the proper housing.

Bryce gifted Lori with some "Twisty" straws.

When asked what she wanted for her birthday dinner, the excited garbles were
not easy to make out - except the last squeaky "Cake!"  which was as clear as
day.  There was something else about a candle, so that was the priority.
Cake complete with candle.

She wouldn't stand on her chair for a picture.
She wasn't into blowing out the candle.
So we left the candle burning and cut in.

It was a good party for a 'Lor, and she certainly made the most of it!
Eating cake though?
That was a great way to end a birthday celebration :-)

Happy Birthday darling daughter Aloria Mercy!

You are dearly loved by many.