home again, home again

hello, I've missed you! It has been almost an entire month since my last post, it is not because I don't have anything to tell you about, it is because I haven't had a free moment. (as the matter of fact, I am sneaking this one it right between a homeschool bookshelf painting project and picnic lunch/snow cone/pool party in the back yard-so let's get rolling)
We drove Dad home to Klamath Falls after fathers day and spent a few days there, the weather was gorgeous and we had a great time. There is a park with a little wading pool and we went there every day and followed it up with dipped cones at Dairy Queen, now every time we see a sign for Dairy Queen, the girls beg for them, and then ask to go swimming--funny how we are so easy to program. We ended that trip with our 300 mile drive home (first time alone with just me and the girls) it took just around 7 hours (which is really good if I do say so myself!) we all survived, but it left me questioning my judgement--no time to get too worked up about it though-we had to pack for our all girls camping trip....
After 2 nights at home, we set out again for a coast camping trip with my friend Erika and her kiddos. Together we had 2 crazy mamas, 2 diabetics and 2 preschoolers (um, looking back, maybe I should have thought a little harder about this) When we talked about it camping, Erika remembers that this big trip was my idea, I remember it being her idea (not that we are trying to place blame, but-haha) We actually had a fantastic time (didn't even get frost bite or eaten by bears or anything!) and I came home feeling exhausted but strangely empowered like, once again, I had done something new, and came away from it with a new knowledge and strength.
When we voted at the end of the trip, the camping food walked away with all the awards, although, it wasn't really a surprise with all the marshmallows, cool whip, chocolate and ice cream that we consumed. Mama's know how to eat.
We got home and were even more exhausted than when we left (big surprise) and had to sleep, do laundry and pack our bags again for our big family river retreat. I think we got 2 more nights at home in our beds (or maybe it was just one, I can't quite remember now-things are a bit blurry)
The girls are getting pretty good at road trips, we made it to Gold Hill in about 7 hours this time and had a great weekend with my family, and the 4th of July was a special day when my friend Justin showed up with his raft and took us out on the white water for the day. Every one had a good laugh when he made me get in the front and be a "hood ornament" while he drove head first into a monster wave and put 3000 gallons of the river straight up my nose. (thanks Justin).
After the weekend, mom took us back to Klamath for the night where we would catch the train to Sacramento out on Monday.
Monday was great we met Racheal and my mom for a fancy lunch in Klamath and then we went to see "UP", it was ok, Maggie thought the dogs were kind of scary, and Lanie wanted to leave about half way through. (but we bribed them with ice cream and were able to make it through)
We caught the train at 10:30 or so to ride it 9 hours through the night and arrived in Sacramento at 6 am with Aunt Debby waiting for us! Auntie Retta showed up from Missouri the very next day and we had a whole week of lounging in the sun, splashing in the pool, playing with cousins and eating like kings (or queens as the case may be). It was so nice to have some down time, I read 3 books, and even got to sleep in a couple of the days. It was sad and hard to say good bye when it was time for us to catch the train home at midnight on Sunday. (YES! midnight-I think I am crazy after all) We had upgraded to a sleeper car for the 17 hour trip home, so we got to board in first class, and the girls settled right in for the long night. There wasn't much room in our little closet, but it was cozy, so I was able to doze a bit. I woke up when the conductor said we were coming up to Klamath Falls and we were ahead of schedule, so we were having an unscheduled break there for an hour. I called my folks and woke up the kids (looking back, this was a bad idea) and we got to get out and have a nice early morning visit with them at the station. When we re-boarded we went and had a yummy breakfast and napped and played and read all day (all the long long long day) until we finally made it home around 5pm.
I was more exhausted than ever (haha-ok, maybe not, but it literally took me about 3 days of just chilling here to even feel partly human again).
So there you have it-my month at a glance-Alan has put a moratorium on travelling and even doing much of anything at all, saying that weekends belong to him and he wants to sit under the tree (ok, well I have paraphrased, but basically-that's the idea). I have a couple of free weeks coming up, we are working on some homeschooling projects (book case for our class room) and splashing in the pool, before we host summer company and go to camp and have a big party and paint the classroom and.....well, you get it.
see ya soon!